Category: Digital Catapult

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Mercia Technologies Announces Partnership With Digital Catapult’s Augmentor Programme

The investment group Mercia Technology has announced that it is partnering with Digital Catapult’s Augmentor programmer to help advance the next generation of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) businesses from across the UK.

Mercia Technology are based within Warwickshire and are one of the most active investors in the industry, having made investments in companies such as interactive entertainment developer nDreams, immersive technology tools company for the market research sector Gorilla in the Room, and the Newcastle-based Luminous Group, who are specialists in 3D digital technology used for architecture and construction.

This newly announced partnership will see a new ten-week programme, which is due to start in June 2018, providing technical and business mentorship from industry partners, experts and investors, including Mercia.

“Augmentor provides a fantastic platform for emerging virtual and augmented reality companies to further grow and develop their businesses.” Said Chris Kilroy, investment manager at Mercia: “We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Augmentor and we’re looking forward to working with the Digital Catapult team to find and support the most ambitious entrepreneurs operating within the sector across the UK.”

With continued support and investment into UK business Mercia Technology are positioning themselves not just as a leader in the investment filed, but also as a support of the UK industry. There investments in the above companies would of supported a number of projects, providing jobs for various people within the immersive media industry. This allows the teams working in the UK to continue positioning themselves as strong competition for the global market, attaching more business in the process.

“Augmentor is a crucial support programme for the UK’s early-stage businesses working on immersive technology. The programme is gathering some of the best businesses across the UK, offering them access to key partners, mentors and investors.” Said Aurelien Simon, head of immersive at Digital Catapult: “The partnership with Mercia was critical to the great impact of this programme in its first year and we’re incredibly pleased  to see them joining us again for the second year.”

VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest from this partnership in the future so make sure to stay tuned for more.

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Dimension Studio: The First Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Stage in the World

Having a state-of-the-art volumetric and 3D capture studio doesn’t come easy. However, when it came to the setting up Dimension Studio, it only took about a year. Dimension Studio opened on the 24th October 2017, in London thanks to the partnership of Hammerhead VR, Digital Catapult and Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studio. Harnessing six years of Microsoft research and one of the only three of such studios globally, Dimension Studio is the start for the next generation of immersive content in Europe. Callum Macmillan, Director at Dimension Studio gave VRFocus a tour of the first Microsoft Mixed Reality capture stage in the world. 

A dancer being captured inside the volumetric studio.

For those of you who do not know what volumetric capture is, it is essentially a moving image that you can look at from any angle. It’s free viewpoint content – a system for viewing natural video, allowing the user to interactively control the viewpoint and generate new views of a dynamic scene from any 3D position. When it comes to virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) or even regular videogames, the ability to portray a realistic human is usually done through animating virtual human beings. This breaks the ‘illusion’, as we can visually tell through subtle nuances, movements, eye contact and movement that what we are looking at is not ‘reality’. Dimension Studio aims to solve this problem by capturing real humans and creating a virtual asset of their performance that can then be used in VR,  AR or MR applications.

Macmillan has had 20 years of experience in camera technologies. Anything that would that involve filming a scene with multiple cameras, such as bullet time from The Matrix (1999). He explains that capture the virtual human can be done in their capture studio which has a total of 106 cameras. The stage is built up of eight towers on wheels, each tower has twelve cameras on them creating a circular array of 96 cameras. The twelve cameras consist of six RGB cameras and six infrared cameras, combined with lasers and lights to capture 2K resolution details of a human being.

The towers are on wheels to either film one to three individuals on the stage that measures up to eight feet across. When capturing a single individual and there is little movement, they will bring the towers closer to the subject in order to get the highest quality of capture. They have to be careful not to bring too many individuals in, particularly when characters interact, as object occlusion can take place. Occlusion takes place when one object in a 3D space is blocking another object from view from the cameras, distorting the image or footage capture. The additional ten cameras suspended from the top of stage complete the whole set up. The team have also put eight microphones on the top to get a good level, though the production team may choose to use clip mics or lav mics depending on the costume or clothing the subject needs to wear during the shoot. Macmillan explains that they’re not trying to do anything fancy with microphones like spatial audio, as this can be done in post-production. When VRFocus came by they had just added a bar on top in order to suspend people from the bar with wires for VFX or wire work, enabling action shots like flying for example. A similar setup also exists in the studio but with a primary focus on non-moving objects

At the moment anybody can hire the studio space. Production and animation houses can book the studio on a commercial basis, and researchers working in the immersive field that are seeking to push the boundaries are also welcome to come by.The footage captured can be used for various industries such as gaming, TV, film, fashion, digital manufacturing, health and education just to name a few. Macmillan says that clients from an entertainment  background, education, training and marketing are huge sectors that are excited about using their space. Dimension Studio is currently working with Sky VR and other broadcast partners to produce unique experiences across drama, sport and documentaries.

