8th Wall – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 18, 2024

New Tool From Niantic Aims to Make Web-based XR Easier to Build

Pokémon GO developer Niantic announced it’s releasing a new visual editor and “powerful web gaming engine” called Niantic Studio, which aims to let creatives build immersive XR, 3D experiences, and casual web games.

Niantic Studio is essentially the company’s evolution of its subscription-based AR content development platform 8th Wall, which it acquired in 2022. Today, 8th Wall includes a number of tools for making AR content, including location-based experiences and a host of other stuff primarily targeted at mobile users.

Now available for free in public beta for 8th Wall developers, Studio goes one step further by giving developers a visual interface that Niantic says “makes everything you create accessible and visible in real time,” allowing users of all skill levels to start building with 8th Wall.

As a web-based tool, Studio includes the ability to create everything from AR scenes that use Face Effects or World Tracking to more complex 3D web games and immersive XR experiences, the company says, noting it will add more of its existing AR features to Studio throughout the beta.

“Studio is a completely new approach to building immersive XR and 3D experiences with Niantic 8th Wall,” the company says. “With Studio, we’ve completely overhauled the development environment, moving from a code-only interface to an intuitive visual editor that combines the speed and power of the web with the robust tools needed to create more realistic 3D web games and XR experiences.”

Built on a Entity Component System (ECS) gaming structure, Niantic’s new web gaming engine is said to simplify complex development tasks, not only letting users quickly build and edit 3D scenes in real-time, but also enter a ‘Play Mode’ so you can preview experiences and even make changes while your project plays that save automatically.

Studio is available for free in public beta to 8th Wall developers starting today. New users interested in trying out 8th Wall and its new Studio game engine can sign up for a free 14-day trial before plonking down any cash, which bottoms out at $9 per month for the ‘Starter’ tier when paid annually.

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While both the platform and its resultant content is indeed web-based, it’s uncertain at this time whether Studio is focusing on adhering to the WebXR standard, which includes support for a broad range of XR headsets which can access content through supported web browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox to name a few. We’ll update this article when/if that becomes more clear.

The post New Tool From Niantic Aims to Make Web-based XR Easier to Build appeared first on Road to VR.

May 26, 2022

Niantic is Bringing Its Large-scale AR Positioning System to WebAR Too

This week Niantic announced Lightship VPS, a system designed to make possible accurate localization of AR devices at a large scale to enable location-based AR content that can also be persistent and multi-user. While the first implementation of the system will need to be baked into individual apps, the company says it’s bringing the tech to WebAR too.

With the launch of Lightship VPS (visual positioning system), Niantic is staking its claim in the AR space by offering up an underlying map on which developers can build AR apps which are tied to real-world locations. Being able to localize AR apps to real-world locations means those apps can have persistent virtual content that always appears in the same location in the world, even for different users at the same time.

The system is built into Niantic’s Lightship ARDK, which is a set of tools (including VPS) that developers can use to build AR apps. For the time being, VPS can be added to apps that users will download onto their phone, but Niantic says it also plans to make a version of VPS that will work from a smartphone’s web browser. While it’s not ready just yet, the company showed some live demos of the browser-based VPS in action this week.

WebAR is a foundation of technologies that allow AR experiences to run directly from a smartphone’s web browser. Building AR into the web means developers can deploy AR experiences to users that are easy to share and don’t have the friction of going to an app store to download a dedicated app (you can check out an example of a WebAR experience here).

Thanks to Niantic’s recent acquisition of WebAR specialist 8th Wall, the company is now poised to make VPS compatible with 8th Wall’s WebAR tools, bringing the same large-scale AR positioning capabilities to web developers. Though it showed off the first demos this week, the company hasn’t said when the WebAR version of VPS will become available.

The post Niantic is Bringing Its Large-scale AR Positioning System to WebAR Too appeared first on Road to VR.

April 24, 2022

The VR Job Hub: Genies & 8th Wall

Welcome to another VR Job Hub where every weekend gmw3 gathers together vacancies from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industries, in locations around the globe to help make finding that ideal job easier. Below is a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on immersive entertainment.

