As we’ve been seeing immersive technology and in particular augmented reality (AR) is becoming an increasingly popular tool for museums and art galleries, allowing visitors to go beyond the confines of exhibit or canvas to tell the hidden stories behind both or to show artefacts as they originally used to appear. In one recent case however, AR is being used in a very different way and unexpected way – to cope with being too successful.
When the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) held a new scheme to reach out to the local community called See Be Seen, Community Portraits, allowing artists to submit their own works for public display the response took them by surprise. Not only did they have a strong showing, it was beyond anything they could have expected. In fact, they soon had more paintings than they had bargained for; enough to cover practically every last scrap of wall in the gallery. From a response point of view that’s great, but from a logistics point of view it’s something of a nightmare. How are you supposed to clearly label and catalogue all these works without causing a mess or having to leave people out to find the extra room? It turns out that AR was the answer.
MAH teamed up with North South Studios, producer of the AR app Hoodoo, to produce a custom experience utilising the app that allows visitors to the gallery to use their phones to recognise and identify the various paintings around the walls before giving the app user a rundown on all the information about the artwork and artist..
“QR codes would not have worked since they require putting codes on the images.” Explains graphics designer Michaela Clark-Nagaoka, “NorthSouth came up with an elegant solution that fits the gallery’s aesthetic and blended, not detracted, from the exhibit design. In the future I can imagine many different ways we could use Hoodoo to enrich visitor experiences.”
MAH director Nina Simon adds, “This has been an exciting experiment as we continue to explore new ways to invite visitors to go deeper into exhibitions.”
North South Studios have released a video of Hoodoo in action at MAH which you can see below.
As always with videogames, the wait can sometimes seem like a very long time indeed. So, we won’t be too judgemental if you don’t remember the last time we brought you news about Last Labyrinth, a room escape virtual reality (VR) title for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. In fact, it was 
Not only that, the team have also confirmed two other pieces of news: The first is that Last Labyrinth will be receiving a simultaneous worldwide release in Spring 2019 and that along with the previously announced headsets support will also be given to the Windows Mixed Reality family of headsets.
CAVYHOUSE and UNTIES have also confirmed that VR support for Steam will be finalised and added to the title at a later date, although they have not confirmed which headsets these would be it is safe to assume both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift will be included as they are presently supported 
“Manufacturing sales teams can now offer more than just a BOM (Bill-of-Materials) as our tool creates Sales Approval Drawings as well. What really sets this experience apart is the new ability to add an QR code to their proposals, allowing anyone to see the configured product in 3D augmented reality on their own device, to scale in a real world environment. This creates a shared experience and a chance for collaboration during the quoting process for anyone from an engineer to the CEO.” Adds Jennifer Letourneau, Director of Product at Atlatl Software.
One colourful rhythm-action title that made waves was a slightly surreal one about an intergalactic news reporter in the mini-est of vinyl miniskirts who found herself part of a story of alien invasion. Saving the day not through journalism but effectively via a series of dance-offs. That title was Space Channel 5 and it still beloved today, the character of Ulala being elevated to one of publisher SEGA’s ‘All-Stars’.
One such announcement comes from the companies LISTA, Vidmar and Stanley Black & Decker Storage Solutions (not to be confused with the similarly named power tools firm). The trio have revealed their new programme Virtual Reality 3D Visual Planning Software, which is being previewed at IMTS 2018. The drag and drop real time design tool has been designed with both small and large spaces in mind. Allowing designers to create a solution for client needs and allowing them the ability to preview it through VR for a live taster.
No images of the product have been revealed yet, but when we hear more about it we’ll bring you an update on developments. For more VR news check back regularly with 
As adults know though, being ill and off of work is, in fact, doubly inconvenient. While the classic ‘pulling a sickie’ might still appeal, it also does not because a) work will inevitably pile up, b) while you are away something will have gone wrong that will equally inevitably mean you will be called upon to fix it the nanosecond you are back in and if you’re in an office c) Janice from accounting will have nicked your favourite mug and your chair has been replaced with some form of torture device previously employed by the Spanish Inquisition.
But what about more serious matters? It’s a sad fact of life that if not yourself you’ll likely know someone to whom a major crime has been committed. What happens then? More than that, what happens when the scale of the criminal accusation expands to grander scales. Ones that are not only major in significance but incidents or disagreements that affect entire countries?
To give you an idea of the sort of cases currently being discussed and the scope of the court, at the time of writing the court is dealing with everything from:
From the Nemean capital skeletal soldiers marched forth, turning imminent defeat into victory and if only they had stayed there, things may have been fine. But they did not. The undead army marched forth, spreading their pestilence as the shadow of dread descended on the world.
Featured highlights include:![Huckletree West (1)[2]](https://www.vrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Huckletree-West-12.jpg)
Of course you’re like as not aware of things already mentioned on the site which will be in attendence, but as with all events some things change so we have some changes to the card (as it were) to inform you of. The bad news is that Firesprite and their VR videogame 
One more member of the Post Gamescom panel has also been announced: 
Our final announcement for now is that we will also be joined on the day by Tara Reddy and Sam Weekes, the co-Founders of LoveShark. Who will be showing off their forthcoming augmented reality (AR) drawing-based videogame LaserDRAW. Look out for them on the day.
We’re still awaiting the confirmation of more developers and speakers so look out for more news. But before that