Life In 360°: A Genie’s Offer

Some considerable time back on VRFocus (well, six months ago) it was Rebecca that brought you news of a new partnership between Disney – more specifically Disney Theatrical Productions – and OmniVirt. If you’re not familiar with the latter, they’re a company that actually crop up on the site quite often as they deal with advertising campaigns that use both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and they do an awful lot with 360 degree video. 

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoThe partnership produced a promotional campaign for the Aladdin stage show on Broadway, the video made in association with another familiar name: Koncept VR. It featured a recording on stage from the Broadway cast of the Genie’s signature song Friend Like Me, made during a performance.  With the final production embellished with some factoids about the show and some additional production bells and whistles.

While we mentioned the campaign we never actually posted up the finished article, I was saving this for shortly after Christmas but unless things have drastically changed this is set to be the last edition of Life In 360° and the last day of posts on VRFocus. Certainly, for the foreseeable future. So as we’re rapidly approaching this time of year is often associated with the traditional Christmas pantomime (of which Aladdin is a highly popular choice) and you’re aying goodbye to me, let’s rectify that absence of the video.

“Disney Theatrical Productions reached out to Koncept VR, craving a new kind of 360° experience to showcase the hit Broadway musical, Aladdin. Our goal was to do something unique, going beyond what’s already been seen in 360° Broadway videos – we wanted to champion the showmakers!” Explain Koncept VR on the project. “That mission led to the development of animations that not only shared information about the production, but also encouraged the viewer to look all around during the performance. Spectacular visual cues were added to lead the viewer’s gaze…any given moment could reveal a delightful surprise. “

That’s all for now for Life In 360° here on VRFocus. I hope you’ve enjoyed our little jaunt around the various 360 degree videos the web provides. After all, you ain’t never had a friend like 360.

Life In 360°: Last Lap

So, here we are at the end of what can only be described as an ‘interesting’ week here on VRFocus. There’s not much I can say at this poing other than this is the penultimate Life In 360°. Unless something changes rather drastically.  Which, frankly, would be nice right about now.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoNext Monday is the last Li360 but that’s been in the bag for a little while since it was something I’d actually written long in advance for the Christmas period. That leaves this last slot. Now, a while back we went through the Formula E archive of 360 degree videos as a way of, well…  delaying us before we caught back up with everything that Formula 1 had put out. But since our time is up on this series let’s do just that today and fulfil my vow from a couple of months back.

Since the last time we checked in was at the beginning of July we actually need to go through everything that has happened since the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix.

Onboard With Bottas At Paul Ricard (360 Video) | French Grand Prix

“Not familiar with Circuit Paul Ricard? Join Valtteri Bottas for a few onboard laps from a 2017 Pirelli tyre test and get acquainted with the venue in good time!”

Hamilton’s Pole Lap at Paul Ricard (360 Video) | 2018 French Grand Prix

“Lewis Hamilton became the first man to take pole at a French Grand Prix in ten years on Saturday – jump onboard for a 360 view of the lap that got him there.”

2018 Austrian Grand Prix | Valtteri Bottas’s Pole Lap (360 Video)

“After a glorious qualifying battle, ride onboard with Valtteri Bottas for a glorious lap – a new Spielberg record, and good enough to edge out Lewis Hamilton by just 0.019s…”

Sainz and Grosjean’s Wipeout at Silverstone (360 Video) | 2018 British Grand Prix

“There are two sides to the story – and now 360 angles from which to see it! Take a fresh look at the dramatic collision that brought out the Safety Car at Silverstone.”

Lewis Hamilton Hits Trouble In Qualifying (360 video) | 2018 German Grand Prix

“Get a unique, all-angles view of Lewis Hamilton as he battles with his Mercedes car during qualifying at the Hockenheimring.”

F1 Miami Festival: Renault Live Car Run! (360 video)

“Miami hosted the final F1 Festival of 2018 over the weekend of the US Grand Prix. Jump onboard with Renault as they tear up Biscayne Boulevard!”

And that’s us all up to date! Look out for update throughout today and the weekend and Life In 360° will be back for the final time on Monday.

