NSC Creative – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 20, 2020

UK’s National Space Centre to Launch Immersive Academy Training Students in XR Creation

Last year the UK’s National Space Centre announced work on The Extended Reality Laboratory (XR Lab), home to the NSC Creative Academy. Now the centre has announced that in partnership with Leicester College it’ll offer a new course in immersive storytelling starting this September.

The Immersive Design & Development BTEC Diploma Level 3 qualification is a one year course delivered by NSC Creative and Leicester College, where students between 16-18 can learn a variety of skills including game engine programming, XR design and 3D modelling.

They’ll have access to the latest virtual, augmented and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) technology whilst having guidance and critiques from industry veterans. Alongside the latest headsets, the lab also includes a 3m Stereoscopic 3D Projection Dome, green screen depth capture and a mixed reality stage. As an added bonus, students will also be given the chance to display their work to National Space Centre visitors.

“The NSC Immersive Academy will be a place for students to explore storytelling via emerging immersive technologies. It will equip the next generation of creators and makers with the skills to shape the future of virtual, extended and mixed reality experiences and products,” said Paul Mowbray, Director at NSC Creative in a statement. “Our inspiring new Reality Lab, access to a world-class production team and partnership with Leicester College will create opportunities for local Leicester students that are unavailable anywhere else in the world.”

Successful completion of the course means students can then proceed onto the one-year Extended Diploma if they so wish.

The NSC Immersive Academy has been made possible thanks to support from the Inspiring Science Fund. This is a partnership between the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Wellcome, as well as the Local Growth Fund from Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, The Garfield Weston Foundation and Fidelity UK Foundation.

In the future the academy plans on expanding its programme to give youngsters between 11-16 a chance to get hold of the latest immersive tech. Thus building literacy in emerging technology and other useful skills.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of the latest educational developments in XR, reporting back with further updates.

July 27, 2019

Work Begins on the National Space Centre’s XR Lab

The past week has been a celebration of space exploration thanks to the 50th anniversary of the moon landings. So it’s fitting that the UK’s National Space Centre in Leicester has now begun work on a multi-million-pound development programme building The Extended Reality Laboratory (XR Lab).

The XR lab has been made possible thanks to funding from the Inspiring Science Fund – a partnership between the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Wellcome. Additional support came from the Local Growth Fund from Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and The Garfield Weston Foundation.

Home to the new NSC Creative Academy, the XR Lab will allow for the creation of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) content, housing workstations and a stereoscopic test dome. It’ll extend the programmes available to those working with the Space Communications team through the new Community Engagement Programme.

The versatile space will be able to support school visitors, allowing them to further their interest in these technologies, as well as help students work with experts as part of their studies.

“The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) are proud to support The Extended Reality Laboratory (XR Lab), which forms part of the recent developments at the National Space Centre that secured a £1 million allocation from our Local Growth Fund,” said Kevin Harris, Chair of the LLEP in a statement. “Not only will this new facility be a great asset for students and young people, it will also open up space related opportunities to communities within Leicester and Leicestershire. The 50th anniversary celebrations of the moon landings this week have really put a spotlight on the space sector and it is great that Leicester is part of the future for space exploration and technology development.”

Once completed the programme aims to involve 3,600 socio-economically disadvantaged young people from Leicester, of whom 50% will be female, in the various workshops being planned.

Opening its doors in 2001, the National Space Centre is an educational hub for those who love space, designed for family, adult and corporate visitors alike. VRFocus will continue its coverage of the XR Lab as development continues, reporting back with the latest updates.

April 18, 2018

Room-scale VR Experience VESTIGE Gets Purchased Even Before Tribeca Premiere

At the beginning of February, shortly after the Sundance Film Festival took place, we brought you news that ZIKR: A Sufi Revival – which VRFocus reported on several times throughout the first couple of months of 2018 – had been purchased by documentary producer, sales agent and theatrical distributor Dogwoof. Now one of the individual’s behind Dogwoof has secured another deal for an immersive documentary.

Tribeca Film Festival - Header

The project in question is VESTIGE, a 10-minute-long room-scale VR documentary that take the user into the world of the character Lisa as she reminisces, trapped in memory as she recalls her former partner Erik who has died. Every viewing of VESTIGE takes a slightly different path as Lisa remembers different fragments of their life together, recalling details that unlock yet more memories as she continues down the path to ultimately recalling what led to Erik’s passing.

