arthur – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

May 7, 2021

Collaboration Tool Arthur Enhances Feature Set With Photorealistic Avatars

If you’re a company looking to embrace virtual offices and immersive, remote collaboration then there are a number of options available to you. One of the latest for Oculus Quest users is Arthur, a virtual workplace app that only launched back in March. Developer Arthur Technologies has just rolled out a new update to improve the service by expanding the room size as well as offering photorealistic avatars.

Arthur is split between consumer (intended for startups and individual professionals) and pro (currently in beta) models, with both receiving the photorealistic avatars update. The self-generatable avatars also feature accurate lip synchronization and various wardrobe options so it actually looks like you’re talking to someone, further aiding that feeling of presence.

The Pro model also gets a few added extras for companies to experiment with. There’s the expanded room capacity to more than 50 participants in VR, enabling large corporations to conduct internal meetings on a grander scale. The inclusion of Audio Zones allows people to hold private conversations with a subgroup of people with meetings, plus speech-to-text capabilities users can simply record their voice to generate notes.

“While most VR platforms offer simple meetings with a few people, Arthur is mainly used for large-scale brainstorming sessions with whiteboards, flow charts, and other complex meetings in real-time,” said Christoph Fleischmann, Founder and CEO of Arthur in a statement. “We are making the virtual office a highly sought-after solution for the enterprise space, combining a collaborative and highly productive meeting environment with realistic settings to meet with colleagues and coworkers, such as a coffee bar.”

“Since our launch in December 2020, we’ve received great feedback from our professional users on how they’re currently using the platform, and how they’d like to use it for virtual collaboration going forward,” Fleischmann continued. “We’re continuously finding ways to adapt to the evolving needs of our clients and are looking forward to what’s next for Arthur.”

Arthur has been in development for four years already being used by major Fortune 500 companies and organisations like the United Nations. It allows users to integrate platforms like Google Drive so they can share files and 3D models, supporting formats including MP4, PNG, PPTX, and more. As the collaboration app continues to improve its services VRFocus will let you know.

March 2, 2021

VR Office App Arthur Getting Free Oculus Quest Release

Arthur Technologies is set to launch its VR office space app, Arthur, on Oculus Quest for free in the near future.

We first reported on Arthur when it launched in beta in late 2020. The new app, however, recently appeared in the Coming Soon section of the Oculus Store, though there’s no specific release date for now. Arthur is another collaborative app that allows people to meet up online and utilize productive tools together. Uniquely, though, the experience was built entirely from within VR itself.

Arthur Coming To Oculus Quest

Just like other collaborative apps, features include sharing virtual whiteboards, importing 3D assets and sharing presentations, with multiple users are able to interact. Arthur Technologies sees the platform being used for everything from team meetings to one-on-one client sessions. People can also join in with calls on a browser outside of VR.

When we tried it out for ourselves we were impressed with the features, even if we thought the custom avatars — which all wear sunglasses and have mics over their mouths to disguise the lack of lip syncing — look a little silly. Look below – see what we mean?

On the Quest store, Arthur will be a free ‘Consumer’ edition that allows for unlimited session time for smaller-sized teams. You will, however, be able to upgrade your space for larger groups of people with more features. This appears to include adding all-new spaces like, for example a cafeteria space designed for more social interactions.

Do you have any interest in Arthur? Let us know in the comments below!

December 9, 2020

Arthur Technologies Raises $2.5M for Its VR Office Collaboration Software

Munich, Germany-based AR/VR software company Arthur Technologies today announced it’s successful raised $2.5 million in seed funding. The company is also launching a beta of its VR collaboration software, Arthur.

The seed round was led by Silicon Valley venture capitalist firm Draper Associates, a previous investor in companies such as Tesla, Skype, Baidu, Twitch, and Cruise Automation.

Arthur, the company’s social collaboration tool for business, lets users connect either through VR headsets, or through a traditional monitors via web browser. The company also intends on releasing Arthur to both iOS and Android mobile devices in the near future.

To date, Arthur has been used in closed beta by the United Nations and French investment bank Société Générale. The company also says it’s currently being used by “one of the largest automotive companies in the world and one of the largest professional services firms in the world.” The company has now begun what it calls an “open exclusive beta” so more businesses can try out the app.

Like many enterprise-focused VR collaboration tools, Arthur allows businesses to personalize virtual spaces and hold either planned or impromptu meetings with colleagues using what the company calls “true-to-life avatars,” which appear to include photogrammetric scans of a user’s face.

The app features many of the trimmings of a standard office space, including whiteboards, virtual monitors, a comprehensive file integration system, and Internet browsers for in-headset collaborative surfing.

Founded in 2016, Arthur Technologies says its platform was mainly designed so geographically dispersed companies could hold meetings face to face, although it’s clear that with the new work-at-home shift in the larger industry, such a platform would also be useful for effective social distancing.

The post Arthur Technologies Raises $2.5M for Its VR Office Collaboration Software appeared first on Road to VR.

December 8, 2020

Arthur Is A New Enterprise-Focused VR Meeting and Remote Office App

Today Arthur VR is debuting to the world as the latest VR meeting and virtual spaces application specifically designed for enterprise-focused clients. Additionally, the company also raised $2.5 in Series A funding with Silicon Valley CD Draper Associates.

Arthur is launching in “beta” today to allow interested companies the ability to try out its virtual office space services. The application is of course available in VR headsets like the Oculus Quest but also in private web browsers for non-VR mode too.

In the company’s background information document it explains that Arthur was “built with the realization that workers are still far too reliant on physical meetings based on locale” but that same mantra can apply to countless other VR applications.

However, one thing that’s pretty special about Arthur is that all of its development occurred inside VR. The company does not have a physical office space or commuters at all.

I got a brief demonstration of Arthur last week that really showed off the same-room collaborative tools. Whereas other apps such as Rec Room, Bigscreen, Altspace VR, VRChat, and others are all trying to adapt and pivot to more professional use cases.

In Arthur you get slide decks you can import, 3D models you can manipulate for fun or to setup and decorate your office, and even whiteboards to write on alongside virtual monitors. Not to mention existing in the same space as everyone no matter the distance and obviously saving on real estate costs since there is no need for a physical office space.

If Bigscreen is the best way to watch TV and movies in VR, Arthur wants to be the easiest and most responsive way to have professional meetings in VR that doesn’t require retrofitting an existing application.

Rather than beaming you to the surface of Jupiter to have a meeting, Arthur is more interested in replicating the sense of standing in a conference room, along with the usual VR mechanics such as teleportation to move around and the ability to lift and move anything with your hands.

I appreciated the 3D model that the development team had made for me, pictured above, even if it looks a bit silly. However, there is no lip sync and every character is always wearing sunshades since they all have dead, static eyes. That being said, it looks pretty glorious, does it not?

The short list of featured current clients includes the United Nations; Societe Generale, one of the leading European financial services groups; one of the largest automotive companies in the world and one of the largest professional services firms in the world.

What do you think of the Arthur news? Is this the type of app you could see you or your company using at some point in the near future? Let us know down in the comments below!