YouTube enables amazing 360-degree videos — VIDEO

Prepare to have your mind blown.

Virtual reality is here, much different than you would have expected.

YouTube has just enabled 360-degree videos on Android and Google Chrome. By watching a video that went through the special upload process on an enabled device, users are able to look around inside of a playing video.

Think of Google Maps Street View, except with a video playing instead of static pictures of the area.

Just thinking about the possibilities that this opens for videomakers makes me shiver with excitement.

The few videos that already have this feature are amazing. I personally enjoyed “360 Camera- Wingsuit Balloon Rope Swing” by FullMag. Using the new feature you can look to one side and see the vast landscape from the height of a hot air balloon, then look over to see people rope swinging off of it.

However, these videos are relatively difficult to produce. Cameras such as a Bubl or Giroptic are being developed to make the process of filming videos such as these easier.

Check out the playlist below to see all six of the different examples of 360-degree possibilites.

The effect is best achieved on a smartphone since the video uses the viewer’s movement to look around.

Don’t have an Android smartphone? Don’t worry, as long as you access the YouTube video from Google Chrome, you can click-and-drag within the video to change your perspective.

Let the vicarious living begin.

Contact Ron Paul Gavino at rgavino@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @rp_gavino