The Game Developer Conference (GDC) 2019 is only a week away and it’s set to be an exciting year for virtual reality (VR). Today, motion capture specialist Vicon has announced it’ll be at the event in San Francisco to showcase two new updates, one for its location-based VR (LBVR) system Origin, and the other for its upcoming motion capture technology Shōgun 1.3.
Vicon launched the Origin system last summer during SIGGRAPH, offering a complete tracking solution for VR enterprises, employed by companies like Dreamscape Immersive and VR Arcade. To showcase the latest refinements to the system, at GDC 2019 Vicon will challenge guests to play Shadow Shifter, an experience developed specifically for the event.
Players will become the controller in the physical videogame where two attendees at a time must work together to collect coins. Participants are equipped with six Pulsar active clusters and tracked by 20 Vicon Viper cameras, players then need to match there body shape with what’s displayed in front of them, with the best gaining a place on the leaderboards.
“Although Origin is less than a year old, we have only begun to scratch the surface of its vast capabilities,” said Vicon CEO, Imogen Moorhouse in a statement. “For GDC, we want to give showgoers a practical demonstration of how Vicon is developing its leading LBVR system while having a little fun at the same time.”
Shadow Shifter will also take advantage or Origin’s recent improvements, like those to the Evoke software, tracking and the introduction of “Nova,” an active strand kit containing a set of sensors that can turn any real-world object into an in-game prop.
In addition to Origin, attendees will gain a first-look at the upcoming Shōgun 1.3 update, scheduled to launch later this year. Daily demonstrations will highlight the new features, including retargeting and high-fidelity finger capture in real-time. To help with the demonstrations veteran motion capture artist Gina Williamson will star as Ciri from CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher videogame series.
As Vicon continues to improve Origin and more establishments employ the technology, VRFocus will be there to keep you updated.