Achieving 8K 3D and long-distance monitoring "Farsight", meeting professional needs Insta360 Pro 2, which was recently announced as a VR camera that responds to And so far, the Insta360 Nano and Air, which can be directly connected to a smartphone to shoot and easily share content. Chinese startup Shenzhen Arashi Vision has been releasing innovative VR cameras one after another, such as Insta360 ONE, which has new functions such as “free capture” and “bullet time”.
The CEO, Jingkang Liu (aka JK), is from Zhongshan, Guangdong. Born in 1991, he is 27 years old. I have also attended an event hosted by Hacosco when he visited Japan, and I have met him many times, including at the Google Street View Summit in 2017. I visited Arashi Vision in January of this year and had an interview for about an hour and a half. This time, with the announcement of Insta360 Pro 2 just around the corner, he made time to meet with us again despite his busy schedule.
JK demonstrating the announced Insta360 Pro 2 (at Arashi Vision's president's office)
Arashi vision is located in the Bao'an district of Shenzhen, close to the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. Located on two floors of a splendid office building near Baohua Station on Subway Line 5, young employees in their 20s to 30s continue to enthusiastically develop and test hardware and software this summer. It was The department that produces promotional videos and the repair department for after-sales service are also in operation, and as a start-up, I am impressed by the solid system.
In the president's office where the interview took place, many Hello Kitty stuffed animals were displayed along with the national flag of China, certificates and trophies sent for Arashi Vision's products.
Logan Century Building in Bao'an District, home to Arashi Vision's offices
Most of the people working in the office are young employees in their 2-30s.
Now we have 250 people. Around 50% are engineers. Departments include Development, Sales, Supply Chain, Product Design, Video Production Team, Growth Strategy Team, Legal, Accounting and Human Resources.
At first, I started the business in Nanjing, with two people including myself. Initially, I was developing a live streaming platform. After that, I started working in the field of 360°.
Of course, there are many companies in Nanjing. Among them, I thought that a Japanese company name would be unusual and stand out, so I started with the name "Igarashi".
After that, I moved to Shenzhen and changed to Arashi Vision. Arashi means storm, right? It reminds me of revolution, innovation, and I really like it. Arashi is the company name and Insta360 is the brand name.
There is no formal employment. I was studying software engineering at Nanjing University, and during my university days I was doing something like an internship at Tencent, a famous Chinese company. When I was in my third year of college, I worked as an intern at a start-up company that developed an app that allowed me to freely arrange the classes I wanted to take.
Well, it was hell (laughs). There are many hardships. Development is very difficult, but the hardest part is when things don't go well or when you fail. Still, I never forget to open up the future, and I'm happy when products like ONE and Pro 2 that implement new technology come out.
We raised Series B funding in April 2016 and Series C funding late last year. But I didn't use it much. Fortunately, consumer console sales were brisk, so we were able to use that money to invest in development and marketing.
JK answering an interview
Development team work (as of January 2018)
In 2014, I was shocked by the quality of the footage from the Russian aerial photography group AirPano. However, at that time, special VR cameras and equipment were required for such shooting. I wanted to create a camera that could easily shoot high-quality 360° images.
We want to create a sharing method that allows you to record your memories in a better way. A 360° format is perfect for that, but not a requirement. A good picture is the only requirement. Therefore, I think that 2D images are also important now.
Creating a special flat image with 360° technology. We are aiming for images that cannot be achieved with ordinary cameras, such as “Free Capture”, “Bullet Time”, and “Flowstate Stabilization”. That is the company's main goal.
So many thoughts come to mind when I'm in the hot shower.
The consumer is the most important thing. The reason for making a professional camera is that there are no good cameras in this genre right now, so I think there is an opportunity there. This technology can also be applied to consumer machines.
Mockups and prototypes created for development
In China, there are not many platforms for sharing 360° videos. For now, you can share 360° still images on Weibo. WeChat can be used with HTML5.
His growth has been slow. From now on, it will be climbing. The emergence of standalone high-quality headsets such as the Oculus Go is a big deal. A head-mounted display is like a TV in the home of the future, and everyone should have one.
For VR content, the important thing is not the technology. It's the methods and words that make up a story using VR. I think that the “film language” is the most important thing. Arashi's unique techniques include "Farsight" for shooting from a distance, "No-Stitch Editing" for eliminating stitching work, and "CristalView" for clean playback, but they are more like making a normal video. It was developed with the idea that it would be possible to create VR videos in a similar way.
