VR Intelligence Hosts ‘Drive Enterprise Transformation with VR & AR’ Talk Next Week

In recent months on VRFocus we, and a number of our guest writers from other companies, have often discussed how immersive technology – be that virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR) – can be used in conjunction with the world of business. Either as an organisational tool or as a means to transform their product or service, reducing costs or increasing what can be offered.

VR Intelligence - LogoIt’s being seen and felt across all manner of and sectors of industry. From retail to manufacturing and from the design of buildings to cars. With this in mind, our friends at VR Intelligence are hosting a webinar where representatives from three companies will be discussing how they themselves adopted VR and the changes it has brought their various internal processes.

This coming Thursday, April 5th 2018, VR Intelligence plays will be welcoming representatives from Ford, CDM Smith and from Schneider Electric, all of whom are immersive tech specialists. They’ll be discussing at length how companies from any industry can learn how to use both VR and AR in order to to improve their productivity and the performance of their business.

The discussion will be moderated by Amy Peck, the Founder & CEO of EndeavorVR and will feature Ford’s VR & Advanced Visualization Tech Specialist Elizabeth Baron. As well as Scott Aldridge, Innovation & Disruptive Technology Leader of CDM Smith and Michael Fallon, Director, Digital Business Design, Schneider Electric.

NcamKey discussion points are:

  • Understanding the big opportunities: Hear how immersive tech is revolutionising product design and  manufacturing, worker collaboration and training across industry
  • Pick the right use cases: Understand which technologies and platforms suit which purposes. And how to make sure you always pick the right applications for your business
  • AR, VR – or both? Learn which is right for which applications – and how to make sure you don’t waste time and money finding out
  • Where’s the ROI? Hear case examples of where VR & AR implementation is helping a whole variety of businesses improve productivity and drive efficiency gains

Interested parties can register here for the webinar which will take place at 2PM EDT, registration will also allow access to receive the recordings of the webinar at a later date. For more information on this webinar, or the upcoming VRX events can contact Pete Carkeek at pcarkeek@vr-intelligence.com.

VRFocus is a media partner of VRX Europe 2018, you can find more about it – and get a discount on passes as a VRFocus reader – here.

 

VR Intelligence Hosts ‘Drive Enterprise Transformation with VR & AR’ Talk Next Week

In recent months on VRFocus we, and a number of our guest writers from other companies, have often discussed how immersive technology – be that virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR) – can be used in conjunction with the world of business. Either as an organisational tool or as a means to transform their product or service, reducing costs or increasing what can be offered.

VR Intelligence - LogoIt’s being seen and felt across all manner of and sectors of industry. From retail to manufacturing and from the design of buildings to cars. With this in mind, our friends at VR Intelligence are hosting a webinar where representatives from three companies will be discussing how they themselves adopted VR and the changes it has brought their various internal processes.

This coming Thursday, April 5th 2018, VR Intelligence plays will be welcoming representatives from Ford, CDM Smith and from Schneider Electric, all of whom are immersive tech specialists. They’ll be discussing at length how companies from any industry can learn how to use both VR and AR in order to to improve their productivity and the performance of their business.

The discussion will be moderated by Amy Peck, the Founder & CEO of EndeavorVR and will feature Ford’s VR & Advanced Visualization Tech Specialist Elizabeth Baron. As well as Scott Aldridge, Innovation & Disruptive Technology Leader of CDM Smith and Michael Fallon, Director, Digital Business Design, Schneider Electric.

NcamKey discussion points are:

  • Understanding the big opportunities: Hear how immersive tech is revolutionising product design and  manufacturing, worker collaboration and training across industry
  • Pick the right use cases: Understand which technologies and platforms suit which purposes. And how to make sure you always pick the right applications for your business
  • AR, VR – or both? Learn which is right for which applications – and how to make sure you don’t waste time and money finding out
  • Where’s the ROI? Hear case examples of where VR & AR implementation is helping a whole variety of businesses improve productivity and drive efficiency gains

Interested parties can register here for the webinar which will take place at 2PM EDT, registration will also allow access to receive the recordings of the webinar at a later date. For more information on this webinar, or the upcoming VRX events can contact Pete Carkeek at pcarkeek@vr-intelligence.com.

VRFocus is a media partner of VRX Europe 2018, you can find more about it – and get a discount on passes as a VRFocus reader – here.

 

Raindance Film Festival Announce Raindance 2018 VR/AR Awards

The Raindance Film Festival, which celebrated 25 years in 2017, has become one of the world’s largest independent film festivals. Originating in the UK, with London being one of its main bases, it operates in a number of major cities around the world. And much as with other film festivals around the globe, it has begun including pioneering immersive works, with the very best experiences celebrated in the Raindance VRX Awards. The 2018 edition of which was recently opened by Raindance, with submissions in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences now being accepted.

