Category: NEWVIEW Awards

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Toronto & London NEWVIEW School Application Deadline Extended

If you love exploring your artistic talents, and getting creative with new digital mediums like virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) then Psychic VR Labs’ cloud platform STYLY has been designed to do just that. To help in that endeavour the Japanese studio launched its NEWVIEW School several years ago to help budding artists get into XR art. Since then the school has expanded beyond Japan into Toronto, Canada and London, UK, with sign-ups still open until this coming weekend.

NEWVIEW School
Image credit: Psychic VR Lab.

This will be the fifth year for NEWVIEW School in Tokyo, its second in London and its first in Toronto. Previously an in-person event, NEWVIEW School 2022 is moving to a hybrid model so that it can facilitate attendees both remotely and those that still wish to take part in a physical event.

Each school is slightly different in the fact that the curriculum is tailored to the host country but the broad scope is that all attendees will learn STYLY and Unity. There will be a myriad of additional topics including photogrammetry and optimising for different devices, ensuring artists have the skills to easily publish their works. They’ll also be able to take part in the annual NEWVIEW Awards.

Thanks to its hybrid learning model NEWVIEW School is accepting applications from across Europe, with the online modules running from 9th – 30th June, with the weekly lectures beginning on 7th July. Spaces are limited with the tuition priced at £450 GBP. The Toronto school modules begin on 2nd June with the course costing $750 CAD.

NEWVIEW School
Image credit: Psychic VR Lab.

STYLY’s events aren’t purely geared around the NEWVIEW School either. Whether you live in London or not there’s the regular ‘AR & VR Artists London’ Meetup group, another hybrid event for XR artists. The next one takes place on 31st May featuring a hands-on workshop from resident XR artist Barney Kass.

Applications for NEWVIEW School 2022 in Toronto and London will now close on 7th May. For continued updates, keep reading gmw3.

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More Prizes are up for Grabs in NEWVIEW Awards 2021

NEWVIEW Awards 2021

The annual NEWVIEW Awards organised by Psychic VR Lab opened submissions last month, accepting artistic works from creators using the company’s Styly platform. With several awards and cash prizes already on offer, today Psychic VR Lab has announced the addition of several extra prizes alongside expanding the judging team.

Styly for Nreal Light

There will be three additional awards included in the 2021 NEWVIEW Awards event; The Nreal Prize, the Media Ambition Tokyo Prize, and the GIZMODO Prize. Each will be awarded to one XR artist, the Nreal Prize will be for augmented reality (AR) works that make use of STYLY for Nreal, an app for the Nreal Light smart glasses. While the Media Ambition Tokyo Prize will see the winner’s piece exhibited at the next Media Ambition Tokyo event, a festival presenting the possibilities of future-creating technology developed in Tokyo.

As for the GIZMODO Prize, this provides the winner an opportunity to exhibit their work for a limited time in a
space provided by Gizmodo Japan; one of the largest media technology websites in Japan. All of these new awards will be in addition to the standard three Silver Awards offering $5,000 USD each and the grand Gold Award which nets the winner $20,000.

When it comes to those picking the awards three new judges have been introduced. David O’Reilly is a multidisciplinary artist based out of Los Angeles and known for short films including Please Say Something and The External World. He’s worked TV shows such as Adventure Time and South Park as well as creating videogames. Also on the roster is Tina Sauerlaender, curator and co-founder of Radiance, artistic director of the VR ART PRIZE by DKB, and curator of The Unframed World exhibition.

NEWVIEW Awards 2021

Submissions for the NEWVIEW Awards 2021 are still open until 1st November, the theme this year being ‘Post Reality and No Normal’ because of the so-called “new normal” which has evolved around the COVID-19 pandemic. As mentioned, if you wish to enter the awards you need to have used Psychic VR Lab’s production and distribution platform Styly which works in conjunction with Unity. Styly is a web-based platform with thousands of works available to view both in and out of VR.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of the NEWVIEW Awards 2021, reporting back with the latest entries.

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Submissions Open for the Annual NEWVIEW Awards 2021

NEWVIEW Awards 2021

Now in its fourth year, the annual NEWVIEW Awards celebrate the artistic side of XR whilst handing out some big cash prizes for the winners. Organised by Japanese studio Psychic VR Lab, submissions have now opened for the awards which encourage creators worldwide to apply for,

NEWVIEW Awards 2021

This year’s theme is ‘Post Reality and No Normal’ because of the so-called “new normal” which has evolved around the COVID-19 pandemic. This has born rise to a greater need for digital connection, whether that’s teleconferencing for work or stepping into a new metaverse to hang out with friends.

