Epic MegaGrants – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

May 17, 2021

Animated VR Short The Green Fairy Takes Flight in June

There are some truly wonderful virtual reality (VR) animated shorts available, usually with interactive elements to further immerse players in the narrative. Today, New Zealand-based CONICAL that its animated movie The Green Fairy is ready for release, arriving for multiple VR headsets next month.

The Green Fairy is a whimsical adventure, taking viewers on a 10-minute journey. The tale revolves around the Green Fairy, who needs to find a new place to live as she’s been driven from her home by green goblins known as Fairy Catchers. Leaving her forest she travels to the ‘Big Little City’ and makes a home inside one of the city’s traffic lights. She learns that her unique green glow makes her different and struggles to fit in, yet that’s also what makes her special, possibly bringing balance to the struggle between fairies and goblins.

She won’t be alone with The Green Fairy featuring a female-led cast with red and yellow fairies. All created using the latest motion capture techniques blending full-body movements performed by actors in New Zealand at the AUT Mocap Studio Lab. And they’ll be voiced by actors who’ve worked with Disney and Nickelodeon, and voiced videogame characters seen in Castlevania and Final Fantasy VII.

The short film was originally prototyped back in 2016 where it premiered at Westfield Malls around New Zealand. CONICAL then received investment from the New Zealand Film Commission as well as an Epic MegaGrant to fully develop the project.

“The future of CONICAL and The Green Fairy franchise is experiencing an exciting and innovative leap of progression – our vision along with support by key global industry partners, the like of Epic Games is to disrupt the family entertainment market through Immersive Entertainment. In future iterations we plan to introduce Artificial Intelligence for next-gen storytelling to promote a fully interactive Green Fairy experience,” said Alejandro Davila, Founder and Creative Producer, CONICAL, in a statement. “CONICAL is a powerhouse of passionate storytellers, game developers and animators who collectively strive to expand the success of their IP to bring engaging and interactive experiences for the future enjoyment of audiences around the world.”

CONICAL will launch The Green Fairy on International Fairy Day (the 24th June) for free, supporting Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and SteamVR headsets. For further updates on the latest VR animated movies, keep reading VRFocus.

January 14, 2021

Theia Interactive Secures Epic MegaGrant for Unreal Engine VR Tool ‘Bigroom’

Known for its immersive work with fields such as architecture, aerospace and entertainment, Theia Interactive’s latest project is Bigroom, a collaborative virtual reality (VR) tool for Unreal Engine. This week the company has announced it’s been awarded an Epic MegaGrant to continue development.

The second MegaGrant Theia Interactive has received from Epic Games’ initiative, how much remains undisclosed. The money will aid the expansion of the team thus helping to expedite research and development. Currently, in a closed beta, Bigroom allows Unreal Engine developers to meet within a project and edit the design together in real-time whether that’s in VR or via desktop.

“Theia is working toward bringing real-time rendering and collaboration tools to the virtual design review process for multiple industries,” said Bill Fishkin, founder & CEO of Theia Interactive in a statement. “This Epic MegaGrant will help us improve the integration with Unreal Engine and deliver the next generation collaborative VR platform with BigRoom.”

Bigroom includes a range of features to aid architects, project managers and designers in the creative process. These include configurable and customizable options to help scale a project, presentation boards for easy visualisation; 3D scale models suited to VR, bookmarking and comparison tools, and task lists and Post-It notes.

After starting as a visualization company in 2014, Theia Interactive launched Optim in 2018, an Unreal Engine tool to help speed up content creation and improve workflow. With BigRoom still in development, the company has revealed it’ll be conducting an open beta soon.

Remote collaboration is nothing new in the VR industry, especially over the past year as more companies have looked for new ways to connect other than video calling. From industrial apps like SkyReal or product design platform Gravity Sketch, all the way up to full international conferencing abilities, the ability to virtually communicate has never been easier.

As Theia Interactive release further details on Bigroom, VRFocus will keep you updated.

July 30, 2020

Epic Megagrant Awarded to Varjo to Expand XR-1 Developer Edition Support for Unreal Engine

Having launched its Epic Megagrant initiative last year the company has awarded over $42 million from the $100 million fund. Today, the latest beneficiary from the virtual reality (VR) industry is enterprise headset manufacturer Varjo.

Varjo has received a MegaGrant to help further its mixed reality (MR) support for Unreal Engine, mainly focused on the Varjo XR-1 Developer Edition. The $10,000 headset launched back in December, a combination of the original VR-1 device coupled with two 12mp cameras on the front, enabling users to switch between MR and VR modes.