 

Life In 360°: “They Say Of The Acropolis, Where The Parthenon Is”

Today on Li360 there’s a sense of history in the air… Or rather, we’re flying above it. We’re once again enjoying the company of the BBC’s 360 degree team who are continuing their look at historic buildings.

This time however the team have moved out of London, and the gems hidden behind closed doors to Athens. Capital of Greece and home to a remarkable number of locations showing the wonder and splendour of the country’s ancient heyday. A time of gods and monsters, legends and heroes. Ancient Greece has fascinated me ever since I first studied it briefly as part of my late primary school history class before it was taken slightly more seriously in secondary school as we really sunk our teeth into the stories behind the myths.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoThere is perhaps one building that symbolises both the city and the time more than any other – the famed Acropolis of Athens and more specifically the Parthenon.  A white marble temple, it was dedicated to worship of Athena who was also known as Athene and would later become the Roman goddess Minerva when the pantheon was ‘adopted’ so to speak. Commonly symbolised by an owl, Athena was goddess of many spheres of influence most notably wisdom and war. But specifically, also courage, strategy and strategic warfare, as well as inspiration, civilisation, law and/or justice, mathematics, strength, arts and crafts and also skill.

The Parthenon itself is actually newer (if you can really call a period BC as ‘new’) than the other buildings around it, built after the other buildings were damaged in a raid by the Persians. I’ll let the BBC tell you more.

“Fly above the Acropolis – a sacred hill in the heart of Athens with the Parthenon on its peak. Beside it is a smaller temple known as the Erechtheion. It’s named after Erechtheus, a mythical king of Athens. The ancients believed that the Gods Athena and Poseidon once walked here.

Step inside and you can find out how it was specially designed to preserve the sacred mythology of Athens. The Erechtheion is an enduring monument to the ancient history of this extraordinary city.”

You can watch the video below. We’ll be back on Friday with another Life In 360° at the usual time here on VRFocus.

Life In 360°: The Process Of Courting Fashion

Hello one and all, and a hello again from myself, as I’ve been away for a little while resulting in other folks taking over for a few days.  Welcome back to another edition of Life In 360° here on VRFocus where we begin Friday’s coverage of all things immersive by checking back in with the folks at Koncept VR. As you no doubt know, Koncept VR are one of those immersive technology companies that are always busy. New partners. New projects. New things to see. In fact, I’m hoping we’ll be hosting a guest piece of theirs somewhere down the line about just how they do it all, but that’s hopefully one for the future.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoTheir most recent partnership with GQ took them onto the basketball court to film some 360 degree action with Philadelphia 76ers No. 21 Joel Embiid as part of a new campaign. The Cameroonian Centre has been making waves in Philadelphia since he was drafted there as the third pick overall in the 2014 NBA Draft – even making the 2018 NBA All-Stars.

I’ll leave it to Koncept themselves to give you the rundown on what you’re about to see: “In conjunction with GQ’s first ever digital cover, Koncept VR went behind-the-scenes of the Philly photo shoot to capture NBA star Joel Embiid in 360° action. The resulting video allows the viewer to get up close and personal with ‘The Process’ as he shoots, scores, and hangs loose with his selfie-snapping fans.”

You can see the video below, but you can also read the article on the GQ website where Embiid goes into his childhood, hopes, aspirations and talks about life on the court. You can do that here. Li360 is back on Monday at the usual time with a video about Greenland. I’ll see you then.

 

Life in 360°: Fuelling A Storm

Hello everybody and welcome to another week of immersive tech content here at VRFocus.  There is, as always, plenty to discuss this week regardless of the type of ‘Reality’ you are personally interested in. But before we get to any of that we need to start things off with Monday’s edition of Life in 360°.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoThe last few years it certainly feels like we’ve seen more and more extreme weather, and stronger and stronger instances of ‘regular’ weather. Just over a year ago, from September to early October 2017 the island of Puerto Rico (as well as Dominica) was hit by the devastating Hurricane Maria. A hurricane that led to the island’s infrastructure being effectively annihilated and a death toll now believed to be in the thousands.

But how did Maria become so strong, and so very, very fast?  Well, in this video from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio and it’s Goddard Space Flight Center they combine an array of data into a 3D model to explain.

