RANCHOS PALOS VERDES, California — GoPro is lifting off and branching out.

After spending years riding on the bellies of other people's drones, GoPro is finally building its own quadrocopter for consumers. "Quads plus GoPro has been one of the most enabling combinations," said GoPro CEO Nick Woodman, who announced the new product at Re/code's Code Conference Wednesday.

Woodman said the camera maker decided to build their own drone when they realized the growth of the sector reminded them of the early days of the GoPro business. "I think that it's core enough to our business that it makes sense for us to make our own," explained Woodman.

Regular GoPro cameras will, he added, remain compatible with other drones. The drone is set to arrive sometime early next year. No details yet on pricing, but it should appeal to consumers.

Woodman's other new product is decidedly not for average consumers.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman announces a new drone.

GoPro is building a six-camera spherical array rig that will allow you to create immersive 360-degree photos and video. Woodman actually brought along an early prototype (see above), but said the final product doesn't arrive until the second half of this year.

"For VR to be appealing to non-gamers, it's gonna need content, photo and video content," Woodman said. This GoPro spherical rig could be the source of some of that content. It's like a poor mans's Jaunt device, a VR content capture product recently used to record an immersive Paul McCartney concert experience.

To stitch together the six photos or videos, GoPro enlists technology from Color, a French company it acquired earlier this year. The software pulls the images and videos together into one 360-degree environment. There's also a mobile app that lets you view the content either by moving your finger around the screen or by sitting in a spinning chair and rotating around to see the 360 environment.

Obviously, most people can't afford six GoPros. Woodman said the spherical rig is mostly for prosumers, pros and brands looking to create immersive VR content.