Category: Rewind

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Mission:ISS’ Magnopus Acquires XR Design Studio REWIND

REWIND x MAGNOPUS

In the latest acquisition news British virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) specialist REWIND has announced its now joined Magnopus, another prominent immersive design company that has worked on projects including Disney’s remake of The Lion King.

Bride of Frankenstein
Universal Monsters Presents: Bride of Frankenstein holoride, developed by REWIND

REWIND has worked on a number of well-known experiences for global brands such as Red Bull, BBC, HBO, Jaguar, Paramount, and Universal Pictures. Danny MacAskill’s VR Ride Out appeared in Amsterdam last year, where shoppers heading to the city’s Ride Out bike store could test a one-of-a-kind bike rig and ride the dizzying Collies Ledge in the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Its Universal Pictures collaboration was for Universal Monsters Presents: Bride of Frankenstein holoride, an in-car entertainment experience in collaboration with Ford.

As for Magnopus, its credentials include Mission:ISS, an interactive experience about life on the International Space Station (ISS). The company also worked on Disney Pixar’s Coco VR as well as many more immersive projects.

“We’re thrilled to join the Magnopus group and it represents a landmark step in our company’s transformation. We were already at an inflection point as we sharpened our offering to focus on hybrid, real-time experiences, now we are ushering in a new chapter. This acquisition will not only fuel our growth but build a transatlantic powerhouse,” said Sol Rogers, CEO and Founder of REWIND in a statement. “We have worked together on many projects over the years, so it feels good to be able to officially call the entire team at Magnopus our colleagues.”

Mission:ISS image2
Emmy-Nominated VR experience Mission:ISS, a real-time engine recreation of the International Space Station, which Magnopus developed in collaboration with NASA, European Space Agency, and Oculus.

“We’ve always admired REWIND and enjoyed working with them. The team is brimming with talent so this acquisition has just given us a turbo boost on our journey toward big things we’ve been cooking up. Together we’re stronger and I’m incredibly excited about what we’re building now. Our ambition is to continue to bring great experiences into the world while empowering others to do the same,” Ben Grossmann, Co-Founder of Magnopus adds.

Magnopus and REWIND have yet to reveal any new projects just yet. When they do VRFocus will let you know.

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Rewind’s Next Project is a Meditation Game in Partnership With HOO KOO E KOO

Meditation

The world is a hectic place at the best of times, even when spending day after day at home. Today, British creative studio Rewind (Curfew: Join The Race, Ghost in the Shell VR, Bride of Frankenstein) has announced its latest collaborative project, working with global brand and product studio HOO KOO E KOO on a virtual reality (VR) meditation experience.

Rewind - Meditation
Sukey Novogratz and Elizabeth Novogratz. Image: Harper Wave

Rewind will be adapting the philosophy of Just Sit: A Meditation Guidebook for People Who Know They Should But Don’t, a book authored by Sukey and Elizabeth Novogratz. The playful guidebook is great for busy novices who want to incorporate meditation into their lifestyle.

“With the stresses and strains we are experiencing globally, the world’s focus now, and for the foreseeable future, is not just on physical health but mental health too. Meditation has been proven, in peer-reviewed scientific studies, to be one of the most effective solutions to stress, and now, an extra dimension can be added through virtual reality,” said Sol Rogers, CEO and Founder of REWIND in a statement. “We are working with the HOO KOO E KOO and Just Sit teams to launch a new meditation solution to those looking to enhance their health and wellness in an effective, innovative, and engaging way.”

How this will specifically look and work hasn’t been revealed just yet but Sukey and Elizabeth envision a VR experience which isn’t solitary. “Over time, the game will evolve into an immersive meditation social platform, where you can view other players’ islands, partake in mass meditations and classes organized by wellness brands and teachers, and interact with other users in their islands,” they describe.

“Meditation, coupled with VR technologies, can be more precise and personalised and make the learning curve easier. The game element allows us to make it more exciting and rewarding to come back and meditate every day, and in effect reach all the incredible benefits that a meditation habit has to offer,” said HOO KOO E KOO’s Founding Partner and CD, Matt Cyrankiewicz.

There have been a number of VR meditation apps over the years such as Cubicle Ninjas’ Guided Meditation VR or Tripp for Oculus Quest. Most revolve around sitting in beautiful locales listening to calming music. Should Rewind’s project go down a more social path then it could offer a tranquil title which is different from the norm.