To find out more watch the video below.

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Digital Catapult Announce New Immersive Lab In Brighton

Immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) have taken off over the past couple of years, but to a large extent, the market is still dominated by US. Digital Catapult are looking to redress this balance with the opening of its Immersive Labs. Following the successful launch of its London lab earlier this year, Digital Catapult have chosen Brighton as the next location.

The Immersive Labs are part of a strategy created by Digital Catapult to develop the ecosystem for MR and VR developers to create new content. The lab will be available to businesses of any size as well as researchers and investors to create, demonstrate test and try out the latest immersive content and technology.

Brighton was chosen as the location for the second Digital Catapult Immersive Lab after thorough analysis into clusters of MR and VR activity throughout the UK. The search concluded that Brighton was one of the largest immersive hubs in the country, with several companies already working in those areas. Digital Catapult believe there is great potential for further development in this location.

“Brighton is uniquely positioned to take advantage of immersive technologies because it is home to many disruptive companies operating in the creative and digital sectors,” said Phil Jones, Lead at Digital Catapult in Brighton. “The opening of the Immersive Lab here is part of the wider strategy to bring these organisations together and encourage their collaboration to accelerate the immersive industry’s growth both regionally and nationally. Digital Catapult is committed to opening a number of Immersive Labs across the country, where anyone in the community can gain access to state-of-the-art equipment. Each Lab will build on the unique expertise of the local ecosystem, with the Brighton Lab drawing on Digital Catapult’s 5G test bed to help the SME community explore how 5G networks can open-up new applications and services using virtual and augmented reality.”

VRFocus will bring you further news on Digital Catapult and its projects in the VR area as it becomes available.

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Open City Documentary Festival Confirms September 6th As VR Day

When it comes to works of fiction and non-fiction, specifically those that use virtual reality (VR) as a tool for filmmaking we’re used to several festivals throughout the year. VR is a growing part of both the Sundance Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival, the latter of which having launched the VRX awards earlier this year. Whilst in the UK there’s also the annual occurrence of Sheffield Doc/Fest which has grown in visibility over the last couple of years and is now getting more recognition on the international stage.

Now it seems we have another event to add to this list in the form of the Open City Documentary Festival. Who for their 2017 event will be specifically featuring talks and masterclasses about how VR works with regard to storytelling and filmmaking. The six sessions will be hosted by Digital Catapult and take place on Wednesday 6th September at their location on Euston Road in Kings Cross, London.

Details of the free sessions can be found below:

11:00 – Masterclass with Arnaud Colinart

Lindsey Dryden talks to Arnaud Colinart about the innovative and award-winning project, Notes on Blindness. She will also be introducing us to her latest collaboration with Arnaud on the VR project, Unrest, which accompanies the documentary of the same name directed by Jennifer Brea.

12:30 – Storytellers and Scientists in Conversation: The Art & Science of VR

We’re often told virtual reality is the future of entertainment. But what if, alongside entertaining you, VR can also make you a more self-fulfilled person? In this panel, storytellers and scientists, explore the intersection between story and science in VR. How does our brain react to VR? Can neurobiology help us tell more effective stories? And what can scientists learn from VR storytelling? How can filmmakers fully exploit these ideas and how are scientists and storytellers working together to further push the limits of immersive experiences?

14:15 – You Are Not Alone: The Future of the Collective VR Experience

Virtual Reality content is growing exponentially even though VR is only currently available to a tiny minority of interested consumers. How do we address the issues of accessibility and democratization of immersive production, creation and consumption? From web VR to social VR caves to Mega Pods to AR, this session will explore ways of shifting VR from a branded, private experience into something more accessible, public and even collaborative.

15:30 – How VR Could Change Our Culture, Our Relationships and Everything In-Between

Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Realities have the potential to deeply affect our culture and change our relationships with both the digitized world and ourselves. In this panel, VR Creators explore the role of empathy in immersive storytelling, the editorial and ethical challenges of the medium, gaming, and the next generation of technology. What will the next iteration of our new reality look and feel like?

16:45 – Gaming and Storytelling in Immersive Environments

Game developers were working with VR long before the rest of us had even seen a headset. VR’s first life was in video games. While filmmakers are still trying to get to grips with VR and its grammar, gamers have years of experience in creating immersive narratives. What are the secrets of making a great game story? And how can VR creators use these approaches in documentary immersive storytelling? Panellists, including expert games designers and high-profile content creators share their top tips.

