Stabilizing First Person 360 Degree Videos

The use of 360 degree cameras, enabling one to record and share full-spherical $360^\circ \times 180^\circ$ view without any cropping in the viewing angle, is on the rise. Shake in such videos is problematic, especially when used in conjunction with VR headsets causing cyber sickness to the viewer. The current state of the art video stabilization algorithm \cite{kopf16} designed specifically for 360 degree videos consider the special geometrical constraints in such videos. However, the specific steps in the algorithm can abruptly change the viewing direction in a video leading to unnatural experience for the viewer. In this paper, we propose to fix the anomaly by the use of $L1$ smoothness constraints on the camera path, as suggested by Grundmann \etal \cite{grundmann11}. The modified algorithm is generic and our experiments indicate that the proposed algorithm not only gives a more natural and smoother stabilization for 360 degree videos but can be used for stabilizing normal field of view videos as well.

• Machine Perception