Welcome back to Life In 360°, where we take a thrice weekly look into one of the ways you can use a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD) in order to get into the action. Before we get on with today’s visit though, if you’re interested in 360 degree video or you’re looking to get into 360 degree video production then should certainly check out our new guide on the best 360° video cameras on the market.
Now onto today’s video, and we’re stepping into the world of sport. If you live outside of the United States it is highly unlikely you were aware that last Sunday was marathon day in the City of Angels, with an estimated 24, 000 runners tackling a 26.2-mile course from the L.A. Dodgers’ stadium before heading down to Santa Monica to end things in a course dubbed “Stadium to the Sea”. Luckily, Los Angeles’ own Los Angeles Times was there to get int the thick of things and report on the day’s events – and part of their tools for doing so? A 360 degree camera.
The LA Marathon was first run back on March 9th 1986, running Open, Masters, and Wheelchair races for men and women every year since its inception. And 31 years later the event shows very little sign of slowing down. So whether they’re running for charity or themselves you can be transported to Los Angeles below and, effectively, lean against a lamppost on a corner whilst a stream of humanity whizzes past you.
Something a little different.
We’ll be back Friday with another visit to Life In 360° on VRFocus this Friday.
When Virtual Reality (VR) content is experienced using a VR headset the outcome is a virtual world. In that world, the possibilities are limited only by the imagination. This approach has given education an opportunity to leapfrog existing teaching practice by providing educationally beneficial immersive experiences.
The first among these is that VR allows students to be absolutely captivated by the teaching. All teachers want their students to fully concentrate on their lesson. But teachers know that students do not, and sometimes cannot, concentrate that way. However, they will in their ‘spare time’ devote many hours of concentration to gaming. Working late into the night on their consoles reaching the next level is common, but how many of those millions would do the same to study.
Educational success is the key determinant for a good future. Unfortunately, many students are failed by the education system. These are not all disruptive, lazy or `stupid`. In many cases the current education system does not suit them and they get nothing from it except boredom and demotivation.
It has been demonstrated that anyone from the highest achiever to the ‘total academic failure’ can benefit from the way virtual worlds impart educational content. The playing of games for hours shows that people can easily concentrate for that length of time and that during that time they are learning – even though the lessons may seem meaningless outside the game itself. These lessons are absorbed without even knowing it is happening. How else can players rise through the levels and achieve their rewards.
Game on
Many gamers are keen users of VR headsets because they impart a deeper impression of the virtual world than a computer screen through immersive interaction. The cost of these devices is becoming reasonable as the hardware and its application areas evolve: Google’s Cardboard VR glasses in combination with an application for instance cost very little money while high-end devices with faster refresh rates, hand control, and motion capture used in gaming are becoming affordable being currently in the hundreds of pounds range.
Transferring the lessons of gaming to educational applications produces the immediate benefit that the students can fully engage in the virtual world and learn their lessons there. Students of any age can be fascinated by virtual worlds which means it can be deployed from pre-school through to tertiary education then continuously applied to in-work training.
The UK alone requires 70,000 new engineers every year to cover the current skills shortage. And a serious problem currently facing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is that students learn each subject in isolation. In a world of work where cross-disciplinary and cross-organisational team skills are required this is an obvious disadvantage to job seekers and employers.
Dassault Systèmes is working with several universities developing solutions to overcome this problem. This involves international teams of STEM students combining their different disciplines in real-time on the same projects. This is supported by using ‘intelligent’, cloud hosted 3D models as a shared and unifying resource to collaborate around. Working in cross-disciplinary teams means communicating, sharing and combining experiences and skills. Learning this way makes the students more employable because their educational experience and acquired set of skills closely matches their eventual work environment.
Virtual Worlds of STEM
The use of virtual worlds can easily supplement traditional chalk and talk lessons and replace 2D presentation that many students find uninspiring. Stepping into a virtual world shows students the what, how and why that make learning interesting and compelling. VR can be applied to most learning and is particularly appropriate for teaching STEM subjects or training people for engineering work. This is because of the highly-realistic 3D visualisation content including animated 3D simulations of very complex products, processes and systems.