For further updates on the untitled project, keep reading VRFocus.

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The VR Job Hub: Zerolight, Rewind & VISR

VR Job Hub

Every weekend VRFocus gathers together a number vacancies from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe, to help make finding the ideal job easier. Below are a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on VR, AR and MR.

Location Company Role Link
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Motion Graphics Designer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Senior Product Analyst Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Product Marketing Manager Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Graduate Graphics Engineer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Generalist Tech Engineer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Graphics Engineer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight Graduate Software Engineer Click Here to Apply
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Zerolight React Developer Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK Rewind Lead 3D Artist Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK Rewind Lead Unity Programmer Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK Rewind Senior Artist (3D & Technical Art) Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK Rewind Senior Artist (3D & VFX) Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK Rewind Senior Artist (3D) Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK Rewind UE4 Programmer Click Here to Apply
Bournemouth, UK Bournemouth University VR/AR System Developer (Fixed Term) Click Here to Apply
Hull, UK VISR VERTX Platform Engineer Click Here to Apply
Hull, UK VISR Mixed Reality Programmer (AR/VR) Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

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The VR Job Hub: Rewind, Holoride, Varjo & More

Every weekend VRFocus gathers together a number vacancies from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe, to help make finding the ideal job easier. Below are a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on VR, AR and MR.

Location Company Role Link
St Albans, UK REWIND 3D Artist Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK REWIND Lead Artist Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK REWIND Lead Programmer Click Here to Apply
St Albans, UK REWIND Senior Artist Click Here to Apply
Munich, Germany Holoride Backend Architect Click Here to Apply
Munich, Germany Holoride Content Creator Click Here to Apply
Munich, Germany Holoride Software Engineer Click Here to Apply
NYC, US Schuco Virtual Construction Lab VR Programmer VCLcontact@schuco-usa.com
Helsinki, Finland Varjo Unity SDK & Engine Developer Click Here to Apply
Helsinki, Finland Varjo Senior 3D Graphics & Rendering Developer Click Here to Apply
Helsinki, Finland Varjo Computational Vision Developer Click Here to Apply
Helsinki, Finland Varjo Data Scientist Click Here to Apply
Helsinki, Finland Varjo Computer Vision Developer, Eye Tracking Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

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Ford Takes In-Car Entertainment Virtual With Bride of Frankenstein

One day autonomous vehicles will be a normal everyday occurrence, taking us where we need to go without a second thought. Which means in tandem with this revolution in how the populous gets about, there needs to be a consideration on how time is spent, especially when it comes to long journeys. Which is why Ford and several other companies have got together to create an immersive in-car experience called Bride of Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein

In conjunction with Universal Pictures’ Universal Monsters franchise, they enlisted the help of British creative studio REWIND (Curfew: Join The Race, Ghost in the Shell VR) and German tech startup Holoride to create a unique piece of entertainment.

Holoride specialises in creating in-car entertainment using virtual reality (VR), going beyond merely providing a headset to enjoy a VR experience. The technology the company has created combines both navigational and car data – such as steering, acceleration, and braking – to create a sort of ‘car theme park ride’ first seen earlier this year at CES.

So the teams have re-imagined the world of The Bride of Frankenstein, putting it inside new 2020 Ford Explorer vehicles for a special October showcase in Los Angeles. Once guests are inside the car they’ll put on a headset and find themselves joined by the Bride of Frankenstein on a special mission. REWIND’s immersive VR experience will see riders encounter interactive monsters and obstacles, complete with sound effects and visuals that react and adapt to every twist and turn of the journey and every nuance of the car’s movement.

Bride of Frankenstein

Universal Monsters Presents Bride of Frankenstein holoride will be publicly available from 14th October on select dates until 9th November at Universal CityWalk Hollywood. Completely free to try, the experience will last 10 minutes, and you are advised to book – a standby line will also be in operation.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of both REWIND’s latest VR experiences and Holoride’s continued expansion as more car manufacturers explore innovative entertainment possibilities.

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Top Gear Goes 360 Putting Fans Into Stunt Cars

BBC motoring show Top Gear was one of the best-known TV programmes in the world, thanks to audacious road trips and massive stunts. Fans of the show will now be able to enjoy three new pieces of content, all filmed in 360-degrees, putting them in the driver’s seat for some outlandish stunts.