2018 is the first year that Raindance Film Festival is accepting AR experiences, now added to the categories in the newly rechristened Raindance 2018 VR/AR Awards. This comes after the showcase of Duncan Walker of Trashgames’ AR film, NEST, in 2017 that was created using an iPhone and ARKit.

At an event in White City, London, Raindance Film Festival did a recap of last year’s VRX Awards and gave attendees the opportunity to view the experiences again if they missed them. Thomas Gere, Founder and CEO of the Realities Centre gave VRFocus a tour of the space where they helped showcase three HTC roomscale experiences in the VR Studio that were around 15-20 minutes long. As well as seven other experiences that were on the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and other mobile VR platforms. The event was organised in slots, and tickets or time slots had to be pre-booked and bought before the event. For those walking around the event, an iPad was being passed around where attendees could also try out AR videogame Orbu.

Elliot Grove, Founder of the Raindance Film Festival spoke to VRFocus about the changes. “I think that VR, AR, MR and XR is the biggest thing that’s happened to cinema since the marriage of sound to pictures over a hundred years ago. and it’s taking a long time for the so-called visual ‘flatty’ content creators to embrace VR and that’s because it’s a whole new medium, and it’s a whole new [set of] rules. What works in traditional filmmaking does not translate that easily into this amazing new technology – and so accessible too. Even every month it seems that prices of headsets come down, new software, new hardware, it’s just exploding like mad.”

Grove hints at interesting categories and discusses the exciting new format of AR films coming to the contest. He also advises filmmakers to learn from gamers, saying that part of this year’s Raindance Film Festival will focus on gaming.  When asked about the coming of 3D 180 stereoscopic cameras that are coming out this year such as the Lenovo Mirage Camera, the YI Horizon VR180 or Kodak’s unnamed fold-able camera Grove responded with saying, “180 3D, I think will be a fad.” However, he still thinks it’s interesting to see how storytellers are learning how to play with new technology.

Last year Raindance saw the return of the VR Arcade, where attendees could book slots in order to experience 20 VRX Award shortlisted experiences on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Google Daydream, PlayStation VR and Samsung Gear VR. With over 100 submissions, 40 experiences were shortlisted with four per award category, which included such classifications as ‘Best Sensual VR Experience’.

To find out more about the Raindance 2018 VR/AR Awards watch the video below.

Catching up on Raindance Film Festival VRX Awards

Film festivals across the world have slowly started to embrace virtual reality (VR) and their new medium of immersive storytelling. This year, the Raindance Film Festival held the VRX Awards together with Facebook 360 and Blend Media hosted at the Mayfair Hotel in London.

The VRX Awards had ten categories and showcased some exciting as well as thought-provoking pieces. The VR experiences were showcased at the VR Arcade. Mária Rakušanová previously spoke to VRFocus about having a balanced judging panel, the festival has had over 100 submissions with 40 experiences being shortlisted for the awards.

Here is a short recap video of the VRX Awards as well as a list of the winners for each category. This year there were only VR awards, however it might look like next year might have a separate category for AR stories as well. Watch this space to hear more.

The Chainsmokers’ Paris.VR Picked as Best Branded VR Experience at the Raindance Festival VRX Awards

This year’s Raindance Film Festival embraced virtual reality (VR) like never before by introducing the first ‘Raindance VRX Awards’ with 10 categories. The festival ended at the start of October announcing all the award winners, with The Chainsmokers’ Paris.VR among the winners.

Created by specialist VR developer Kuju, along with brand experience agency Ralph Creative, as part of Sony’s ‘Lost In Music’ campaign, Paris.VR let viewers experience a live-remixed version of Paris, entering the mind of Drew Taggart. They fly through an ethereal landscape, being able to make decisions along the route applying major changes to the mix, whilst looking at various objects make more subtle changes to what is being heard.

ChainsmokersParisVR_Screenshot_04

“Working with Ralph Creative on this project, we knew that we had something special with Paris.VR,” said Kuju’s Head of Studios Brynley Gibson in a statement. “We’re delighted that our work with The Chainsmokers has been recognised with this prestigious Raindance award.”

Originally unveiled earlier this year at SXSW in Austin, Paris.VR is available exclusively for PlayStation VR in the PlayStation Store.