18:00 – Closing Keynote: William Urrichio of MIT Open Documentary Lab

No one yet knows what VR is ‘for’, what stories and experiences can best be conveyed in a headset or other immersive environment. To launch this day of exploration, the principal investigator in the MIT Open Documentary Lab and an expert in comparative media studies, William Uricchio, will explore how film-makers can fully exploit the huge potential of VR, where to look for creative inspiration and what VR can contribute to the documentary tradition. Uricchio’s unique perspectives comes from his research of “old” media when they were new.

VRFocus will bring you more news regarding the event as it becomes available. For more information about the sessions mentioned above and for details of other non-VR sessions at the event head to http://opencitylondon.com.

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Digital Catapult Announces New Head Of Immersive

As we often say on our regular Sunday feature, The VR Job Hub, the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) industries are always changing, always moving and there are always new opportunities in each for those looking for a change for those either already in it or looking for a change. And as we have already seen this week there are always new investors, new partners and new roles being filled.

The latest company to announce a new post is UK-based Digital Catapult, which works to encourage technological innovation in the UK with the goal of helping the UK thrives in an increasingly tech-based world and remain at the forefront of that technolgical evolution. The company has today announced that Aurelien Simon has been appointed as their new Head of Immersive.

Simon was previously Head of VR at Unit9 where he led immersive projects for the likes of Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Oculus Rift, which included working on the award winning Samsung: Bedtime VR Stories. Simon is said to be taking on a new remit at Digital Catapult, identifying how immersive technologies can disrupt businesses, sectors and the wider
economy.

“We’re getting close to the next wave in immersive, where hardware improvements, price reductions and more
sophisticated content will strengthen the overall experience and make it easier for people and organisations to engage.” Said Simon on his new role, “For immersive technologies to really take off, it is vital that content creators fully
understand the language of VR and AR and create content with relevance, either that is fitting to a consumer audience or relevant to a specific business or market need. Digital Catapult is uniquely placed to facilitate interactions across all parties and become the innovation hub for the industry in the UK. The opportunity to play a part in that is hugely exciting.”

Digital Catapult’s CEO Dr. Jeremy Silver added: “We are delighted to welcome Aurelien Simon to Digital Catapult. His previous work at Unit9 was exemplary and his appointment is the latest in our drive to hire great talent across our focus areas. Aurelien’s wealth of expertise will add tremendous value to our ongoing work in the immersive sector. We are helping to make the UK the best place in the world to create content and applications for Immersive experiences and Aurelien is already contributing significantly to this effort.”

VRFocus will bring you more news on Digital Catapult’s work with VR and related technologies when they reveal it.

ENDS

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Digital Catapult Launches Augmentor VR Lab and Start-up Programme to Advance Early Stage VR, AR & MR Tech

Today Digital Catapult, an organisation aimed at growing the UK digital economy, and Seedcamp, a first round fund, have announced the launch of Augmentor, an equity free programme to support early stage businesses developing immersive technologies and applications.

Providing both technical and business mentorship from leading industry experts, the ten-week programme will advance virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) companies who are in the early part of development. Successful Augmentor applicants will be able to utilise Digital Catapult’s new state-of-the-art Immersive Lab at its centre in Kings Cross, London, as a space to work and collaborate in.

Visualise launches Norwegian 360 experience_1

Dr Jeremy Silver, CEO Digital Catapult said in a statement: “Immersive technologies are fast becoming a central part of the digital economy and there is a real demand for access to expertise and equipment in this space. Our new lab will help to provide businesses with access to state-of-the-art immersive technologies under one roof, providing a vital opportunity for them to refine their ideas and test products across the range of equipment on the market today.

“The UK has a real opportunity to develop a world-leading industry around immersive technologies, building on our successes in the gaming and creative industries, but to do so we need to support the next wave of businesses that will lead the way in this field. Our Augmentor programme is designed to do just that. The potential for immersive technologies, particularly their application across industries such as digital manufacturing, digital health and care and the wider creative industries, is huge, and we plan to play a vital role in helping the UK realise this potential.”

Applications are open from now until 26th February. For further info and to apply head to the Augmentor website.

“Having invested in several immersive companies including Splash and TheWaveVR, we’re excited to be launching this initiative to develop a new wave of entrepreneurs solving problems with emerging technologies,” said Dave Haynes, from Seedcamp’s investment team. “We’re still on the frontier of what immersive tech can do and what founders need. And European founders will need an investment of both time, expertise and money to succeed. That’s how Seedcamp has been helping startups for years now. Augmentor is the first program in London looking to bridge that gap for companies working with VR and AR.”

For any further updates on the programme, keep reading VRFocus.