Top Gear Jumps

This is Top Gear doing what it does best, taking cars and doing some insane stunts, just this time you’re the driver. Over on the Top Gear YouTube channel, you’ll find the first of three 360 films covering several death-defying stunts. To start things off, the first film treats the viewer like one of the cast, relaxing in a trailer. A member of the Top Gear production team then escorts them to a buggy which drives around the stunt they’re about to face.

For the first stunt, the viewer is strapping themselves into a petrol tanker and jumping a petrol station (normal everyday stuff). Naturally, this being Top Gear things don’t go as smoothly as possible.

The next two 360 films will be released episodically, with the second jumping over a mini-music festival in an old, underpowered campervan, while the third film sees old Star in a Reasonably Priced Car motor, the Kia C’eed, taking on a jump over a supermarket carpark into the last parking space. The series will conclude with a behind-the-scenes video revealing how the films were made.

Top Gear Jumps

“We wanted to create entertaining content for our YouTube channel that took fans behind the scenes of a Top Gear stunt.  And by producing this content in 360 we were able to ‘virtually’ put viewers right there in the driving seat of three enormously inappropriate stunt vehicles, something we’ve never done before. The results, as you will see, are smashing!,” says Duncan Gray, Commercial Director, Top Gear in a statement.

Created by Top Gear in collaboration with REWIND (Curfew: Join the Race, Ghost in the Shell VR) you can check out the video below or watch with a compatible headset like Oculus Quest using the YouTube VR app. As more of the films are released VRFocus will keep you updated on their release.

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Top Gear VR Videos Put Fans In Crazy Car Stunts

Don’t eat your lunch/breakfast/brunch just yet; we’ve got a crazy Top Gear VR video to show you before you lose it.

The BBC just debuted the first of three new 360 videos for the motoring series. Produced with the help of UK-based Rewind, the video puts you in the kind of ridiculously explosive stunt the series is known for. There’s also the usual antics, including a cameo from everyone’s favorite speechless racer, The Stig. You can watch it in the video below.

I was serious about the lunch bit, though; making that massive jump at 75mph then crashing back down into the road doesn’t look incredibly comfortable. You can watch the stunt from outside of the vehicle straight after, too.

If you want to see the footage in VR all you’ll need to do is boot up the YouTube smartphone app, click the headset icon in the video and then slot it into a VR viewer. Other headsets like Oculus Go, Google Daydream and PSVR also have native apps you can use for the best results.

The next film in the series will have viewers jumping over a mini-music festival. After that there’s another jump over a supermarket carpark in a Kia. Finally, the crew will release a behind-the-scenes video of how it pieced together all of this incredibly responsible action.

For Rewind, it’s not the first VR car crash the team’s made. Earlier this year we wrote about Curfew, a tie-in app that puts you in VR’s most comfortable crash. We’re starting to worry about the team’s driving skills, though.

The post Top Gear VR Videos Put Fans In Crazy Car Stunts appeared first on UploadVR.

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Become an Illegal Street Racer in REWIND’s Latest VR Experience Curfew: Join The Race

British creative studio REWIND is already well versed in immersive content production, having created the likes of Silicon Valley: Inside The Hacker Hostel for HBO, and Ghost in the Shell VR for Dreamworks and Paramount. Today, the studio has announced its latest virtual reality (VR) experience, a futuristic street racer called Curfew: Join The Race.

Curfew

Created in partnership with Endemol Shine UK, Curfew: Join The Race is an interactive experience based on an upcoming TV series called Curfew, starring Sean Bean and Billy Zane.

The eight-part show follows the story of ordinary people competing in the world’s fastest, most furious, illegal night-time street race. They risk everything as they race through the night from London to northernmost Scotland in pimped-out, weaponised vehicles to win the ultimate prize – freedom from the totalitarian government curfew that controls their lives.

A 15-minute VR experience, you’ll find yourself in the co-pilot seat, sat next to your driver Eduardo while the mysterious ‘Helena’ communicates to you from her hideout over CB radio. As co-pilot, you must make decisions in the hope of evading the police, other racers and surviving the night.