Here the advantages are clear. Students can for example work on a virtual aero engine without the need to have a real one. The cost implications are considerable because not only is it way more cost-efficient to use a virtual engine but the risk of damage or harm is greatly reduced as well.
And a whole class of trainees can simultaneously work on the virtual model of an engine and see it in all the detail they need to fully understand it. Its operation can be simulated so that students can even be inside the engine as it is working. This is impossible in real-life and takes learning experience to a new level.
Currently Dassault Systèmes is partnering with thousands of educational establishments and courses at all levels including 40 British universities where design, architecture and engineering are benefitting from the universal language of 3D. Across the world up to 5 million students currently encounter our digital simulation capabilities based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as part of their education programme.
One project in a school for young engineers uses stereoscopic 3D visualisations of a car, a motorbike and a vintage vehicle to immerse students in the virtual world where they can understand and envisage theoretical concepts in way that makes it fun and engaging to learn. Based on Dassault Systèmes digitised 3D models students are encouraged to use their new skills to learn from and then apply what they have learned using these models again. So far, secondary education students have created virtual representations including a design for a fishing reel, a mixer, a land speed record beating vehicle, and a mechanical hand. These have been developed in the virtual world where anything is possible and learning is as exciting as it gets.
Home Work
Using virtual content and VR hardware allows students to work on their projects at a distance from their place of education – to effectively take the lesson away and work on that aero engine or any other project at home. This means students can develop their studies and overcome weaknesses in the same environment that they were using at school, college or work. Just like gaming they achieve instant feedback and rewards while moving up to the next level.
Training for work uses the same approach: to create virtual environments where people can experience dangerous and hazardous activities – without any risk to themselves or others. Setting up a nuclear power station, a deep mine or an oil refinery with its full detail in the virtual world means people can learn processes and practice safely as many times as they need to while gaining the confidence and experience required to operate in the real world.
This kind of training lets people experience virtually any event such a leak, a flood or a fire while learning how to deal with it. Developing digital content is educational itself since students work on industry leading design simulation application such as SOLIDWORKS. The development of virtual worlds brings together many different disciplines each of which learns about the others through collaboration. This in turn leads to innovation as departments, subjects and ideas merge.
Life Force
In medicine Dassault Systèmes showcased with the Living Heart Project how 3D modelling revolutionises personalised therapies: based on the patient data, a virtual heart is created that gives medical professionals the opportunity to simulate its specific activities as well as the operation of blood, nerves, stents and pacemakers. This is a major advance for doctors, surgeons and device manufacturers who can at last see the individual heart and its malfunctions – virtually and from within.
This and many other projects show how ´things´ work, how they interconnect and how it is possible to transition between the virtual and the real world that is benefitting both. Portable devices let the work be taken anywhere so people can remind and update themselves whenever they need to. The cost and time savings as well as the educational benefits are significant and carry on through the whole of life.
Even subjects beyond STEM can benefit greatly from virtual worlds. History can be re-created and brought back to life, physical and social geography modelled, creatures virtually re-animated. The introduction of AI (Artificial Intelligence) could be used to simulate a board room, a courtroom or any other encounter.
Companies from the automotive industry for instance are addressing their customers using their own virtual worlds: Small physical retail spaces can virtually demonstrate huge ranges of products such as vehicles and furniture with all options being available while potential buyers are able to individualise and experience their product as never before.
The low cost and speed of creating and deploying virtual worlds for education means that in India for example using VR has become part of the Digital India and Skills India programmes that include thousands of training partners and up to 55 million students who learn and train to outdistance the rest of the world towards the dream of making India the skills capital of the world.
There has been a revolution in the past few years with advanced software applications and hardware technologies becoming available to ´anyone´. The next years will see that more and more people are educated in a variety of ways using virtual worlds to see and experience the real world and study in new, more comprehensive ways. Its power to teach is well proven while its educational and training potentials are literally unlimited.
