The methods of producing 360 3D VR content are something of a hybridization of classical cinema FX pipelines, and video game production pipelines.
It goes a little something like this:
- idea — conceive of your experience. keep it simple. consider the 360 3D medium.
- storyboard — sketch a rough timeline of how it will play
- script — write dialog
- casting — select your talent
- location scouting — select proper locations
- pre-viz — think hard about how the experience works in a 360 degree world
- scheduling — schedule the shoot
- rehearse — talent rehearses script
- set building — create the physical sets needed for filming
- capture (shooting) — multiple takes, fancy camera rigs, lots of hard drives
- 3d editing (time based) — still seeking VR plug-in for Premiere / After Effects
- sound editing — 3D positional sound and soudntrack beds are paramount to excellent VR experience
- world modeling — it helps the interaction of virtual and “real” filmed objects if key portions of your environment have simple depth data (beyond a point cloud) along with raw raster stereo imagery
- augmentation — adding 3d assets, animations and FX to real-world scene captures
- interaction design — node insertion, creating interaction & locomotion metaphors
- scripting — interactable objects, timeline branches
- rendering — export of VR files into core navigable / viewable formats
- packaging — getting all assets ready for playback on various OS / HMD platforms
- publication — publishing your experience to the world, via web, bit-torrent, oculus share, meta apps, etc.
- patching — inevitably upgrading the content experience, bug-fixes, DLC, etc.