Mobile World Congress – Page 3 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

February 27, 2017

OPTO Launches Mobile VR Headset OPTO Air At Mobile World Congress

The virtual reality (VR) landscape continues to change day on day, although some days bring with them more than a few changes. For example, in the last two days we’ve had the news of a new iteration of the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR. And, as revealed earlier today, there has also been news of LG entering the fray with a new head-mounted display that will be using SteamVR’s tracking. Calling into question if HTC’s exclusivity is now at an end. Those aren’t the only headsets being revealed however, as OPTO has today at the Mobile World Congress 2017 (MWC) officially launched its colourful VR head mounted display (HMD) the OPTO Air.

The OPTO Air features built-in speakers to remove the need for headphones, bespoke lenses crafted for greater VR clarity, a magnetic cover, and is partially made with anti-bacterial foam. Meaning it can be easily cleaned, thus making it – the company says – more hygenic and more suitable for sharing amongst friends and family and for use within more public arenas. Such as museums, art galleries and other public displays where HMDs may be in use.

VRFocus spoke to Richard Stephens, COO of OPTO about the OPTO Air.

Unlike many other HMDs the OPTO Air certainly has an array of colours: including Blue Magic, Lemon Peel,
Galactic Graphite, Sunset Zest, and the slightly eyebrow-raising Lilac Lick. It can be bought now via the OPTO website for £98 (GBP). VRFocus will bring you more information on the OPTO Air when we get it.

February 27, 2017

MWC 2017: HTC On 3D Printing A Virtual Creation

What if you could create, in virtual reality (VR) an original object, from the initial design through to a finished piece and then use a 3D printer to bring it out of the virtual world into the real one?

That’s just one of the items being shown off by HTC at Mobile World Congress 2017 (MWC). We spoke to HTC’s Graham Wheeler, SR Director at the corporation who explains that and just what else you can expect, with everything from wireless VR to facing your fears.

VRFocus will of course be bringing you more from both MWC and GDC throughout this week.

February 27, 2017

Walking the Plank on HTC Vive

HTC’s concerted effort to court developers to use the HTC Vive in new ways has not gone unnoticed. The short vertigo-inducing experience, Richie’s Plank Experience, has often been noted as one of the ‘scariest’ virtual reality (VR) creations currently available despite not involving any kind of horror or videogame mechanics. HTC has noted this, and will soon be rolling the experience out to Viveland venues in China.

The Plank Vive Demo 3

Ahead of that public debut however, HTC brought Richie’s Plank Experience to Mobile World Congress (MWC), Barcelona, showcasing the format in which attendees of Viveland will be able to experience the software. While Richie’s Plank Experience is already available via Steam as an Early Access title, a small installation makes all the difference.

As can be seen in the images on this page, the MWC installation of Richie’s Plank Experience featured a platform representing the elevator in the experience and a long walkway for the titular plank. The user would stand on the platform as they ascend 160 metres through a skyscraper, only to have the doors open and reveal a wooden plank stretching out in front of them, high above the tarmac below. As might be expected, the experience from here on is simply to walk out onto the plank.

The Plank Vive Demo 2

‘Simply’ might be a confusing word, as there is nothing simple about keeping your cool in Richie’s Plank Experience. The walkway used in the MWC installation had some noticeable give, meaning underfoot vibrations with each step offer genuine haptic feedback. The user was encouraged to take things slowly, but few would need such advice.

Being the daring VR aficionados that the VRFocus team are, we assessed the experience further by measuring the width of the walkway through running our feet along the edges and the flexibility by varying the pressure of footsteps. It may seem like such a simple way of presenting a familiar real-world experience – walking on a wooden plank, that is, not being 160 metres in the sky without a safety net – but the addition of tangible feedback underfoot genuinely took Richie’s Plank Experience to an entirely new level.

The Plank Vive Demo 1

No confirmation of timing for the debut of Richie’s Plank Experience at Viveland venues has yet been announced, though it would be coming in this format to China’s official HTC Vive installations ‘soon’, VRFocus was informed. Richie’s Plank Experience is one of many software and hardware titles on show from HTC at MWC this week, and VRFocus will bring you hands-on assessments of the rest of the line-up very soon.

February 27, 2017

Mobile World Congress: HTC Vive’s Booth Line-Up

HTC Vive are, as expected, attending the 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona and with a fully-stocked booth. Their line-up is as follows: Mindshow, MakeVR, You VR, Island 359, Vive EU, Cover Me!!, Richie’s Plank Experience and the TP Cast.

Mindshow is a videogame and also a tool for creating movies, allowing players to record the 3D environment similar to a real film set in a way comparable to how Machinima work.

mindshow_blog-730x411

MakeVR is essentially a 3D modelling applications implemented into virtual reality (VR). It allows the creation and manipulations of objects you create in the virtual space in a way similar to a Computer Aided Design (CAD) programme.