“Two days before Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the NASA-Japan Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory satellite captured a 3-D view of the storm. At the time Maria was a Category 1 hurricane. The 3-D view reveals the processes inside the hurricane that would fuel the storm’s intensification to a category 5 within 24 hours.

For the first time in 360-degrees, this data visualization takes you inside the hurricane. The precipitation satellite has an advanced radar that measures both liquid and frozen water. The brightly colored dots show areas of rainfall, where green and yellow show low rates and red and purple show high rates. At the top of the hurricane, where temperatures are colder, blue and purple dots show light and heavy frozen precipitation. The colored areas below the dots show how much rain is falling at the surface.”

The VR Job Hub: From ARKit To Artist

Here we are again everyone. Another Sunday and another selection of roles from here, there and most definitely everywhere that involve any and all aspects of the immersive technology spectrum. Whether it’s doing engineering with a firm that make augmented reality (AR) smart glasses, brand management at a videogame company that do virtual reality (VR) titles or demoing things for one of the big names in headset manufacture. There’s usually something for everyone.

Let’s see what the end of October 2018 brings. Check out this week’s listings below.

Location

Company

Role

Link

San Bruno, CA, US YouTube Software Engineer, Virtual Reality

Click Here to Apply

London, UK

Scape Technologies Lead Developer Relations Engineer | Augmented Reality

Click Here to Apply

Menlo Park, CA, US

Facebook

Product Marketing Manager, VR Gaming

Click Here to Apply

Munich, Germany

Dassault Systèmes Virtual Reality Software Developer

Click Here to Apply

Orlando, FL, US

Cameron Resources Group Software Engineer – Virtual Reality

Click Here to Apply

Allentown, PA, US

Clarity Consultants Augmented Reality Developer (Telecommuting)

Click Here to Apply

London, UK Pearson Frank Web VR Developer

Click Here to Apply

Los Angeles, CA, US Survios UI Artist Click Here to Apply
London, UK Facebook Product Manager – AR Camera Team

Click Here to Apply

Sunnyvale, CA, US Niantic Labs Software Engineer, Computer Vision

Click Here to Apply

Sunnyvale, CA, US Niantic Labs Researcher, Computer Vision

Click Here to Apply

 Cupertino, CA, US Apple Software QA Engineer, ARKit

Click Here to Apply

That’s all for this week, but don’t forget if there’s nothing here for you this week you can always check out last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill a VR, AR, MR, XR or related technology role – regardless of the industry you’re a part of – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s edition. As always, please send details to both myself (keva@vrfocus.com) and also Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll be back next week on VRFocus at the usual time for more jobs from around the world.

Something for the Weekend: PSVR Halloween Hijinx (2018 Edition)

As we’re only a couple of days away from a major holiday – though how ‘major’ Halloween actually is probably depends more on where you live, than anything – you’d expect there’d be Halloween sales on all over the place. And you’d be right, as we’ve already featured several offers for suitably spooky virtual reality (VR) experiences on the site throughout October. Viveport being a recent example.

PlayStation VRHowever, this week’s scheduled platform for Something For The Weekend is PlayStation VR; and there hasn’t actually been anything much on the PlayStation Store expressly for VR.  That said there are still titles on sale, and ones that are a part of their own Halloween offer. So, let’s look at those titles and content packs that have made the (price) cut.

Please note: Deals are accurate as of the UK PlayStation Store and may not be available in all regions. Also, PS Plus membership may also result in additional money off on some titles.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood

To quote VRFocus’ review on the title: “Until Dawn is a story driven horror videogame, with the player’s in-game decisions having a direct influence on the outcome for each of the characters involved. A convoluted journey through an unwelcoming world. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a far more straight forward affair. It’s a shooting gallery, pure and simple, but when played in VR it’s far more appealing than could it could ever sound on paper.”

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is currently available for £7.99 (GBP), effectively half price from its usual mark of £15.99.

Kona VR Bundle

The first of several bundles featuring VR to get a price drop on the PlayStation Store this week, the Kona VR Bundle includes the full game Kona, plus the upgrade to VR DLC. Kona puts players in the role of a detective hired to investigate the vandalism of a businessman’s summer home. The local Canadian community is suspected of being behind things, but  the detective finds the area deserted. So, what is really going on?

