Hallelujah: the world's first lytro VR experience

Lytro Immerge is the world's first professional Light Field solution for VR, providing true presence for live action VR through six degrees of freedom (6DoF) playback.

Lytro's 6DoF playback allows the viewer to move around freely in the viewing experience, complete with parallax, view-dependent lighting, and perfect stereo in all directions no matter the orientation of the viewer's head.

A Within Original, Hallelujah reimagines Leonard Cohen's most well-known song with an original a cappella composition. It is the world's first VR music experience to provide an uncompromised sense of presence with six degrees of freedom (6DoF) using Lytro Immerge. Hallelujah was created by Zach Richter, Bobby Halvorson and Eames Kolar.

In Hallelujah, viewers feel a sense of intimacy and human connection with composer/performer Bobby Halvorson. For the first-time ever in virtual reality, there is real depth, character and dimension to Bobby and the live action environment due to Lytro's Light Field technology. Viewers can make eye contact with him, step forward to look closer, shift side-to-side to see around him, all with perfect stereo, perspective, and parallax. The clean and elegant environment of the piece allows this realism to set-in, deepening the connection between the viewer and Bobby as they inhabit the space together. As the experience progresses, the composition builds and envelopes the viewer in music from 360 degrees.

"Hallelujah is such a powerful song; coupled with the immersive technology from Lytro, we believe that people will feel connected to the experience in such an emotional way," said Zach Richter. "Stripping the components of the piece to the essentials and using this technology creates an incredible sense of presence. It becomes real. Something impossible, like having five different versions of Bobby performing all around you and singing to you, feels normal. With virtual reality we can think about music in an entirely new way."

Hallelujah was created using the Lytro Immerge Light Field camera, processing pipeline and playback technology. The end-to-end solution:

• Represents the first live action capture system to enable Six Degrees of Freedom playback

• Provides the highest quality and highest resolution

• Allows for true presence: everything in the headset reacts as it should in the real world