“Varjo currently provides one of the most advanced mixed reality hardware and software solutions for demanding industrial use,” said Sebastian Loze, industry manager for simulations at Epic Games in a statement. “We are excited to soon have mainline support for Varjo products in the primary Unreal distribution to continue delivering the highest-end visualization for our customers. The addition of new mixed reality features in Unreal Engine enables a new class of application development.”

The headset manufacturer has always focused on the enterprise market for commercial, government, and academic organizations. Its headsets have been used in automotive design, to train pilots and astronauts and help in clinical research. Customers include Volvo Cars, Boeing Starliner, FlightSafety International, and Lockheed Martin.

“We are thrilled to have this support from Epic Games to expand our delivery of mixed reality solutions for the most demanding enterprise VR/XR applications through Unreal Engine,” said John Burwell, global lead of simulation and training at Varjo.

“With OpenXR as the target interface, developers will, for the first time, have access to the industry’s most advanced enterprise-grade mixed reality features to support composing real and virtual environments for a wide variety of applications,” Burwell continued. “Planned features include full support for Varjo’s photorealistic visual fidelity, eye tracking and real-time chroma keying. The resulting solution is likely to position Unreal Engine as the most advanced platform for enterprise mixed reality development.”

Neither Epic nor Varjo have revealed how much was awarded. As further details on Varjo future developments are released, VRFocus will let you know.

April 15, 2020

SIGN Fracture Care & Precision OS Provide Oculus Quests to Aid VR Surgical Training in Developing Countries

A couple of months ago surgical training specialist Precision OS hosted a worldwide virtual reality (VR) training course during the Global Spine Congress (GSC) helping to showcase its educational platform. Today, the company has announced a partnership with humanitarian organization SIGN Fracture Care to bring surgical training to orthopaedic surgeons in
developing countries.

Precision

This has been made possible thanks to Epic Games collaborating with Precision OS, providing an Epic MegaGrant because the training company uses Unreal Engine to build the VR training solution.

SIGN Fracture Care specialises in providing access to fracture surgery for those that can’t afford it by donating orthopaedic education and implant systems. Its partnership with Precision OS means an expansion of these efforts which currently serve 365 hospitals across 53 countries. Oculus Quest’s preloaded with Precision’s surgical training platform will be distributed to these hospitals, allowing physicians to be taught remotely using the software’s multiplayer option.

“From the day we founded the company, we had a vision for using the immense scalability of virtual reality training to improve surgeon training and raise the standard of care worldwide,” states Danny Goel, M.D., CEO and co-founder of Precision OS. “SIGN Fracture Care International has been dedicated to that same mission and we are proud to support their work. We are grateful to our partners in this effort who are helping us to realize our collective vision.”

Precision

David Shearer, M.D. and Richard Gellman, M.D., surgeons and SIGN Board Members as well as founder and president of SIGN Fracture Care, Lewis Zirkle M.D. will provide the training.

“As it stands we have to spend several months a year travelling or flying surgeons to our headquarters to do training with the SIGN System,” says Dr. Shearer. “With VR, we have the opportunity to provide high-quality training remotely, which can markedly reduce the time and expense required. This has the potential to free up resources to train more surgeons, invest in manufacturing, and ultimately achieve greater impact.”

VR is proving to be a cost-effective training solution across a range of industries, not just healthcare, from teaching schoolchildren to enterprise. As the sector continues to grow, VRFocus will keep you updated.

March 5, 2020

CreativeXR Opens Applications for Third Accelerator Programme

Digital Catapult and Arts Council England launched CreativeXR back in 2018 to provide funds, tools and other assistance for those working on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) projects. The programme has proven to be a success, returning for the third year with new contributors.

For 2020 CreativeXR has been awarded an Epic Megagrant by Epic Games which will be used to support up to five projects built using Epic’s Unreal Engine. The second new contributor is StoryFutures Academy which will mentor up to four companies in story development, design and continuing narrative.

“Now in its third year, we’re excited by the worldwide acclaim CreativeXR projects are attaining globally. Our brilliant partnership with Arts Council England continues to allow us to help 20 production companies a year take risks to uncover new ways of telling stories and try out new commercial models,” said Jeremy Silver, CEO, Digital Catapult in a statement. “This year we’re delighted to partner with Epic Games and StoryFutures Academy; together we are paving the way to develop the new immersive formats of the future, making the UK the best place in the world to produce creative immersive content.”

