Category: VRLA

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$2.1M Seed Funding Secured By Antilatency

It may not be close to the $400m investment announced earlier today by developers of the Unity Engine, Unity Technologies. But another virtual reality (VR) company has cause to celebration today after it became the latest to reveal seed funding success. 

Antilatency, which works with positional tracking for movile VR, announced it had received over two million dollars in funding in its latest fundraising efforts from IIDF VC. Funds that will be used to help bring it’s mobile VR and augmented reality (AR) solution to market the Anti-latency tracker (ALT). Which will also be at not only the forthcoming CES Asia event but this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) both of which will be next month. A demo was first shown at VRLA earlier this year.

According to the copany, which operates in both America and Russia, ALT “allows [the] user to walk around with mobile VR as opposed to existing solutions which only work with head rotations.Other benefits include movement prediction with compensation of rendering lags, wide tracking zone, multi-user mode, and outdoor functionality.”

“Inspired by the idea of a perfect tracking system, we’ve spent over two years of research on hardware, software, math algorithms, and industrial design. Today our team is testing early prototypes and our dream is close to coming true.” Explained Antilatency CTO Petr Sevostianov. “Virtual Reality powered by our tracker gives a miraculous sense of complete freedom, without wires and dizziness. And now we want everyone on the planet to be able to experience the same virtual reality as we do.”

A comparison infographic on ALT’s capabilities, according to Antilatency.

IIDF also explained, via representative Ilya Korolev their reasons for investing: “Virtual and augmented reality is a cutting edge niche demonstrating the capabilities of advanced technologies. As the global number of active virtual reality users is forecast to reach 171 million by 2018, the industry needs the solutions to improve the user experience. We are happy to support Antilatency in bringing innovative ALT: Anti-latency tracker to the market.”

VRFocus will be bringing you more details on the ALT as it and Antilatency continues their journey.

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Upload LA Opening Represents a Focus Shift From VR Tech to VR Content

freeman-masonUploadVR opened up their new 20,000 square foot Upload LA co-working space in April. I had a chance to catch up with co-founders Taylor Freeman and Will Mason as VRLA to get the inside scoop. Mason told me that opening up this huge co-working space in Los Angeles represents an energetic shift from the VR technology born out of Silicon Valley to focusing on content & storytelling in VR.

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UploadVR’s first co-working space, The Upload Collective, was opened in San Francisco during GDC in 2016, and Mason said that they quickly outgrew the space. The Upload LA space will allow them to have a lot bigger educational and training initiatives without having to completely rearrange their space for every event. Upload LA is a vertically-integrated co-working space that has access to hardware, mixed reality studio, audio mixing studio, and immersive entrepreneurs that hopes to incubate many smaller startups and content studios. It’s proven to be a winning combination for UploadVR considering that all of their dedicated office space was accounted for just a couple days after launching, and they’ll have floating desk space available until it runs out.

UploadVR plans on continuing to grow and expand their physical spaces to new markets, but the space in Los Angeles will be sure to hold many events, talks, and parties for the years to come. You can get a sense of the space from this launch video as well as some photos of their space after their grand opening.

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Watch Justin Roiland’s Hilarious VRLA Keynote

Watch Justin Roiland’s Hilarious VRLA Keynote

An estimated 10,000 people attended VRLA on April 14 and 15 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, likely yet again establishing it as the largest VR-focused conference on the planet. On the second day of the conference Rick and Morty co-creator and Squanchtendo co-founder Justin Roiland delivered a hilarious keynote address skewering the emerging industry.

Roiland is of course an early adopter of VR technology himself, with Squanchtendo releasing the absolutely hilarious Accounting experience for free while Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim partnered with Owlchemy Labs to release Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality (Review: 8.5/10) last week. That makes Roiland’s particular brand of humor and knowledge of the industry a perfect mix for this 29-minute address.

Check it out now.

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‘Mindshow’ Creative App Launches Open Beta in Q3 2017, Watch New Trailer Here

Mindshow, the app from Visionary VR that lets you make animated movies in VR with your body and voice, has revealed they are launching into open beta sometime in Q3 2017.

Revealed in the description of the new promo released today on the company’s YouTube channel, the makers of Mindshow haven’t cranked down on a definite release date yet, but have said it will be launching on HTC Vive. Although not specified on the company’s website, a Techcrunch report maintains Mindshow will also be rolling out on the other major VR platforms including both the PSVR and Oculus Rift, according to a chat with CCO Jonnie Ross and CEO Gil Baron.

image courtesy of Visionary VR

First revealed a year ago at VRLA Summer Expo 2016, the application aims to give anyone access to simple tools to tell stories in virtual reality. The company had raised $6 million in venture capital before coming out of stealth last year.

Mindshow allows users to choose a scene, stage the set with props, drop characters into the scene, and even animate them using motion capture through the HTC Vive. Once everything is set, users can record the scene and capture voice-over as they are acting out the scene.