Daryl Atkins, ECD at REWIND and Creative Director on Curfew – Join The Race said in a statement: “The ambition was to create a narrative experience which meshes deeply with the timeline and themes of the show itself, providing an immersive alternative angle on the action. The experience allows fans to step inside the world they see on screen and get closer to the race. Virtual Reality can give audiences a new way to experience stories set inside the universes of their favourite shows. With Curfew we wanted the user to not only watch a story, but be a part of it.”

Curfew

“We’re all hugely excited to have produced our first scripted, interactive VR experience alongside REWIND and can’t wait for the experience to launch in conjunction with the series so fans can experience it first hand,” said Karolyn Holbon, Head of Online Video and Multiplatform for Endemol Shine UK. “To be able to place a viewer at the centre of a scripted universe originally created for linear broadcast – is truly innovative and we are extremely proud of the end result.”

Curfew: Join The Race is scheduled to launch on 22nd February – the same day as the show – for free on Oculus Rift. For further updates from REWIND, keep reading VRFocus.

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VRLO Returns for a One Day Celebration in December

Now that Halloween is over its time to start ramping up the festivities for 2018’s next big celebration, good old Christmas. Ahead of the big day full of presents and too much food media company REWIND (The Magic Flute, Ghost in the Shell VR) will be hosting the last VRLO event of the year in London, UK.

They Suspect Nothing - Screenshot - Stamp

The one-day event will be an evening of talks, demos and networking opportunities all wrapped up with some festive celebrations.

Sponsored by HP, Jigsaw24 and Bluegfx, HP and Jigsaw24 are teaming up to bring the HP Z VR Backpack PC to VRLO, with a demo version of REWIND’s Silicon Valley: Inside the Hacker Hostel VR.

Also at VRLO will be Coatsink Software, with the studio set to demo relaxing title A Night’s Sky and comedy mini-game collection about robots They Suspect Nothing. Vive Studios will be on hand to showcase 7 Miracles, an immersive adaptation of the seven miracles of Jesus Christ from the Gospel of John. It will be the experience’s second showing in London after its World Premiere at Raindance Film Festival last month. Finally, Start VR will demo AWAKE, a character-driven interactive cinematic VR series that blurs the line between dream and reality.

Awake - StartVR

And as a festive treat REWIND will be holding The Santa’s Helper Challenge, you’ll have to attend to find out more.

VRLO will be taking place on Wednesday, 5th December 2018, starting at 7pm and running through to 11pm. It’ll be held at The Microsoft Reactor London, with tickets being free, and entry will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis. For further details and to grab a ticket head to the VRLO Eventbrite page. VRFocus will continue its coverage of REWIND and VRLO, reporting back with further updates.

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Moncler Genius Launches AR-Enhanced Book

A number of new products are coming to market that feature augmented reality (AR) enhancements, with items such as toys, robots and globes being created with AR features that can create an immersive environment or characters and display additional information. Moncler have announced the launch of a AR-enhanced book which can provide 3D immersive experiences.

Moncler is primarily known as a seller of outerwear, such as jackets. Earlier this year, the company presented the Moncler Genius project, which hoped to establish a dialogue with customers and add new concepts and ideas to the Moncler brand with eight different designer collection.

The AR book was created to bring further insight into the Moncler Genius project, featuring all eight of the designer collections, including Pierpaolo Piccioli, Kei Ninomiya, Craig Green, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Palm Angels and Simone Rocha. The book is described as being aimed at people who are interested in fashion, innovation and new experiences.

By using the Moncler Genius AR Lens, readers can reveal 10 AR interpretations which are shown through eight different designer chapters, centerfold and cover. Each of tese show a 3D environment. The AR app can show effects such as the book freezing over, or bursting into flames, all based on the themes of each designer collection.

Anita Fontaine and Geoffrey Lillemon, Creative Directors of W+K Amsterdam’s Department of New Realities, say: “There is an exploration motive when looking through a beautiful coffee table book, and we wanted to retain this essence of discovery with augmented reality, where users are seeking special pages in a book that are magically brought to life with the Moncler Genius AR Lens app. AR presents atmosphere and environment; and 3D display of product has a need for a new kind of representation. Lifting from the flat pages of the book format, 3D environments create an awe-inspiring immersion for the reader.”

The Moncler Genius book is published by Rizzoli and created in partnership with New Realities and REWIND. The AR elements can be accessed using the Moncler Genius AR Lens app, available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

For future coverage on new AR content and experiences, keep checking back with VRFocus.