Sometimes when I come to write a VR vs article I have a very definitive idea of what I’m going to write about. There’s a big story in the news, everyone’s reacted to it , do I agree? Yes/no. Explain why. Other occasions I’ve got no idea at all and it just flows naturally that we end up on a discussion topic. An ‘Oh, has anyone done that? They probably should, shouldn’t they?’. Other times, pretty rare times, I talk about us and it just so happens that today as you may have noticed – if you’re actually reading this – that VRFocus looks a bit… shinier than it did yesterday.
Yes, we’ve launched a much needed (IMO) brand new version of the website. It’s bigger, faster, more dynamic and – praise be to the high heavens – it looks good on mobile. As in you can actually go on it now and not wonder where things are. It looks organised. It even looks like VRFocus. And a lot of that is down to feedback from you; so you should be able to read things easier, the site looks better, functions better, it will gives you more information and you can also share stories easier as well. Which we of course hope you do.
It’s also got a few party pieces under the hood which we’ll roll out when the time is right.
Some time ago, regular VR vs. readers might recall I wrote a column where I mulled over how, with the make-up of the virtual reality (VR) community changing, VR sites might need to change and adapt and evolve themselves. I even questioned whether or not specialist sites had a role as VR forces its way, via gratuitous use of elbows, towards the magic word the ‘mainstream’. It was an interesting take, not a ‘hot take’ but more a ‘warm mull over’ of things. Actually, it generated a lot of feedback which surprised me.
Well, this new website is the beginning of a new chapter. Things within VRFocus are indeed changing and evolving – there are plans. I’ll let other people go into that more at a later date – in fact about an hour – as such reveals are above my pay grade and the only reason this is appearing first is because VR vs has the 1PM time slot. Some changes should be a little bit obvious, others are not so and will be discussed later, but I’m delighted to say that at the very least we’re going to be able to bring you more VR and AR news and features in the future. The new website is a massive milestone for the staff, particularly myself, Kevin J and Peter and a symbol of a lot of hard work and effort behind the scenes. (Seriously, we’re exhausted.) That effort doesn’t stop either, but continues.
In many ways for VRFocus 2017 begins for us now – and it’s going to be pretty big!
What things do you like/not like about the new site? Let me know and I’ll feed back to the design team. Next week VR vs. gets a little bit personal as it’s a very important working anniversary for me. Find out more then.
Virtual reality (VR) always felt like a risk to many in the run-up to consumer versions and retail launches. This is not surprising considering the history of its first generation of technology. To many, of course, this still rings true. It is a technology not yet fully realised, with developers and researchers still learning its capabilities and the base technology updating and upgrading all the time.
That said, we’re now in a position where we have multiple competent head-mounted displays (HMDs) for sale based on mobile and PC with more on the way for each. Each bringing their own take on what improving VR for the consumer and adding new ideas to the creative mix. The console market is of course covered too, by the PlayStation VR. And three months after it released at retail the facts and figures are in – and they’re very favourable for Sony Interactive Entertainment’s headset.
In fact over 1,000 consumers have now reviewed the HMD on Amazon.com and the US website for Best Buy and according to a released report by technology research and analysis firm and Strategy Analytics it has found favour with the vast majority of owners. Securing an average 4.6 out of 5 – the equivalent of 92%. This is yet another piece of good news for SIE, following the reveal that the demand for the PlayStation VR tracking ahead of expectations, a level of demand that Sony admitted they were actually surprised by it.
“The exceptional reception the PSVR has had bodes well for Sony in the console wars, and for its publisher and developer partners who have committed significant resources on what many people saw as an uncertain technology.” Explains David MacQueen, the Executive Director of the Virtual Reality Ecosystem research program. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that consumers seem to have fallen in love with it, since ‘love’ is mentioned nearly 200 times, and an unprecedented 73% of the reviews gave the device 5 stars out of 5. Naturally, a lot of the reviews mentioned specific games, and the software ecosystem is a key part of the PSVR’s success. Beyond that, it’s also worth noting that the PSVR scored highly for comfort (94 mentions) and ease of set up (80 mentions). The market for VR hardware is becoming more mainstream; it is important that factors such as these are taken into consideration by other vendors who might look to replicate Sony’s success.”