Applications have now opened for companies and teams interested in taking part, the deadline for applications being 17th April 2020. Having helped 40 teams receive funding to develop prototypes over the last two years CreativeXR has become a pivotal accelerator programme offering access to workshops and peer-to-peer learning, whilst also hosting an annual Showcase and Market event attended by global companies such as HTC Vive, Oculus, Bose and Intel for teams to pitch their work.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with CreativeXR for the second consecutive year, this time as the Storytelling Partner. As the UK’s National Centre for Immersive Storytelling, we are aligned with the vision of CreativeXR, and believe that great stories are fundamental to the success of the next wave of immersive experiences,” said Rebecca Gregory-Clarke, Head of Immersive, StoryFutures Academy: the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling.

As in previous years once 20 projects have been selected to take part in the CreativeXR programme VRFocus will let you know who made the cut.

August 5, 2019

Epic MegaGrants Allows Virteasy Dental to Develop a VR Simulator

Epic Games launched its $100,000,000 USD Epic MegaGrants initiative to support Unreal Engine developers earlier this year, no matter what field they worked in. Virteasy Dental, a company specialising in educating university students via a haptic simulator has just received a grant to help it develop the platform for Unreal Engine including virtual reality (VR) support.

Virteasy Dental - Plateau Dents

Currently, the Virteasy Dental uses a 3D HD screen with a haptic arm and dental grip. This allows students to sit at a work station, don a pair of 3D specs and then work on CGI characters to improve their skills. With the grant, Virteasy Dental will continue to develop a VR prototype already in the works which has been combined with a haptic device to simulate drilling.

“This is a huge day not only for Virteasy but also for haptic and VR simulation in dentistry in general. A huge sign of confidence in the growing market of advanced haptic simulation within universities and could offer unbelievable benefits for both existing and new customers of Virteasy Dental,” said James Markey, Head of Sales and Product Owner for Virteasy.

“By combining our existing haptic skills and software with the power of Unreal will really open up the potential for our dental simulator and all existing clients will benefit from this. Furthermore, if our developments continue to progress this well with the virtual reality headsets this could open up Virteasy to new markets and make dental haptic simulation much more widely accessible.”

Virteasy Dental

“The MegaGrant not only gives us much welcome finance to take advantage of Unreal as our new engine but gives us access to contacts within Epic Games who have been incredibly helpful in supporting us to integrating haptic devices and the sense of touch into the virtual world.”

Virteasy Dental also hopes to update its simulators with the following improvements:

Enhanced lights / shadows for increased depth perception
An upgraded virtual scene
A new virtual patient
Interactions within the scene (change the inclination of the dental chair, move the patient light etc)
Unparalleled customisation of the virtual patient to match the real patient whose scans are being used

As Virteasy Dental continues to expand into VR, VRFocus will keep you updated.

April 29, 2019

Magic Leap und Epic Games verschenken 500 AR-Brillen an Entwickler

Im Zuge der Epic MegaGrants stellt Epic Games 100 Millionen US-Dollar zum Support von Devs, Kreativen und Medienschaffenden bereit. Zusätzlich verschenkt das Unternehmen dank einer Partnerschaft mit Magic Leap insgesamt 500 Magic-Leap-One-Brillen an Entwickler. Interessierte können ab sofort eine der AR-Brillen beantragen.

Magic Leap und Epic Games – Epic MegaGrants zur Unterstützung von Devs & 500 AR-Brillen for free von Magic Leap

Mit der Initiative Epic MegaGrants möchte Entwicklerstudio Epic Games Support für Kreativschaffende, welche mit der Unreal Engine arbeiten, vergeben. Insgesamt 100 Millionen US-Dollar werden dafür bereitgestellt, wie es auf der offiziellen Webseite heißt:

“Epic Games stellt 100 Millionen bereit, um Spieleentwickler, professionelle Unternehmen, Medien- und Unterhaltungsentwickler, Studenten, Pädagogen und Toolentwickler zu unterstützen, die mit der Unreal Engine erstaunliche Dinge tun oder Open-Source-Funktionen für die 3D-Grafik-Community verbessern. Zeigen Sie uns Ihre Projekte und Sie können einen finanziellen Zuschuss erhalten, der Ihren Erfolg fördert!”

Neben der Finanzspritze sorgt zudem eine Partnerschaft mit Magic Leap für die kostenlose Vergabe einer Creator Edition der Magic Leap One. Die Kooperation wurde auf der Unreal Engine Build: Detroit 19′ bekannt gegeben.

So findet Simon Jones, Director, Unreal Engine Enterprise bei Epic Games, optimistische Worte zur Zusammenarbeit:

“Wir freuen uns sehr, dass Magic Leap das Epic MegaGrants-Programm mit diesem großzügigen Geschenk von 500 Magic Leap One Creator Edition-Brillen unterstützt […] die Option, diese Hardware als Teil des Epic MegaGrants zu erhalten, bedeutet, dass Entwickler mehr Mittel für andere Bereiche zur Verfügung stehen und dadurch mehr finanzielle Flexibilität und Freiheit erhalten.”