YouVR allows a player to experience the full ins and outs of the structure and function of a human body, such as stepping right inside a virtual heart to watch it beating.

Island 359 is a demo that allows for full-body tracking through the use of additional sensors and controllers to allow the movement of the rest of the players body instead of just their hands.

Island 359: Zero Dark screenshot

Cover Me!! Is also present in the booth, a multiplayer VR experience that links the Vive head mounted display (HMD) with a smartphone attached to a plastic gun peripheral and use the screen to aim.

Richie’s Plank Experience allows players to simulate the experience of walking out onto a plank suspended 180m in the air.

There are also demonstrations of wireless headset solution TPCast being displayed at the Vive Booth.

VRFocus will keep you updated with further information on HTC Vive and MWC.

February 27, 2017

Richie’s Plank Experience Coming to Chinese Venues

Virtual Reality (VR) game Richie’s Plank Experience is coming to Viveland the VR theme park in Taipei, Taiwan. The venue will have a physical plank set up to more accurately simulate the experience that many players have characterised as terrifying.

Richie’s Plank Experience is a videogame demo currently on Early Access. Gameplay features the player taking an elevator up to a plank that site 160m above the ground and then trying to walk to the end without falling off. The game has been described by developers as an experience designed for first-time VR users. There are also settings within the game that allow for the use of the physical plank, as Viveland will be doing.

The Plank Vive Demo 2 VRFocus‘ Nina takes on the virtual heights at MWC 2017.

Viveland is located on the 3^rd floor of the Syntrend Creative Park and covers a space of 330 square meters. It was opened on October 29^th 2016 and is designed for both single and multi-player VR experiences. Their specialised VR booths are equipped with HD projectors, AMD high-performance graphics cards, stereo equipment, SteelSeries wireless headsets and comfortable seating.

Richie’s Plank Experience is part of a large catalogue of VR games available at Viveland, including Fruit Ninja, Everest VR, Zombie Camp, Project CARS and Front Defence.

VRFocus will keep you updated on further news about the HTC Vive and Viveland.

February 27, 2017

Wireless HTC Vive Solution TPCAST Confirmed For Europe In Q2 2017

TPCAST, the wireless solution for HTC Vive that was revealed at the end of 2016 is closing in on release after it was confirmed to VRFocus by HTC at the 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona that it will be available to order in Europe during Q2 of 2017, collaborating earlier reports of a worldwide Q2 release. Roll out of the kits will commence in China, before continuing across other regions worldwide.

HTC Vive TPCAST

The date was confirmed to VRFocus by the Vice President HTC Vive, Europe Peter Frølund.

TPCAST, a company invested in through the Vive X global virtual reality (VR) accelerator program, which offers access to experienced VR developers and VCs looking to invest in startup firms, was first revealed back in November 2016 as part of an event by HTC and Alibaba.

“We are also very proud that a Vive X team, TPCAST, has developed such an impactful product in such a short time.” Commented Alvin W. Graylin, China Regional President of Vive, HTC at the time. “It will allow Vive customers worldwide to gain untethered mobility in VR from their existing devices, while satisfying the biggest feature request of potential PC VR customers.”

And last month the company revealed a partnership with Lattice Semiconductors to bring the product up to near-zero latency with non-line of sight (NLOS) performance best suited ideal for dealing with VR applications.

“When seeking a partner to collaborate on our wireless VR protocol TPCAST 2.0, Lattice’s proven WirelessHD technology, coupled with Lattice’s FPGA and ASSP products, was a natural fit,” said Andrea Liu, marketing director at TPCAST. “Working with Lattice, we’re able to deliver a truly unmatched VR experience with low latency, high robustness and high bandwidth video transmission. We look forward to continuing our work with Lattice to develop future wireless VR solutions.”

VRFocus will be bringing you more news, hands-on reviews and information throughout the week from both MWC and GDC.

February 26, 2017

Futuremark and OptoFidelity Showcasing VR Latency Testing Platform at MWC and GDC 2017

November 2016 saw computer benchmarking specialist Futuremark release its virtual reality (VR) software VRMark. Next week the company will be heading to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017 and Mobile World Congress to showcase a new VR latency testing platform for HMDs and mobile devices in partnership with OptoFidelity.