The Kona VR Bundle is currently available for £7.99, half price from £15.99.

The Exorcist: Legion VR – Complete Series

To quote Rebecca when she recently reviewed chapter five of Wolf & Wood’s VR excursion into the greater world of The Exorcist: “NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!” If you want a good scare, this bundle of all five chapters is right up your street.

The compete series is 28% off currently on PlayStation Store, from £24.99 to £17.99.

The Exorcist: Legion VR - Chapter 4 Samaritan

Oasis Games Shooter Bundle

Not everything with money off this week can be classified as a horror game.

While the VR releases from Oasis Games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (see: Ace Banana) there are some that are worth a look (see: Pixel Gear). This bundle gives you the option to check out both ends of the spectrum, with the pair getting a hefty discount from £19.99 to a far more reasonable £6.19 – a 69% discount. You can find it on the PlayStation Store here.

DOOM VFR

DOOM VFR brings the fast-paced, brutal gameplay fans of the series love to virtual reality.” Says the PlayStation Store description. “Immerse yourself in the UAC facility on Mars and the depths of Hell, as your skills are put to the test through intense combat and challenging puzzle-solving. Play as a cybernetic survivor who is activated by the UAC to fight the demon invasion, maintain order, and prevent catastrophic failure at the Mars facility. ”

What more is there to say? Get ripping and tearing for £12.99, just over a third off the regular £19.99 price.

DOOM VFR screenshot

Killing Floor: Incursion

A standalone experience based on Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor franchise, Killing Floor: Incursion takes players into the world of the Horzine Security Forces as they team up with allies to fend off the horrific Zed hordes using pistols, shotguns, blades and more.

Save 36% on Killing Floor: Incursion now from £24.99 to £15.99.

Killing Floor: Incursion screenshot

Weeping Doll

Another Oasis Games title, Weeping Doll is only £2.49 for a short time. Playing as the maid of a Japanese family living in a very Victorian looking home, Weeping Doll has players exploring different environments to solve puzzles as a tortured girl’s doll takes revenge on her parents.

Weeping Doll title

Arizona Sunshine

Its Halloween, so of course Vertigo Games’ zombie shooter is in the deal. There’s a hefty 60% off the title, clocking in at £12.99 (down from £32.99) and it’s also one of those titles that has a possible PS Plus discount.

Find out why so many want to play it and why it’s one of the titles making the leap to becoming a location-based experience (LBE). Just try to keep your brains and blood inside yourself when you do.

Arizona Sunshine PlayStation VR screenshot

The Inpatient

“Discover true fear at the abandoned Blackwood Pines Sanatorium. Awaken into a living nightmare as a patient with no memory of who you are – in a spine-chilling mystery set 60 years before the events of PS4 hit Until Dawn. Live the horror through the immersion of VR as deep, personal fears, psychological terror and heart-shredding jump scares wait in the darkness.”

Get ready to wrestle with more than a few moral dilemmas as you figure out who you can trust in the PSVR title from Supermassive Games. Save £14 on the regular store price for a limited time, with the price at £15.99.

Random Note of Appreciation: Whoever changed the “Key Features” on the standard store description to “Key Symptoms”? Well done. We loved that little detail even if no one else noticed it.

Check out more titles on next week’s edition of Something for the Weekend as we head into November.

Life In 360°: Volcanoes From Another World

Just the other day on Li360 I was discussing the night sky and how amazing the sight of it is, and how one location was trying to fight the danger of losing it to light pollution. Of course, there is a couple of guaranteed ways to get a good look at that which exists above us all, but that requires either a rather large telescope or a lot training, a lot of money and a very big rocket.

Life In 360° / 360 Degree VideoBut it is indeed to space we go again for today’s edition of Life In 360°, this time thanks to a relatively recent video from the American Museum of Natural History. That might seem a little odd but as you will see there’s much to discuss as we take a trip through the solar system to Saturn, Jupiter and Mars to check out space volcanoes. (Which as topics go sounds pretty awesome.)

I’ll let them fill you in on the specifics.