So können sich Entwickler aus verschiedenen Bereichen ab sofort für eine der AR-Brillen bewerben. Egal ob Gesundheitswesen, Entertainment-, Automobilindustrie oder völlig anderer Bereich, auf der offiziellen Webseite erhält jedes Projekt eine Chance auf die Hardware. Eine Deadline gibt es nicht, die Brillen sind jedoch in limitierter Anzahl vorhanden.

(Quellen: Unreal Engine MegaGrants | Magic Leap)

Der Beitrag Magic Leap und Epic Games verschenken 500 AR-Brillen an Entwickler zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

April 25, 2019

500 Magic Leap One Creator Edition’s Being Given Away as Part of the Epic MegaGrants Programme

Epic Games has been heavily giving back to the videogame developer community over the last few years, first with its Unreal Dev Grants initiative, and then its new Epic MegaGrants programme which arrived last month. Today, the company has announced a new partnership with Magic Leap, offering 500 Magic Leap One Creator Edition headsets for Unreal Engine creators.

Magic Leap hero-scene_3x

As this is a grants-based initiative, if you’re a developer working on spatial computing applications across entertainment, architecture, automotive, healthcare and other industries using Unreal Engine then you can submit an application to receive a free Magic Leap One Creators Edition headset. That’s right completely free of charge, saving on the regular price of $2,295.

“The Epic MegaGrants program allows developers to pursue new goals and raise the bar for what they can accomplish, and we’re glad to support that mission by making Magic Leap One Creator Edition available to creators working in the spatial computing arena,” said Rio Caraeff, Chief Content Officer, Magic Leap in a statement. “Putting these devices directly into the hands of promising developers, along with the financial grant from Epic, will help accelerate the industry and lead to new innovation.”

There is no deadline, with grants awarded on a rolling basis and hardware available on a first-come-first-served basis, based on project merit. So the sooner you submit the application the better.

Magic Leap One

“We’re thrilled that Magic Leap is offering their support to the Epic MegaGrants program with this generous giveaway of 500 Magic Leap One Creator Edition devices, which offer incredible opportunities to explore applications from digital humans to product design,” said Simon Jones, Director, Unreal Engine Enterprise, Epic Games. “The option to receive this hardware as part of an Epic MegaGrant means that more of the funds can be available to spend in other areas, so developers have more financial flexibility and freedom to create.”

Epic MegaGrants is a brand new $100,000,000 programme to support any developer using the Unreal Engine. Apart from free Magic Leap headsets, studios can apply for grants ranging from $5,000 all the way up to $500,000. Plus they will continue to own their IP.

For more information and to apply, head to the official Epic MegaGrants website. As further updates are announced, VRFocus will let you know.

March 20, 2019

Epic MegaGrants is a new $100,000,000 Initiative by Epic Games

Epic Games has just held its annual State of Unreal showcase at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 and the company has a few things to shout about. A couple of days ago the company awarded its final round of grants for its Unreal Dev Grants programme. Today, Epic Games has taken that idea to the next step, announcing Epic MegaGrants. a new $100,000,000 USD initiative.

Epic Games

Just as before, Epic MegaGrants aim to assist videogame developers, media and entertainment creators, enterprise professionals, students, educators, and tools developers who are working with Unreal Engine 4. Epic Games will award creators with grants that range from $5,000 all the way up to $500,000, plus they will continue to own their IP and will be free to publish however they wish.

“At Epic we succeed when developers succeed,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games in a statement. “With Epic MegaGrants we’re reinvesting in all areas of the Unreal Engine development community and also committing to accelerate the open sourcing of content, tools, and knowledge.”

Grants will be awarded on a continuous rolling basis as funds allow, with no firm deadlines to submit. Simply head to the Epic MegaGrants website for additional details on eligibility and how to apply.

Epic Online Services

In addition to helping developers with financial grants, Epic Games has now launched Epic Online Services, a set of free tools and services. Designed to work with any engine – not just Unreal Engine 4 – Epic Online Services was originally built for Fortnite. It can offer developers easy access to key services such as game analytics and customer support tools all through a single SDK and developer portal.

“Building a game is only the beginning for developers. We know from experience that successfully managing and scaling your game requires a robust infrastructure, with numerous back-end services. With Fortnite we are now operating these services at an enormous scale, and we are glad to start opening them up to the game development community at large in order to make it easier for teams of all sizes to succeed,” Sweeney adds.

There’s going to be plenty more news coming from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 this week, so keep reading VRFocus for the latest updates.