And if the promo tells us anything about the actual app, it’s going to be awesome.

The post ‘Mindshow’ Creative App Launches Open Beta in Q3 2017, Watch New Trailer Here appeared first on Road to VR.

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Flying in VR: How Mindride’s Airflow Takes Immersion to the Next Level

mindrideOne of the most immersive VR flying experiences that I’ve had a chance to try so far is Mindride Airflow. I got to experience it last fall at VRLA 2016, and the weightless harness combined with a variety of different wind speeds gave me a deep sense of immersion and presence beyond what I would’ve expected.

I had a chance to catch up with Yehuda Duenyas and Ben Kato to talk about their experiential design process that prioritizes the depth of immersion and quality experience over anything else. We also talk about how Airflow normalized a real-life skydiving adventure for Duenyas, and the different haptic techniques they’ve used to cultivate a deep sense of embodied presence.

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Exit Reality’s VR truck to Bring Mobile Room-Scale to VRLA

The Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) conference will be taking place in just over a week’s time with plenty of big name studios and manufacturers in attendance. Aiming to bring VR to the masses will also be Exit Reality, an San Francisco-based startup that’ll be taking its room-scale VR trucks and demo cubes featuring plenty of immersive experiences.

Exit Reality created its VR trucks as a way for anyone to tryout the technology, either as a first time user or for repeat customers. The truck has been making its rounds around LA to promote VRLA for the past month before being stationed at the event. Exit Reality’s maker-esque refurbished delivery trucks are equipped with a HTC Vive so anyone walking down the street can pop in and give it a go.

Exit Reality VR Truck_1

The company has also created cube installations that can be installed on a temporary basis – there was one at the Grammy’s party – or more permanent. The cube a VRLA  will feature two brand new games powered by SofaVR allowing smartphone users to interact with the person in the cube, making it a much more  social experience.

The videogames and experiences on offer include:

  • Arcade Saga – 2 Bears Studio
  • Fruit Ninja – Halfbrick Studios
  • ROM: Extraction – First Contact Entertainment
  • Gnomes & Goblins – Wevr
  • The Brookhaven Experiment – Phosphor Games
  • Holopoint – Alzan Studios
  • Space Pirate Trainer – I-Illusions
  • theBlu – Wevr
  • The Lab – Valve
  • The Rose and I – Penrose Studios
  • Mad God – Tippett Studio
  • Eye for an Eye – Elia Petridis
  • Invasion! – Baobab Studios
  • Fantastic Contraption – Northway Games
  • Raw Data – Survios
  • Audioshield – Dylan Fitterer
  • Google Tilt Brush – Google
  • Finding your True Self: Deepak Chopra Meditation Simulation
  • Guided VR Meditation – Cubicle Ninja

Also taking place at the VRLA will be a Mixed Reality Easter Egg hunt using Microsoft HoloLens, and keynote addresses from Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and Unity CEO John Riccitiello.

Tickets for VRLA are still available with the business-focused 2-Day Pro Pass at $299 USD and a 1-Day Pass for Saturday priced at $40. The event will take place on 14th-15th April at the Los Angeles Convention Centre.

For the latest updates on VRLA, keep reading VRFocus.

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Check The Latest VR/AR Trends At VRLA Expo 2017 Next Week

Check The Latest VR/AR Trends At VRLA Expo 2017 Next Week

If you’re in the LA area or you’re willing to make the trip, VRLA will be taking place next week on April 14th and 15th. Attendees will have access to over 130 VR and AR experiences on the expo floor and get a glimpse into the future of storytelling, entertainment, social interaction, and more. Those interested can register for a pass to the show. There’s a Saturday Pass for $40 ($30 for students) and a Pro Pass for access for both days. On Saturday attendees will be able to experience the expo floor and any panels or programs for that day, but the pass for both days includes a great deal of incentives and opportunities for professionals. The showroom will have a limited amount of badges on the floor at one time and shorter lines but, more importantly, there will be developer and business centered panels and events.

 

There are quite a few programs scheduled and here are a few of note:

Friday

10:35 am – 10:55 am | Expanding the VR Ecosystem hosted by Rikard Steiber of HTC 

VR came into living rooms less than a year ago and has already captured the public imagination in a way that’s reminiscent of other rapidly mass adopted technology such as HDTVs, smartphones and tablets. Yet VR’s potential is greater than a single device category or computing platform. The immersion of VR and its application in areas ranging from games and entertainment to education and enterprise positions it as the next mass adopted medium. The question is, when will we get there? This session looks at how Vive is accelerating the adoption of VR with both consumer and enterprise facing initiatives, and giving developers more ways to fund and monetize premium VR content.