As might be expected the majority of complaints about the PlayStation VR centered around nausea and related sim sickness terms, as Strategy Analytics’s Vice President David Kerr added a more cautious tone. “There were some concerns raised by consumers. The majority of complaints centered on nausea. Key words used were sickness, nausea, sick, headache and vertigo. Overall, 108 reviews mentioned these key words, although only 79 in a negative context (the other 29 mentioned this as a concern but noted not experiencing such side effects). Complaints of a blurry or pixelated screen were the second most common complaint, and this may impact nausea. But technical specifications may not be the only solution – many of the mentions of nausea also mentioned specific games, so the industry should be aware that VR software design can also influence hardware usability.”
Regardless of the negatives this is yet another big positive for VR as a whole, and not just for SIE. What else does the future hold for PlayStation VR and for VR in general with the consumer? To find out be sure to follow VRFocus.
Kingston University is set to open a new multi-disciplinary facility equipped with all the latest in virtual reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology for the use of its students.
The facility will be known as the Centre for Augmented and Virtual Reality Environments (CAVE). The new CAVE facility will be a complement to the University’s existing games lab. The objective is to create a state-of-the-art facility where students from different courses can learn together and collaborate on new projects.
Professor Vesna Brujic-Okretic, head of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics has said that VR and Ar go beyond games, noting the example of associate professor Vasileios Argyriou, who is using VR devices to test the cognitive ability of patients with Alzheimers. She said: “Having games programming students working with design students on various aspects of a project is exactly how the digital media industry works – it’s that level of inter-disciplinary work and the exchange of views that will broaden the horizons of each and every one of them and help make sure they are industry-ready.”
Some students have already benefited from Kingston University’s involvement with VR. Luke Parlin and Zack Bloundele successfully pitched a VR game to Sony, which is currently in development. Parlin was involved in the set-up of CAVE and said of the facility: “The technology is at the forefront of games design and development and for students to have access to that is amazing – it’s a major professional advantage and very few universities have these kinds of facilities.”
Dr Lucy Jones, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing, said: “We are very excited about the opportunities that the CAVE will offer for our staff and students. The launch showed how interested everybody was in the technology and how it could be used to significantly enhance research and teaching.”
With another weekend consigned to the history books welcome back to VRFocusfor another week, another Monday, and another trip into the world of 360 degrees with Life In 360°.
Today though we’re not taking you off into the skies or under the sea, or even dealing with video for that matter as we’re simply reporting on some 360 degree related news closer to home. More specifically your potential future home courtesy of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) company iStaging.
iStaging, which focuses on real estate and who we last spoke of on VRFocus just over a year ago has released a new mobile-centric platform comprising of an app (VR Cam), product suite and cloud storage space where estate agents can store and edit “virtual tours” of the properties they are selling in 360 degrees.
The virtual tours essentially comprise of a series of 360 degree images which are navigatable by teleportation via hotspots within the images and on the shown floor plan of the property.
“Home buyers and real estate agents are demanding a better, more efficient way of discovering and showing properties.” Explains Kevin Basset, iStaging’s Head of Marketing in a statement. “Virtual tours help real estate agents and their clients make visiting and purchasing decisions much faster. Creating these tours usually requires expensive equipment and the help of a specialist. iStaging has worked hard to deliver a comprehensive mobile solution that costs only $9/month, hardware included.”
The pricepoint allows up to ten tours to be online in the cloud space simultaneously. $19 (USD) per month gets you 25 tours and $39 per month nets you space for 100. A free, “lightweight” version of the service is also available. According to iStaging those that are using the paid subscription method will also receive a free fisheye lens for their smartphone.