“The NEWVIEW AWARDS hopes to capture the essence of the global transcendence caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ryohei Watanabe, CMO Psychic VR Lab in a statement. “In our ‘new’ reality, creativity has been given new avenues in which to flourish, and at Psychic VR Lab we are excited to appreciate some of the great xR works that artists, designers, and creators have produced to encapsulate the theme of ‘Post Reality, No Normal’. We are very excited for this year’s submissions and to see the best of XR creativity from across the globe!”

Just as in previous years, to apply for the NEWVIEW Awards creators not only need to embrace the theme but they also need to utilise Psychic VR Lab’s production and distribution platform Styly. It’s a creative solution released a few years ago solely aimed at artistic expression rather than videogame development, supporting both virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) content creation. Earlier this year Styly was updated to directly support 3D models built in Tilt Brush due to Google Poly closing.

Styly - Tilt Brush

The NEWVIEW Awards 2021 will see a judging panel featuring Naohiro Ukawa, founder of Japanese live
streaming studio and channel, DOMMUNE, and Zowie Broach, Royal College of Art Fashion Program Director.

Creators will be vying for several prizes this year with three Silver Awards offering $5,000 USD each. Then there’s the grand Gold Award which is a whopping $20,000. Additionally, the NEWVIEW Awards will have a couple of non-monetary prizes including the PARCO Prize which will see the winner granted space within the PARCO Building in Shibuya, Tokyo for a unique AR creation. Whilst the SUPER DOMMUNE Prize will be selected by Mr. Ukawa to be showcased on his channel.

Applications for the NEWVIEW Awards are open until 1st November 2021. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.

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NEWVIEW School UK Applications Close Soon, Discount Code Inside

NewView School London 2021

Several weeks ago VRFocus reported on Japanese studio, Psychic VR Lab, and the plans to open its NEWVIEW School for budding XR artists in the UK. With the remote programme beginning in June, there are now two weeks left for those that are interested to apply. Plus, VRFocus has a discount offer to make it even more tempting.

NEWVIEW 2020 Fumika Piano

NEWVIEW School London continues the work the original Japanese programme began three years ago, encouraging artists and other creators who have an interest in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to participate and expand their knowledge base. The course will be a combination of STYLY Studio, Psychic VR Lab’s online creative platform and Unity, which is required to build the projects.

For those unfamiliar with Unity – a videogame engine used to build a lot of VR titles – NEWVIEW School London will hold a primer course to get participants up to speed on the software. The main programme will then commence on 19th June comprising a total of 14 lectures running from 10 am – 3 pm BST, concluding on 25th September 2021. It’ll be held entirely remotely via Zoom due to Covid restrictions. A VR headset is required but if attendees don’t have access to one the school will be able to supply an Oculus Quest 2 (which will need to be returned).

The XR programme will be led by Barney Kass, a London based artist and sound designer, with lectures featuring various creative specialists. These will include Alex Ruhl, an award-winning VR filmmaker and founder of VR production studio CATS are not PEAS, Patrick Haraguti, CTO of Fallen Planet Studios (Affected – The Manor), and Lili Éva Bartha, XR Creative Tech Lead and Founder of Digital Fashion Framework Innovation Lab.

NEWVIEW Awards mixed image

Since its launch in 2017, STYLY has facilitated artistic expression within VR and then more recently AR. An entirely cloud-based solution, STYLY continues to expand thanks Psychic VR Lab managing to raise $8.5 million USD (¥900m JPY) a few months ago. Its most recent update added official support for 3D models built within Tilt Brush, allowing artists to export their designs directly. Useful considering Google Poly is shuttering soon.

If you’re interested in NEWVIEW School London you can apply here. The course will cost £450 GBP. For a 10% discount simply add VRF10 after your last name on the application form. For continued updates, keep reading VRFocus.

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Japan’s 2020 NewView Awards Add AR To The Roster

This year’s iteration of the NewView Awards, recognizing VR works developed on the Styly platform from Psychic VR Lab, will be adding AR to its roster of submissions, too.

Creating VR or AR content on Styly is free, but this year’s awards feature a $20,000 grand prize (the same amount as last year). Three runners up will also get $5,000 each and one submission will also get their work featured as part of an AR exhibit at the new Shibuya PARCO building, where last year’s awards were hosted. It’s also where that fancy new Nintendo Store is, so you know it’s the real deal. Check out a trailer below.