As for all the other Raindance VRX Award winners, they are:

  • Best Cinematic Narrative VR Experience –  Alteration (by Jérôme Blanquet and OKIO-Studio)
  • Best Documentary VR Experience – First Impressions (by Francesca Panetta, Nicole Jackson and the Guardian VR)
  • Best Interactive Narrative VR Experience – Manifest 99 (by Flight School Studio)
  • Best Mobile Interactive VR Experience – Virtual Virtual Reality (by Tender Claws)
  • Best Animation VR Experience – Dear Angelica (by Wesley Allsbrook and Saschka Unseld)
  • Best Music VR Experience – Beethoven’s Fifth (by Jessica Brillhart)
  • Best Sensual VR Experience – Through You (by Lily Baldwin and Saschka Unseld)
  • Best Social Impact VR Experience – Munduruku: The Fight to Defend the Heart of the Amazon (by Greenpeace)
  • Best Sound Design VR Experience – Reeps One: Does Not Exist (by Aurelia Soundworks and Reeps One)
  • Special Prize Winner: Best Storytelling in #VR – Arden’s Wake (by Eugene Chung and Penrose Studios)

The Raindance Film Festival will be back in 2018, from 19th – 30th September. As details are release VRFocus will keep you updated.

Raindance VRX Award Categories Revealed, VR Masterclasses Announced

Last month VRFocus reported on the Raindance Film Festival revealing it would be holding a special event in London, UK, to mark the first Raindance VRX Awards. That’s event is due to take place later today so prior to that, festival organisers have unveiled the award categories as well as several virtual reality (VR) masterclasses taking place this year.

Raindance has become one of the UK’s largest independent film festivals with 2017 marking its 25th anniversary. So to mark the occasion the Raindance VRX Awards have arrived to celebrate pioneering VR experiences by independent creators from around the world.

The Raindance VRX Awards Categories are as follows:

  • 1. Best Interactive Narrative Experience
  • 2. Best Mobile Interactive Experience
  • 3. Best Cinematic Narrative Experience
  • 4. Best Documentary Experience
  • 5. Best Music Experience
  • 6. Best Animation Experience
  • 7. Best Branded Experience
  • 8. Best Sensual Experience
  • 9. Best Social Impact Experience
  • 10.Best Sound Design Experience

Raindance VRX Awards

“We are thrilled to be launching Raindance VRX awards and new courses for virtual reality. We believe VR is a powerful new medium and the most exciting change in filmmaking since the onslaught of internet distribution which started with Youtube in 2005,” said Elliot Grove, Founder of Raindance Film Festival in a statement.

In terms of the VR Masterclasses, six have so far been announced:

For those unable to attend, some of the classes will take place in VR via AltspaceVR.

While Mária Rakušanová, Director of VR and New Media at Raindance adds: “Raindance aims to champion pioneering virtual reality experiences and nurture a new generation of talent. We are thrilled to partner with AltspaceVR to bring Raindance masterclasses to their social VR platform and reach creators around the world. As the possibilities of VR technologies continue to grow, more and more exciting opportunities for creators will arise.”

The Raindance VRX Awards will start at 5pm GMT today, with AltspaceVR coverage beginning at 6:40pm GMT. The category winners will then be announced during the 25th Raindance Film Festival which takes place from 22nd September – 1st October 2017.

For any further updates on the Raindance VRX Awards, keep reading VRFocus.

Raindance Film Festival to Launch the VRX Awards Next Month

Next month the Raindance Film Festival will be holding a special event to celebrate the launch of its Raindance VRX Awards, highlighting pioneering virtual reality (VR) experiences by independent creators and filmmakers from across Britain and around the world.

The evening event is set to feature a selection of talks by notable VR creators, live VR avatars and a VR showcase. REWIND founder and CEO, Sol Rogers, will be hosting a keynote address on the ‘VR Landscape and State of Play’ while a panel will discuss ‘The Future of VR Experiences’. This will feature Resh Sidhu, Creative Director, VR at Framestore; Canaan Rubin, Director of Content and Production at Jaunt; Reeps One, an award winning musician and artist; and Zillah Watson, Editor at BBC Research and Development.

Raindance VRX Awards

Other sessions will include:

  • Chris O’Reilly, CEO Nexus VR
  • Oliver Kibblewhite, Head of Special Projects at REWIND
  • Avril Furness, independent filmmaker and VR Director
  • Shafi Ahmed PhD FRCS, Founder Medical Realities
  • Toni Shepard, Executive Director at Animal Equality UK
  • Peter Boyd Maclean, independent filmmaker and VR Director
  • Bioni Samp, VR character, sound designer, DJ and beekeeper

Raindance will also be inviting the public to join in on the event though VR social platform AltspaceVR, with some of the speakers to be motion captured and turned into live avatars.

The VR experiences showcased at the launch event will then be selected for awards, with the winners in each category then announced during the 25th Raindance Film Festival which takes place from 22nd September – 1st October 2017.

The Raindance VRX Awards will be held on 8th May starting at 5pm GMT, with the live avatars beginning at 6:40pm GMT for the official announcement.

In 2016 the 24th Raindance Film Festival held its first ever VR focused segment, a two-day public event called VR Arcade  with a selection of 14 short films featuring documentaries, animations and cutting edge experiences.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of the Raindance VRX Awards, reporting back with the latest announcements.