You can see an example of the tours here, with this Parisian apartment which has already received over 8000 views at the time of writing. An advertising video for the platform has also been released by iStaging and you can see that below.
Life In 360° returns to our more regular offerings on Wednesday, be sure to check out VRFocus throughout the week for news from the VR and AR tech space.
Another week full of news relating to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) nears its end on VRFocus. With today’s video being all about fish – no, we’re not going under the sea again. In fact we’re staying very much above it.
Thanks to the team from Discovery we’re off once again to Japan, where we will be following a fish from the market to the plate. Seeing the path it takes before being turned into a delicious sushi meal by masters of the craft. It’s a quick but rare look into the sort of journey some of our food travels.
VRFocus will be back next week with another look at the world through a 360 degree lens.
The 2017 editions of Mobile World Congress (MWC) and the Game Developers Conference (GDC) may be slipping into memory, but VRFocus spoke to so many people over the course of those five days we’ll still be bringing you the conversations for a while yet.
Today Nina is talking to Nordic Trolls’ Executive Art Director Daniel Arnold-Mist on the studio’s new action RPG virtual reality (VR) videogame Karnage Chronicles, which is complete with episodic content and co-operative multiplayer. Coming to the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR head-mounted displays (HMDs).
Taking place in a fantasy world where the delicate balance of magic is being upended by creatures seemingly able to bend the rules, Karnage Chronicles sees you take on the role of one of four atypical classes (Warrior, Archer, Mage and Cleric) on a quest to bring order to an increasingly orderless world.
As well as the interview below we’ll have a preview of the videogame on VRFocus later on in the week. Whilst you can also find out what Nina herself made of Karnage Chronicles in next week’s VRTV Tuesday review video.
From an ancient wonder on Monday to a modern day engineering feat today.
We’ve visited the city of Seattle a few times on VRFocus for one virtual reality (VR) project or another but those have been somewhat higher than today’s video. In fact we’re going to a place we’ve not yet been on Li360 – we’re journeying underground. It’s time to see a side of Seattle you’ve likely never invisioned and the massive machinery that is in use at projects around the globe that people very seldom think about.
The SR99 tunnel is, right at this moment, being built a couple of hundred feet below the surface of the city. A giant boring machine slowly but surely chewing through earth, rock and anything else in the way. Alaskan Way Viaduct Program Administrator Joe Hedges explains how the boring machine named Bertha operates, shows the outer wall rings being put in place and the 360 degree camera even takes you right inside the cab.
It’s a rarely, if ever seen view of an engineering marvel at work, creating another engineering feat as it operates.
VRFocus will be back on Friday for another example of Life In 360°.
The week of the end of February through to the beginning of March seemed unreasonably long with both Mobile World Congress (MWC) and the Game Developers Conference (GDC) to deal with.
For those of you who aren’t in, ahem, ‘The Business’, international events aren’t actually that much fun, especially for those left behind. For us, not only do you not don’t get to work the event, take in all that that entails and see all the games and tech up close and personal, but you also get the joy, out of necessity, of not only working UK hours but the hours of the show as well. It’s also very difficult, even working from home, to just get away from your desk even for ten minutes as you’re always having to react to something or the other. Meaning that you’re in for a very long day indeed. As the perennially left behind (sigh) I can certainly attest that said week where we had two big events going on at the same time was decidedly unamusing.
Something that is fun, of course, is seeing everything that comes out of the events, and now we’ve the addition of two new members of staff Rebecca and Nina – through whom we’re producing a lot more video content on the site – we now get to see and show you a lot more. In fact the most interesting item of that week was probably the surprise announcement of a newly redesigned Gear VR and the introduction of a Gear VR controller, a combination that already has over seventy games in development for it.
It was an announcement we were able to quickly capture on camera:
It’s not a perfect video by any means, the announcement kind of came all of a sudden and we did well to get the camera on it at all I’d say. But as a video it certainly got attention. In fact, it did very well for views, disproportionately better than the rest of our YouTube channel – a channel you should definitely subscribe to by the way, and click the bell whilst you’re at it.