The purchase is made by UK-based VR distributor and sales agent Other Set, which specialises in director-driven virtual reality (VR) or immersive content from around the world and is also the latest venture of Dogwoof’s Andy Whittaker. VESTIGE is set for a Spring 2019 release and will be available for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Microsoft’s line of Mixed Reality headsets. Coming to PC related platforms like Steam and also Viveport. The purchase is made before the planned world premiere of the project at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

“VESTIGE allows the viewer to experience the healing that can be discovered on the other side of grief and loss. The experience showcases the unique power of the VR medium to connect audiences to Lisa’s very human story on a visceral, emotional level.” Whittaker said, in relation to the purchase.

“As a newly formed company, we’re working to re-focus VR storytelling towards a sustainable indie film production model.” Added Producer of the experience and co-founder of AtlasV Antoine Cayrol, who VRFocus interviewed earlier this year. “With the support of Other Set and our joint mission to share outstanding content we’re thrilled to be able to dive further into the future of distribution and bring the powerful story that is VESTIGE to a wider audience.”

AtlasV are not the only production company to be involved in the creation of the project. It also involved NSC Creative, RYOT, the French CNC and Kaleidoscope which helped to fund its creation

“Our studio has been creating immersive experiences across the globe for 18 years but this is our first room-scale VR piece.” Said NSC Creative’s Paul Mowbray. “VESTIGE is really pushing the limits of what can be done with volumetric capture and multi-narrative storytelling right now. Aaron [Bradbury, the Producer]’s success as a leading VR Creator comes from a deep technical knowledge across multiple disciplines combined with a passion to connect with the audience in a profoundly emotional way.”

VRFocus will bring you more news from the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival as we get it.

February 12, 2017

The VR Job Hub: Magnopus, NSC Creative, NCTech & EON Reality

Whether you’re an experienced designer, programmer, engineer, or maybe you’ve just been inspired after reading VRFocus articles, the jobs listed here are located worldwide, from major game players to humble indie developers – the one thing they all have in common is that they are all jobs in VR.

View the new listings below for more information:

Location	Company	Role	Link
Los Angeles, CA	Magnopus	Unreal Engine Programmer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Magnopus	Senior Unity Programmer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Magnopus	Senior Gameplay Programmer	Click Here to Apply
Los Angeles, CA	Magnopus	Realtime Rendering Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Leicester, UK	NSC Creative	Junior VR Developer	Click Here to Apply
Leicester, UK	NSC Creative	3D Animator	Click Here to Apply
Edinburgh, Scotland	NCTech	VR Software Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Manchester , UK	EON Reality	Business Development Manager	Click Here to Apply

Look back at last week’s post for ongoing listings. If you’re an employer and are looking for someone to fill a VR or AR related gap on your workforce and would like your role to feature on next week’s VR Job Hub please send details of the role to either pgraham@vrfocus.com or keva@vrfocus.com

Check back with VRFocus at the new time of 3pm GMT every Sunday for the latest positions in this ever growing industry.

December 23, 2016

Immersive Science Documentary We Are Stars Now On Rift and Vive

Way back in July 2015 VRFocus reported on award winning CG animation studio NSC Creative debuting its documentary virtual reality (VR) experience We Are Stars at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK. Since then very little had been heard of the experience but now its been launched on Steam for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and OSVR.

We Are Stars, follows on from the studios previous works We Are Astronomers (narrated by David Tennant) and We Are Aliens (narrated by Rupert Grint), with the former narrated Hollywood actor Andy Serkis (The Lord Of The Rings, Planet Of The Apes). A science documentary experience that supports both VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) and dome screens in full spherical 360° high frame rate stereoscopic 3D 8k x 8k resolution, it seeks to answer some of the biggest questions of all time. What are we made of? Where did it all come from?

We Are Stars screenshot 2

The experience features expert input from leading scientists, cosmologists, astrophysicists, astrochemists, planetary scientists and astrobiologists as NSC Creative present humanity’s current understanding of where everything, including us, came from.

While We Are Stars currently supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and OSVR, NSC Creative will be bring the film to Samsung Gear VR, PlayStation VR, Google Daydream and Google Cardboard in early 2017. VRFocus will continue its coverage of NSC Creative, reporting back with any further announcements.