Again, anyone can enter the awards; Styly is designed to get people making VR content without any previous development experience. That said, last year we saw some impressive entries, like some new takes on VR manga, photo-scanned environments and even one adorable app that saw a children’s drawings brought to virtual life. You can see some of that work in our last episode of The VR Culture Show.

Styly itself just added multiplayer support in the form of ‘Session’ events, allowing for multi-user collaboration in VR. We’ve always thought the app held a lot of promise in a space not short on competition.

HTC Vive remains a sponsor for this year’s event, with submissions running between now and November 2nd. The awards themselves will take place in December. Are you going to take a shot at this year’s event? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Japan’s 2020 NewView Awards Add AR To The Roster appeared first on UploadVR.

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Psychic VR Lab: STYLY, NEWVIEW Awards and VR’s Future Potential

Making any sort of virtual reality (VR) content isn’t a simple process, from a piece of art using Tilt Brush or Quill to an actual videogame and all the complicated elements that process involves. It’s why Japanese studio Psychic VR Lab created STYLY, an online, browser-based solution for those creators looking to delve into this immersive space without having to go down the Unity/Unreal Engine route. When VRFocus attended the NEWVIEW Awards 2019 in Tokyo last year it was the perfect time to hear from two of the team looking to expand VR content creation both at home and abroad.

NEWVIEW Awards 2019

STYLY is a platform designed for artistic expression rather than making videogames. Freely available to use online or by downloading the app through Steam (supports Valve Index, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality), you can start by exploring the thousands of VR spaces already available – like all the recent award winners – before delving into the creative side.

This is easily achieved through a drag and drop system so there’s no need to worry about coding. For those with the skills, STYLY can also be used with 3D software such as MAYA or Blender.

It’s not just VR that Psychic VR Lab is interested in but the whole ecosystem including augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). In 2019 the studio released an AR STYLY app for mobile devices where you can view art pieces by spatial designer “Discont” who won the Parco VR content award at the 2018 NEWVIEW Awards. This is just the beginning as the app will introduce creative tools later this year.

So onto the interviews. First up is Yosh, Creative Director at Psychic VR Lab and the driving force behind many of the studio’s innovative projects including fostering VR designers at Bunka Fashion College and the NEWVIEW Awards. Yosh details how the awards came to be and the progress being made to encourage more people through various workshops and the NEWVIEW School.

For VRFocus’ second interview Psychic VR Lab’s CEO, Masahiro Yamaguchi talks in detail about the STYLY platform itself, what it can do and how he hopes it’ll encourage kids to unlock their imaginations. Yamaguchi has a very forward-thinking philosophy when it comes to immersive media, that it will eventually become ubiquitous in our everyday lives, cities will become digital canvases in ways we can’t even imagine.

As Psychic VR Lab continues to expand its digital vision VRFocus will keep you posted.

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STYLY’s NEWVIEW Awards 2019: The Winners

For the past two years, Japanese virtual reality (VR) developer Psychic VR Lab has held its NEWVIEW Awards to showcase the best talent using its free online creation tool STYLY. Accepting submissions from around the world – 2019 received 145 – the event took place in December hosted at Shibuya PARCO in Tokyo. VRFocus was lucky enough to attend and spoke with the winners to learn a little more about their quirky VR experiences. 

Takkun Museum - STYLY
Takkun Museum – NEWVIEW Awards 2019 Gold Prize winner

While there was a theme of ‘Design Your Ultra-Experience’, the main stipulation was that the online creation and publishing platform had to be used. Not only so everyone had access to the same tools but also for distribution; you can view all the artwork online yourself via the award website. Even with the same tools creators came up with some wildly different projects, some used photogrammetry while others simply used STYLY’s editing tools.

In total there were eight awards to allocate, with three artworks awarded a silver prize of $5,000 USD with one awarded the gold prize of $20,000.

The Gold Prize went to Takkun Museum, a piece the artist created to combine both memories and artworks of his son since birth. Viewers are able to look at the pictures the child drew and the toys he played with at different ages. “The sharing of future family photos maybe like this. Not only is it possible to experience the content given to the XR world but also to arrange and create and enjoy it for the individual, leading to the idea of ​​a photo album service that is one step ahead, and the only point that I thought “I want to do it!” to,” said NEWVIEW judge Yumeshin Nemu.

