Download your footage before the cloud-based stitching service closes on June 28th.
Sorry Google Jump users, but Google has made the decision to shut down their cloud-based video stitching service on June 28th citing a decline in Jump Assembler users.
This past Friday the tech giant sent an email out to all Jump users sating, “As these new cameras, formats, and editing tools became available, we saw usage of Jump Assembler decline.”
If you happen to be a current Jump user, you have until June 26th to upload your footage and squeeze out every last drop of Google’s stitching services before they suspend services at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. But don’t dilly dally, you only have until June 27th to download all of your VR video files back to your computer, a process Google recommends you start as quickly as possible.
Anything left on Google’s Cloud Storage will be deleted immediately after Google suspends their service on June 28th.
But why would you delete all of your hard work when you can save them directly to your computer? That would be crazy. Google thinks so too. So, they are suggesting three not-too-complicated ways for you to download your work directly from Jump Assembler/Google Cloud Storage:
1. Jump Manager is an easy-to-use toll that allows you to download stitched footage only.
2. Gsutil is a Python application that lets you access Cloud Storage from the command line and perform a number of bucket and object management tasks.
3. Cloud Console is a tool that will let you manage your Jump data via a web-browser.
All three options will let you premanetly save your work to your computer.
If you happen to own a pricey YI HALO or GoPro Odyssey 360 camera, both of which available on Google’s Jump page – don’t worry, you will be able to use almost any 3rdparty stitching software, such as Mistika VR or the Nuke Cara VR plugin, to continue your work creating VR content and ensure your super expensive 360VR camera doesn’t end up collecting dust.
Google launched its Jump program as a way to provide professional VR video solutions to creators around the globe in the hopes of spreading VR technology to the masses through popular platforms such as YouTube.
Since its introduction, however, things haven’t panned out the way Google expected. In late 2017, Google ended a partnership with IMAX that would have pursued the development of a high-end VR camera used for cinematic use; this was then followed by the shut-down of their Spotlight Stories VR studio this past March.
It appears as though Google is putting their VR initiative on the back burner for now as they refocus their efforts on AR technology. During the opening keynote at the companies recent Google I/O developer conference, neither the Daydream platform nor VR technology was referenced once. It’s also rumored that Google has reorganized a large portion of its Daydream VR team to focus more on its AR projects.
This isn’t to say Google is bailing on VR all together; just adjusting its priorities on a technology it thinks will have a bigger impact with its user-base, such as AR enhancements for Google Maps.
You can find more information via Google’s official FAQ page.