Then however I noticed something. Both the likes and dislikes were going up, and fast. They were also pretty much even. For a few minutes I mulled it over trying to understand why that was. The statistics weren’t any help since those generally take a few days to appear in the back end of YouTube and strangely no one was commenting on the video itself. Then it dawned on me. This wasn’t so much a reaction to the video, it was a reaction to the news there was a new Gear VR in the first place. I even commented on this on our Twitter account – something else you should certainly follow.
I'm getting the feeling our video from the new Gear VR announcement has become slightly more about if a person likes mobile VR at all… pic.twitter.com/5pqPyet9YZ
In the days that followed, along with a number of comments I was seeing flick past on social media it appeared that I was indeed right. The negative reaction was more for the fact that there was a new and better Gear VR coming.
Are we… Are we still actually doing this?
For a while there’s been this nonsense going on where 360 degrees is decried as not being ‘proper’ or ‘true’ virtual reality (VR) and it began to spread a while back into covering by extension all of mobile VR. It isn’t right, some mutter, and it’s not nearly as good as VR on PC. A fact which, you know, is news to absolutely no one. But to some not only should people not mention mobile in the same breath as VR the more extreme end has it be that it shouldn’t be treated as VR at all.
Now if you’re not a fan of smartphone-based head mounted displays (HMDs) in VR, then that’s fine. Absolutely. However, if you’re taking the strange stance of ‘If it’s not the very best there is then it is bad, doesn’t matter at all and stop caring about it.’ I have but one question.
Why?
Update to earlier tweet regarding the Mobile VR war that has seemingly broken out on our Gear VR video. Likes and Dislikes now tied at 88.
Actually let me take that back a second – it’s more…
What the heck is wrong with you?
Firstly that logic makes no sense. If I go out for lunch and let’s say I grab a burger from a local vendor the food isn’t magically bad just because gourmet burgers or Five Guys exists. By this ‘rule of expulsion’ that would mean if you don’t drive a supercar you should be banned from driving. “Koenigsegg? Through you go. Vauxhall Corsa? Ooh, I’m sorry sir. I’ll have to ask you to step out of the vehicle…”
I’ve mentioned previously about my belief people would be less fussy about what ‘virtual reality’ should mean if it was more actively treated as an umbrella term with the various forms or types of VR then included under it. All types forming a sort of VR spectrum of quality and immersion but all being accepted as part of the same family.
Mobile VR is the most readily accessible platform the industry has. Mobile VR has introduced more people to this world, this new generation of VR than any console or PC HMD. The Samsung Gear VR is at the heart of that and shows the possibilities of that technology. Likewise Google Cardboard and cardboard-based VR headsets might not be flashy and the experience may be at the bottom end of the VR quality spectrum but Cardboard HMDs made it so practically anyone can get a VR headset for practically nothing so long as you have a smartphone.
With Google Daydream and the continued development and evolution of the Gear VR you now have the addition of motion controllers to mobile VR. That’s great! You’ll be able to buy online or see in your local tech store. Whilst those at the higher end of the VR spectrum, especially Oculus for PC, works to push the costs and hardware needs downwards to make things more accessible the most accessible platforms are pushing hard upwards to make it what you want to be and be closer to a PC or console level experience. Both sides are trying to meet in the middle so you then have a full range of high quality, accessible, affordable VR options across the board.
I mean, isn’t that the entire point? We’re always talking about VR needing to become a mass market technology; that is making VR accessible to everyone.
End of the day, if you don’t like mobile VR – fine. The good news is, it’s working to get better. But don’t look down on those that use it and certainly don’t decry it for existing at all. Mobile isn’t the VR peasantry. It’s part of the family – part working just as hard to make everyone’s dreams of a VR future come true.
Final score at time of writing:-
Likes: 153
Dislikes: 138