Location	Company	Role	Link
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Avatar Artist	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Concept Artist	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Head of Studio	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Junior Character Technical Director	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Senior Avatar Artist	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Lead Product Designer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Backend Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Data Scientist, Growth & Monetization	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Lead Unity Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Senior Backend Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Unity Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Community Insights & Analytics	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Community Manager, User Engagement	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Head of Product	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Lead Animation Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Genies	Unity Technical Artist	Click Here to Apply
London, New York, Tokyo	8^th Wall	Account Executive	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Data Scientist	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	DevOps Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Lead Software Engineer (Generalist)	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Software Engineer, Ads Platform	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Software Engineer (Computer Vision/Machine Learning)	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Software Engineer, Infrastructure	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Software Engineer (Web Frontend)	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Tech Lead, Ads Platform	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Digital Marketing Manager	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	Product Manager	Click Here to Apply
Palo Alto, CA	8^th Wall	UX/UI Designer	Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there are 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 Peter Graham (community@gmw3.com).

We’ll see you next week on gmw3 at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

March 11, 2022

‘Pokémon GO’ Developer Niantic Acquires WebAR Company 8th Wall

Niantic, the company behind Pokémon GO, the Lightship AR SDK, and more, announced this week that it has acquired 8th Wall, creators of AR development tools designed to run through web browsers with wide reach across devices.

In what the company calls its “largest acquisition to date,” Niantic this week announced that is has acquired 8th Wall, a company known for its toolset that allows developers to build web-based AR content. Neither company disclosed the price of the acquisition, though 8th Wall had previously raised $10.4 million in funding since its founding in 2016, according to Crunchbase.

Though best known for its games like Pokémon GO, Niantic is moving to position itself as a platform for AR development. The company recently launched its Lightship SDK—a suite of AR development tools to give third-parties the ability to create world-scale AR content—along with a $20 million development fund to kickstart the platform.

While Niantic’s Lightship SDK is designed to integrate with the popular game engine Unity—and ultimately produce standalone app-based experiences—the company’s acquisition of 8th Wall expands its toolset to cover web-based AR content as well. Strategically that moves Niantic closer to being a one-stop shop for developers building AR content across a broad range of devices.

8th Wall says its web-based AR tech supports “5 billion smartphones across iOS and Android as well as computers and [XR] headsets.” You can check out an example of content created with 8th Wall’s tools by visiting 8th.io/niantic from any browser. From our understanding, 8th Wall’s tools are not based on the WebXR standard.

Niantic hasn’t signaled any immediate plans to merge its own Lightship SDK with the 8th Wall toolset, saying that developers can “build sophisticated AR experiences with Lightship & Unity and build lighter-weight AR experiences with 8th Wall.”

The post ‘Pokémon GO’ Developer Niantic Acquires WebAR Company 8th Wall appeared first on Road to VR.

November 3, 2020

Craig David & KSI Perform ‘Really Love’ in Your Home Using AR

The power of augmented reality (AR) is continually gaining pace, whether that’s gaming applications, tools and especially its marketing potential. The latest example of this comes from LADbible and AR specialist HoloMe with a holographic performance from KSI and Craig David.

Released this week in partnership with Proper Loud Music and MBA Live, the pair perform their hit, ‘Really Love’ ft. Digital Farm Animals. Only accessible via smartphones here, all you need to do is find a flat surface to place the hologram, with the performance starting automatically.

The hologram is completely resizable so you can have a lifesize Craig David singing away in your living room or place a mini KSI on your coffee table, whatever you fancy. Or take a pic next to your favourite, not something you can do at the moment with social distancing.

“Super excited to be teaming up with LADbible for this new hologram feature. I’m always up for anything that pushes the boundaries of technology,” said KSI in a statement. Craig David went onto say: “Absolutely loving this, I’m having so much fun with it!”

“Holograms represent dual value to our audience. Initially they achieve a sense of amazement due to the intimate nature of the human performance unfolding in their real-world environment,” adds Joe Williams, Head of Immersive at LADbible. “They then get to remix that performance, enabling them to supplement their own social media output with UGC incorporating the augmented reality asset we have gifted them.”

AR continues to go from strength to strength as phones increase in power and their camera quality improves. On the marketing side, Snoop Dog collaborated with 19 Crimes to create AR wine, whilst Felix & Paul Studios is working on an AR book of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens. When it comes to videogames CD Projekt RED and Spokko are developing The Witcher: Monster Slayer and popular AR horror Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery has been recently updated to support more devices. Even Nintendo is getting in on the act with Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.

For further AR updates from across the industry, keep reading VRFocus.

October 29, 2019

Cloud-based WebAR Authoring and Hosting Platform Launched by 8th Wall

8th Wall, an augmented reality (AR) specialist focused on web-based technology for mobile devices is best known for its 2018 experience Into the Spider-Verse AR. Today, the company has announced a new solution designed to make it easier for developers to create and host WebAR projects.