“Here on Earth, volcanic eruptions are dramatic manifestations of our dynamic planet. Elsewhere in our solar system, awe-inspiring extra-terrestrial volcanoes—both active and extinct—provide clues to planetary formation and hints of how life may have formed. Join us for a 360° virtual expedition to Mars’s massive shield volcano Olympus Mons, the violent surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, and the icy jets of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.”

Join us again soon for more examples of how 360 degree video is being used on another edition of Life In 360°.

 

 

The VR Job Hub: Autumnal Opportunities

It is that time of the week once again where we bring you a slection of intersting roles in the immersive technology to peruse and pontificate over. Whether it’s working for a developer of virtual reality (VR) videogames, working as an engineer on an augmented reality (AR) project, or doing reasearch into mixed reality (MR) for a university in a foreign locale.  You don’t know – and we don’t know either for that matter – just what will come up when it comes to writing this every week.

So on that basis, let’s get stuck in and see what there is available this week on The VR Job Hub. Check out this week’s listings below.

Location

Company

Role

Link

Oxford, UK Oxford VR Product QA Tester

Click Here to Apply

Redmond, WA, US

Oculus VR Partnerships Manager, Facebook Reality Labs

Click Here to Apply

Sunnyvale, CA, US or Plantation, FL, US

OSI Engineering, Inc.

Computer Vision Data Analyst

Click Here to Apply

Paris, France

Facebook

Research Scientist, Augmented reality display innovation

Click Here to Apply

Los Angeles, CA, US

Trigger Account Manager

Click Here to Apply

San Francisco, CA, US

Meet Marketing Campaign Manager/Coordinator

Click Here to Apply

Warren, MI, US General Motors Senior Systems Engineer – Augmented Reality

Click Here to Apply

Guildford, UK Rogue Sun Experienced 3D Artist (Generalist)

Click Here to Apply

San Francisco, CA, US Accenture Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Developer

Click Here to Apply

New York, NY, US TEEMA Group Senior Software Engineer | Augmented Reality

Click Here to Apply

London, UK Oliver Bernard Engineering Manager – Augmented Reality (AR) – Go / Python / JS

Click Here to Apply

Toronto, ON, Canada Ryerson University Augmented Reality Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to myself (keva@vrfocus.com) and also Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

Vuzix Announces Partnership With WakingApp

Most weeks have some degree of news from Vuzix. As we’ve mentioned previously on our coverage, the smart glasses company is perhaps the most prolific user of press releases in he industry. However this particular week in October has been something of a Vuzix-fest of news, as this will make the third announcement from the team in a week – and they’re all about very different things.
Vuzix - LogoToday’s news is one of partnerships, however. With the company, founded back in 1997, revealing that they have entered into a multi-year strategic partnership with the team from WakingApp. They will be supporting Vuzix’s augmented reality (AR) smart glasses through their ENTiTi AR Creator content creation platform. Currently at version 3.0, ENTiTi AR Creator “allows for rapid content creation, simple integration with existing apps, on-the-fly content updates, support multiple AR solutions including SLAM AR, QR tracking or Image Target AR using JavaScript for its advanced scripting capabilities”.

Vuzix in turn will be distributing up to 100,000 limited time licencees for ENTiTi to its various customers over the next two years. With model environments being released as demos for both its M300 and Blade Smart Glasses. The move is designed, the company says, to promote app creation, as Paul Travers, Vuzix President and Chief Executive Officer, explained.

“Our partnership with WakingApp will introduce a new community of developers to the Vuzix Blade and Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses opening the door for the creation of new applications and experiences for enterprise and consumers. WakingApp’s ENTiTi AR Creator 3.0 levels the playing field for developers by enabling individuals with zero coding skills to create AR content for Vuzix smart glasses. Vuzix is really excited to provide ENTiTi AR Creatorform.”

Vuzix Blade“We are extremely excited about this partnership, and of becoming an integral part of one the fastest growing segments in the AR space.” Adds Matan Libis, the CEO of WakingApp Ltd. “By integrating our ENTiTi 3.0 creator with Vuzix line of smart glasses we believe that there is great potential to accelerate the growth in both of our companies.”

VRFocus will have more AR related news, and probably more for Vuzix too, very soon.