Hyperlapse, etc., used to be a lot of work, as you would have to shoot once, move a little, shoot again, and so on. So that you don't have to, I made it so that you can just take a video while walking normally.
"Movement" is a very important technique even when shooting in VR video, so I wanted to make it easy for creators to move the camera in order to enrich the film language. “Flowstae Stabilization” is also a technology that was born for that purpose. With the new product Pro 2, we have not only pursued technology, but also considered ways to make it easier to use. Because the most important thing is the creation of the person who creates the content.
JK answering an interview
I don't know, but Shenzhen has many manufacturers and factories that make action cameras and in-vehicle cameras, and an ecosystem has been created from parts procurement to production. For that reason, it can be said that there was an environment that facilitated the development of VR cameras.
I don't think it's that easy. No matter how many new cameras we make, we'll end up using Sony sensors, right? (laughs) Cutting-edge technology is in Japan. Speed is not critical.
Going from a small company to something bigger might not be that difficult. But it takes a lot of time to become a big company like Sony. At that level, the cost of running the business is very high. China's development stage is still young. We are so far away from the world that Japan has achieved that we will never be able to catch up with Japan at our current speed.
If we want to make sensors, the only way is to make a lot of cameras, make money, and buy another company. But things will change from now on.
For example, in the automotive industry, Chinese companies have not been able to catch up with major European and American companies such as BMW, Benz, and Ford. However, from now on, electric power will be used to power the engine. Then, it became possible to make products cheaply, and companies such as Tesla that make new cars will appear.
The same goes for the world of video. Until now, everyone used Sony and Nikon cameras. In the new era, ordinary users will use smartphones, action cameras, drones, etc., rather than digital cameras such as DSLRs. DJI takes advantage of that opportunity. And we at Arashini Visoin have that chance too.
This is Bill Gates. Because he didn't just earn, he was good at spending money. Money solves many problems. That's how a company is managed, and I think it's important how you spend money on investments and human resources. Luck is also important (laughs).
JK answering the interview (January 2018)
We are also developing technology to improve stitching. We are researching to make it possible to stitch closer. For that, we will use new technologies such as AI. We are also continuing to develop technology using light field technology that achieves 6DoF (6 degrees of freedom). If there is an order from the customer, it may be made to order. We are also preparing a VR camera that incorporates AR functions.
Developing Titan is harder than it sounds. Since it has eight Micro Four Thirds cameras, the lenses are more complicated than expected. It needs power, and the prototype got too hot while running. The specs are planned to be the same as those previously announced, but the product version will change the design.
Nevertheless, I would like to release it by the end of the year. In addition, we are planning to release four cameras this year. There are also cameras that are not necessarily directly related to VR. Also, the VR180 camera will definitely come out this year. I am currently tuning. It is a specification that can also shoot 360 °. From now on, I would like to make Pro 3 and successors to ONE, such as the second and third generations.
I often look at Twitter, and many Japanese people write about our company on it. Thank you very much for always supporting me. I would like to continue making good cameras, so please support me.
The interview was conducted in Chinese, English, and Japanese, as JK occasionally speaks in Japanese, which she learned from watching anime. She often reflexively points the peace sign when I point the camera at her.
When a new product is made, the first thing to do is take the camera out of the office and take test shots. He has a rather shy side, but his happy smile left an impression on me when he said, "I edited that promotional video."
Although the Pro 2 has just been announced, I'm also excited about future cameras from Arashi Vision that will show us the next phase of video.
The pattern of research and development of light field technology, 64 cameras are installed. There are also up to 128 prototypes (as of January 2018)
JK standing in front of the company's name board with a high-end Titan (prototype) equipped with 8 lenses, a 4/3 sensor, and 10K 3D 360 (as of January 2018)
JK and the author
New product Insta360 Pro 2 announced on August 21
The newly released Insta360 Pro 2 is now accepting pre-orders at Hacosco. The selling price is 680,000 yen including tax. Also included is the Farsight system for long range shooting.
Naoto Somese
Filmmaker, photographer, VR content creator, YouTube Space Tokyo 360 video instructor. Google's project VR Creator Lab Mentor. Presided over the VR study group "VR Mirai Juku".Writer list