Combining Futuremark’s expertise in benchmarking software with OptoFidelity’s expertise in robotics, measurement technology, automation, and hardware, the system pairs VRMark with OptoFidelity’s VR Multimeter head-mounted display (HMD) solution. It measures key VR performance indicators such as motion-to-photon latency, pixel persistence, and frame jitter. The universal design of the platform means it works with PCs and mobile devices and can be applied to both VR and augmented reality (AR) systems.

vrmark-optofidelity-vr-multimeter-hmd

One of the platform’s key test cases measures motion-to-photon latency in a 3D rendering scenario. The test quantifies the impact of CPU and GPU performance for VR applications, analysing each frame to reveal the sources of latency, showing time spent in the 3D engine, the VR API, and the GPU. With detailed reporting, users can study late frames and the effects of timewarp. Configurable settings help you evaluate latency under different CPU and GPU load conditions.

Jani Joki, Director of Engineering at Futuremark, said in a statement: “By combining our strengths, Futuremark and OptoFidelity have created a VR latency testing platform that is a superior solution for a challenging problem. I invite press and VR industry members alike to visit our stands at MWC and GDC to see it in action.”

“The partnership between OptoFidelity and Futuremark shows how a shared belief in innovation and collaboration is helping to establish Finland as a world leader in virtual reality. We’re pioneering new ways to help VR manufacturers meet and exceed user expectations and I couldn’t be more proud to showcase the results of our cooperation at MWC and GDC,” commented Kimmo Jokinen, Chief Technology Officer at OptoFidelity.

For further updates on Futuremark, keep reading VRFocus.

February 1, 2017

Samsung Sets Its MWC 2017 Press Conference Date, But VR Might Miss Out

It’s no secret that the latter half of 2016 didn’t go quite the way Samsung was hoping it would, but the company is looking to hit back later this month.

The electronics giant today confirmed its Mobile World Congress press conference would take place on February 26th, a day before the show itself kicks off in Barcelona, Spain. As always, the conference will be streamed live. What’s different, however, is that this year’s show doesn’t carry the ‘Unpacked’ branding it usually has. There’s likely a good reason for that; we won’t be seeing the anticipated but unannounced Galaxy S8 at the event.

Traditionally MWC is where we’d see the next iteration Samsung’s flagship line of smartphones. The Galaxy S7 was revealed there last year, for example, but last week Samsung confirmed to Reuters that it won’t be showing the S8 at this year’s show. Instead, the next flagship device is expected to be revealed a little later in the year.

Still, Samsung has promised new product reveals for the show, and the teaser image above certainly suggests either a new phone or tablet is coming.

Sadly, it does mean we probably won’t see an update on Gear VR at this year’s show, though perhaps the headset itself could be used during the conference like it was last year.

The eventual reveal of the S8 will be one of Samsung’s most important in recent years given that its last big phone launch ended in disaster. The enlarged Galaxy Note 7, announced in the second half of 2016, was subject to a worldwide recall after units started exploding. Even today flights across the US still issue verbal warnings that the phone is banned on aircraft. It was a particularly big blow on the VR front, too, as Samsung had released a revised version of Gear VR for the kit, which was thankfully backwards compatible with other devices.

With no new major smartphone for the holiday 2016 period, the company will be placing a lot of hopes in the next iteration of its flagship device.

We’re going to be very interested to see what this device means for VR. Notably, Samsung last year committed to making a phone that was compatible with Google’s Daydream mobile VR ecosystem. Could this device support both Gear VR and headsets like Daydream View? It would certainly be an interesting state of affairs, especially for Oculus, which partnered with Samsung to create Gear.

Tagged with: Galaxy S8, gear vr, mobile world congress, samsung

January 27, 2017

Bureau Veritas Announces Mobile World Congress AR Experience

The Mobile World Congress is set to return to Barcelona, Spain later this year for another four days of everything related to mobile technologies.

Mobile World Congress 2016 header

The event, to be held this year between 27 February and 2 March has just had a new activity list published from Bureau Veritas, the technology testing, inspection and certification company. Bureau Veritas and partner 7layers are set to bring a number of new ‘Smartworld’ product line items to its stand under the theme of “smart me, smart home, smart city”. One of which is to be related to augmented reality (AR).

Bureau Veritas will be showcasing a “suite of solutions” for the burgeoning connected world of the Internet of Things (IoT). Showing how the firm will assist with smart phones, sart housing and technology connected cars and people.

“For the first time we will be showcasing our state of the art test platforms at the show, virtually.” Explained Chris Baird, Director of Global Marketing for Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services. “All Smartworld products undergo testing to verify a number of needs, but how many people have explored a test lab and appreciate what goes on? Attendees can visit our stand to explore what happens within a modern Smartworld laboratory. Find out what an EMC Chamber looks like. Appreciate the reasons we perform OTA testing. Understand how SAR testing works. See the equipment needed for a RF chamber. Even identify what the numerous acroynms stand for!”

VRFocus will bringing you more news about the burgeoning 2017 events calendar in the near future.