1:00 pm – 3:30 pm | Creating Experiences for the Hololens with Unity hosted by Kat Harris and Adam Tuliper of Microsoft

This workshop is an introduction to the HoloLens. The HoloLens is a new, mixed reality device from Microsoft. This workshop explores what the HoloLens is, what makes the HoloLens unique, and how to work with its three pillars of input – Gaze, Gesture, and Voice. One of the most fascinating features is spatial mapping, one of the ways the HoloLens understands space around you. This workshop will also take you through ways to work with the spatial information to integrate with the real world. Next we’ll explore the complete workflow on how to develop applications for the HoloLens with Unity, as this allows us to integrate easily into the Windows Holographic API. You can sign into your Streampoint account here and skip to step two of registration to access the workshops.

Saturday

10:00 am – 12:30 pm | Girls Make VR hosted by Sarah Stumbo and Mark Schoennagel of Unity

Girls aged 13-18 will be introduced to the Unity game engine with hands-on learning, including the workflows and features used by top game studios. Join us to create a 3D, VR-ready experience from start to finish while touching upon new tools Unity offers. Application open for a select period of time.

11:35 am – 12:00 pm | Justin Roiland Keynote

Justin Roiland, the “Rick & Morty” creator and newly-minted founder of the VR studio Squanchtendo aims to dive into the surreally funny possibilities of the medium in his keynote, remarking “What does the future of VR hold? Will there be more wizard games? Are grandmas real? What IS a wizard really? Are there wizard grandmas? How does this factor into VR? I did all this (simple) math and then made a power point presentation that I **think** maaaayyybe has these questions (and more) all figured out. Please come to my incredible keynote address on the state of VR! You juuuust might learn something, maybe, I don’t know. I can’t make any promises on that because you may already know everything.”

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Mixed Reality Easter Egg Hunt to Feature at VRLA

The VRLA Conference and Expo in Los Angeles will this year have a new feature as part of its virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) demos – a Mixed Reality Easter Egg hunt.

Organised by AR/VR development agency and content creators AfterNow and FLARB in cooperation with Microsoft HoloLens, visitors to the VRLA will be able to look through a HoloLens headset and see the virtual Easter eggs which will be hidden throughout an indoor park space. The egg hunt is just one of hundreds of AR and VR demos that will feature through the VRLA weekend.

VRLA is set to feature a full schedule of panels, talks and discussions. The creative team from Epic Games who worked on Robo Recall will be offering details of the development process behind the successful videogame. Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and Unity CEO John Riccitiello will be offering keynote speeches on the Saturday and Friday respectively.

A slate of exhibitors from industry names like Samsung, Oculus, nVidia, HTC and Google will be in the exhibition hall, alongside a dedicated ‘Indie Zone’ where smaller development teams can show off their products. In addition a ‘Girls Make VR’ workshop is being planned, where young women will be able to get to grips with the Unity 3D engine and have the opportunity to produce their own VR applications.

Tickets for VRLA are still available with the business-focused 2-Day Pro Pass at $299 USD and a 1-Day Pass for Saturday priced at $40. The event will take place on 14th-15th April at the Los Angeles Convention Centre.

VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest updates on VRLA and other industry events.

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Epic Bringing Robo Recall to VRLA Conference

Creator of popular virtual reality (VR) FPS title Robo Recall, Epic Games, has announced that it will be attending the 2017 VRLA Conference and Expo in April.

The minds behind Robo Recall will be speaking on a panel dedicated to the development of Robo Recall for the Oculus Rift and Touch, covering its evolution from the Bullet Train demo into the complete videogame powered by Unreal Engine 4. Speaking on the panel will be:

Evan Champlin, Senior VR Designer
Jeff Farris, Technical Lead
Pete Hayes, Senior Artist
Chance Ivey, Senior Community Manager and Robo Recall Modding Lead
Tommy Jacob, VR Producer
Seth Weedin, Audio and Gameplay Programmer

Epic will also be offering attendees the opportunity to experience the latest build of Robo Recall, complete with mod options and leaderboard. The team in the booth will also have Unreal Engine tools available for demonstrations of technical details.

Robo_Recall_OC3_A4_screenshot_05

On the Saturday of the show, Epic will be running a workshop titled ‘Making High-Quality Interactive VR with Unreal Engine’. Luis Cataldi, Director of Education and Learning Resources, will help visitors understand locomotion building and interaction mechanics using Blueprints.

VRLA Expo will take place on 14th-15th April 2017, at the Los Angeles Convention centre. Registrations are still open for the VRLA, with the business-focused 2-Day Pro Pass at $299 USD and a 1-Day Pass for Saturday priced at $40.

Epic Games will be joining other big VR industry names at the event, with Unity Technologies CEO John Riccitiello delivering the Friday keynote address, and Rick & Morty Creator Justin Roiland addressing the crowd on Saturday.

VRFocus will bring you further updates on the VRLA Expo as they come in.