VR Manga World for STYLY
VR Manga World for STYLY, NEWVIEW Awards 2019 Silver Prize winner

The three Silver Prizes went to VR MANGA WORLD for STYLY, Piece of String and ne.mui, each offering an imaginative take on the theme. VR MANGA WORLD for STYLY, for instance, puts you inside a comic, opening each scene as you climb a stairwell. Piece of String, on the other hand, was one of the few pieces to use photogrammetry as creator Wyatt Roy allowed viewers into his home using an idea he dreamed about. “I really liked this work. I myself had scanned myself using similar photogrammetry in a Toronto studio, but it was impressive to see this work in a very unique way,” said filmmaker and judge Nick DenBoer.

Then there were four smaller awards:

  • KMNZ Prize – C’est la vie, SHOGYO-MUJO
  • Hideki Matsutake Prize – Merging Memories
  • Parco Prize – ne.mui
  • Media Ambition Tokyo Prize – Piece of String

To learn a little more about these winners and their ideas and inspirations check out the interview compilation below.

The event wasn’t just a chance for Psychic VR Lab to showcase STYLY’s VR capabilities, augmented reality (AR) was also thrown in the mix as well. Having previously revealed AR integration would be coming to the app in 2020 VRFocus saw that in action on the 5th floor of Shibuya PARCO with a piece called Discont viewed through Lenovo Mirage Solo headsets. For further STYLY updates, keep reading VRFocus.

Disclosure: VRFocus a media partner for the NEWVIEW Awards, with costs covered to attend the 2019 event. 

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Japan’s NEWVIEW Awards 2019 Returns to Celebrate VR Art & Culture

Here in the UK the AIXR held the recent VR Awards event, celebrating the great strides made within the industry, from consumer entertainment to education and enterprise. Over in Japan, however, the upcoming NEWVIEW Awards 2019 is celebrating VR in an entirely different way.

Being held in Shibuya, Tokyo, next month, the NEWVIEW Awards 2019 aim to celebrate the fields of fashion, culture, and art. Under a theme of ‘Design You Ultra-Experience’, 145 submissions have been received since the summer opening of applications, from eight countries.

The idea was to use VR tool Styly to create interesting immersive projects which adhered to one of the critera; Novelty/Originality, Experience or Impact. Submissions could use additional tools in the production process, such as 3DCG, game engine, DAW of example but the submissios had to be made through the STYLY platform. Out of those submitted 25 have been selected to continue into the final rounds. These are:

  • Absences of life by wakuwa / Japan
  • C’est la vie, SHOGYO-MUJO by Saki Takegawa / Japan
  • Piece of String by Wyatt Roy / US
  • VR Manga World for STYLY by Aki Oe / Japan
  • The Pit by Dave Maggio / US / Japan
  • ne.mui by Natuki Ono / Japan
  • The 23-year-old confession by Wong Hoi Ian / Taiwan
  • MODAL by Ryo Takekawa / Japan
  • The Tower of Babel by 525600min / Japan
  • Define Float by takafumi oyama / Japan
  • TSUKUMO by Keisuke Ito / Japan
  • Takkun Museum by Takkun / Japan
  • Merging Memories by Kenichiro Hirai / Japan
  • THE CUBE by Nao Ito / Japan
  • VR Glitch by 5hamburgs Mayu / Japan
  • Her Tranquil Day by Q＆A PROJECT / Japan
  • CocoTsuki VRMV – Android Girl – by CocoTsuki Project（CocoTsuki）/ Japan
  • ORgeL by Mask du Video / Japan
  • Transparent Planet – Mika Maruyama / Japan
  • INTERSUBJECTIVITY by God Scorpian / Japan
  • Many sides by C / Japan
  • Dark Room by Yuuki Matsuoka / Japan
  • (SILVER COLORED) WATET TANK by Discont / Japan
  • REMINISCENCE – The Recollection of a Man by TeamMIKAMI (from OMNIBUS JAPAN) / Japan
  • Digital Bonsai [Ko chuu Sya] -Social in a pottery by Ginga Kondo / Japan

NEWVIEW Awards mixed image

All these artworks will then feature in an exhibition at Shibuya Parco for the public to view. When the final event takes place on 15th December, three artworks will be awarded a silver prize of $5,000 USD with one awarded the gold prize of $20,000. There will also be several other awards handed out during the show.

Head on over to the NEWVIEW Awards to see all the submission finalists and for further VR news from around the world, keep reading VRFocus.