8th Wall

As the name suggests, Cloud Editor is a cloud-based authoring and hosting platform which has launched today for agency and business account holders. Clients can use the end-to-end cloud solution to create, collaborate and instantly publish browser-based WebAR projects, accessing templates whilst being able to work in teams thanks to in-built hosting.

Users will have access to:

Create SLAM and image target-enabled WebAR experiences using 8th Wall’s fully-featured text editor with out-of-the-box support for the most popular web frameworks (React, Vue.js, A-Frame, Babylon.js and Three.js), developer keybindings and dark mode.
Collaborate with multiple team members on one project from anywhere in the world and quickly view and resolve conflicts with an in-browser distributed version control system.
Publish and host WebAR projects to different deployment states including a password-protected staging environment, all served globally on the edge for instantaneous and fast viewing of code updates.

8th Wall’s experience has led to it working with brands such as Miller Lite, British Gas, Heineken, Swiss Airlines, Porsche, Red Bull, Time Magazine and Lego. 72andSunny was an early access partner, utilising Cloud Editor to publish a WebAR
activation for Italian lingerie brand Intimissimi’s “Bra Twist” campaign.

8th Wall asset viewer 3D

“8th Wall’s authoring and hosting platform is a game-changer for creating in-browser augmented reality and a significant milestone for the immersive web,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, CEO and Founder of 8th Wall in a statement. “Our SLAM and marker-based AR engine has powered WebAR for partners and developers since its launch last year, but required the use of third party software and the need for a hosted environment to get out to market. This release delivers on the demand from our customers in wanting a single end-to-end solution to create and host WebAR projects.”

For those interested, head on over to 8th Wall to sign up for an account. Prices do depend on whether you’re an agency or business. For further updates from 8th Wall, keep reading VRFocus.

October 29, 2019

8th Wall Launches Cloud-based WebAR Development Tools & Hosting Platform

8th Wall, a Palo Alto-based company creating augmented reality development tools, today announced the release of its cloud-based authoring and hosting platform which aims to make it easier for AR developers by providing what it calls a “unified in-browser solution” to create and host WebAR experiences.

Founded in 2016 by ex-Google and Facebook engineers, 8th Wall puts a heavy emphasis on computer vision, machine learning and product development. Throughout its three years of existence, 8th Wall has racked up a pretty impressive résumé, powering WebAR activations for Sony’s Spider-Man, Miller Lite, British Gas, Heineken, Swiss Airlines, Porsche, Red Bull, Time Magazine, LEGO, and Ally + MONOPOLY to name a few.

Now the company is opening its own cloud-based authoring and hosting platform to both new and existing clients, providing a solution to create, collaborate and publish browser-based WebAR experiences. The company also provides templates as well as the ability to work across teams, something that’s fundamental to building an experience when team members are distributed across multiple time zones.

Check out the company’s sizzle reel below to get a better idea of what you can make with the company’s authoring/hosting platform:

Like all WebAR applications, AR experiences powered by the company’s software require no app downloads, essentially removing a big friction point between the app’s creator and its consumer. Accessing WebAR experiences on a compatible mobile device is oftentimes as simple as scanning a QR code or navigating to a URL in your browser, giving you instant access to a miniature AR experience right on your phone.

Early access partner 72andSunny used 8th Wall’s new tools to publish their current WebAR activation for Italian lingerie brand Intimissimi’s “Bra Twist” campaign, featuring Sarah Jessica Parker.

“8th Wall’s authoring and hosting platform is a game-changer for creating in-browser augmented reality and a significant milestone for the immersive web,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, CEO and Founder of 8th Wall. “Our SLAM and marker-based AR engine has powered WebAR for partners and developers since its launch last year, but required the use of third party software and the need for a hosted environment to get out to market. This release delivers on the demand from our customers in wanting a single end-to-end solution to create and host WebAR projects.”

Head Into the Spider-Verse With Sony Pictures new AR Experience

Movie animation Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will soon be arriving in cinemas across the country, and because no film can arrive without some sort of entertaining tie-in, Sony Pictures has collaborated with 8th Wall and Trigger to create an augmented reality (AR) experience for mobile devices.

Spider-man Spider-Verse

Built using 8th Wall Web and Amazon Sumerian technology running on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Into the Spider-Verse AR is an online-only experience, meaning there’s no need to download an app. It’s designed to let users interact with Spider-Man in AR, enabling them to take pictures with the famous superhero and share them with friends.

