Apparatus and method for acquiring in-game 360 VR image by using plurality of virtual cameras

An image acquisition method to be performed in an in-game 360 virtual reality (VR) image acquisition apparatus using a plurality of virtual cameras, the method, comprising:

• at an image acquisition apparatus, taking in-game images by using a virtual camera group comprising a plurality of virtual cameras;
• at the image acquisition apparatus, generating textures for the taken images, generating a panoramic image by performing an equirectangular projection (ERP) mapping of the generated textures, and encoding the generated panoramic image;
• at the image acquisition apparatus, generating a 360 virtual reality (VR) image by combining audio information with the encoded panoramic image;
• at the image acquisition apparatus, video-streaming the generated 360 VR image;
• and
• at the image acquisition apparatus, outputting the video-streamed 360 VR image to an outside of the image acquisition apparatus,
• wherein in the virtual camera group, omni-direction from a reference point for taking the images is divided into N (N is a natural number greater than 4), and a pair of left and right virtual cameras are arranged in each of N directions.