“Spider-Man is a perfect match for AR not only because his acrobatic moves and iconic poses lend themselves well to the format, but because he’s one of the most relatable superheroes,” said Rose Phillips, SVP, Digital Marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment in a statement. “We’re excited to collaborate with 8th Wall, Amazon Sumerian and Trigger on Spider-Verse Web AR Experience and bring it to all – and new – Spider-Man fans.”

Spider-man Spider-Verse “The Spider-Verse Web AR Experience demonstrates how established brands can dramatically enrich their customer experiences and better engage with their fans,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, CEO at 8th Wall. “Augmented reality allows consumers to dive deeper into the worlds of their favourite products and characters. Sony Pictures has deepened and enriched the Spider-Man experience with the innovative work they’ve produced with Trigger and 8th Wall, and powered by AWS. It’s the perfect example of how AR for the web is the best new medium for brands to make their content come to life while increasing the accessibility and interactivity of their stories.”

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is due out in theatres next month, with the story introducing Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where anyone can wear the mask. To try the AR experience for yourself, just follow this link on your mobile device. And for any further movie AR/VR tie-ins, keep reading VRFocus.

September 12, 2018

8th Wall Announces Solution for AR Web Browsing

Thanks to things such as WebVR, and other virtual reality (VR) web browsers, seeing VR when browsing has become less uncommon. What still remains rare is augmented reality (AR) when web browsing, particularly on a mobile device. AR company 8th Wall believes that it can change that, with its AR content solution for mobile web browsers.

Usually, when engaging with AR experiences on the web, an eternal code or image marker is needed to be present in the user’s physical environment, such as a QR code. 8th Wall Web has been created with the aim of allowing users a seamless interactive AR experience on a website, without need for external markers or a separate app.

Using 8th Wall Web will allow various industries such as e-commerce, advertising, gaming and entertainment to reach a market of an estimated 3.2 billion users by utilising their mobile web browsers to make AR content more accessible.

“AR transforms the way people can use the web, whether it’s taking a closer look at a product on an ecommerce site, interacting with immersive branded content or being guided through a recipe with AR in the comfort of your own kitchen,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, founder and CEO at 8th Wall. “However, app installation is currently a major barrier to AR mobile adoption; 87% of smartphone users in the U.S. download no more than one app in a given month. 8th Wall Web extends the reach and impact of developers’ AR features and creates a tremendous opportunity for them to reach customers on a scale that would not otherwise be possible.”

8th Wall Web uses standards-compliant JavaScript and WebGL, along with a complete implementation of 8th Wall’s custom Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) engine, which has been optimised for mobile web AR content.

8th Wall Web will be made available to selected brand partners from 12th September. Further information can be found on the 8th Wall website. For future coverage on developments in AR, keep checking back with VRFocus.

February 6, 2018

AR Startup 8th Wall Secures $8 million Towards Platform Expansion

Last year augmented reality (AR) startup 8th Wall aimed to capitalise on the growing AR trend by launching its XR platform for Android and iOS devices, integrating with both ARCore and ARKit. Today, the company has announced the closure of a Series A funding round to accelerate development, securing $8 million USD of investment.8th Wall XR

8th Wall image1

The funding round was led by Norwest Venture Partners with participation from The Venture Reality Fund (The VR Fund), Shasta Ventures and Sparkland Capital. Vab Goel, a general partner at Norwest Venture Partners, has joined the company’s board of directors.

Currently, using Apple’s ARKit and iOS 11 developers can make and distribute consumer ready AR apps, like Linden.io’s ARrived. While Google’s ARCore is still in beta with developers, with an Android public roll out expected in 2018 – AR Stickers on Pixel devices are the only ARCore option at present.

With 8th Wall’s XR platform however that’s not a problem so that AR applications can now run on over 2.5B smartphones. At present developers can access an early release which includes optimized computer vision algorithms for 6DoF tracking, lighting estimation and surface detection, paired with easy-to-use APIs for transparent shadows, camera overlays and deformable surface meshes.

8th Wall image2

“Most people’s first experiences with AR will happen on mobile, and mobile AR will undoubtedly be the catalyst for growth in a wide range of industries,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, Founder and CEO of 8th Wall in a statement. “AR presents the chance to reimagine applications in a way never previously possible and will lead to user interactions that are much more natural. AR developers hold the key, but they need a new suite of tools and services to make it happen. We help them get through the door faster.”

“8th Wall is accelerating adoption of AR and exploiting the potential of the technology,” said Vab Goel, general partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “Erik and his team know what it takes to succeed in mobile development. Norwest Venture Partners is excited about 8th Wall’s vision.”

8th Wall will also use the funding to expand it plans into engineering, product design and business roles. As it does so, VRFocus will keep you updated.