Category: webvr

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Oculus Launches Developer Preview Of Its WebVR Browser, ‘Carmel’, On Gear VR

Oculus Launches Developer Preview Of Its WebVR Browser, ‘Carmel’, On Gear VR

Oculus revealed its very own VR web browser, Carmel, back at Oculus Connect 3 in October. Now, you can get a taste of what it offers.

Carmel is now available as a Developer Preview in the Gallery Apps section for Gear VR. As the name suggests, the current release is designed for those looking to create VR experiences that are viewed through the browser using the WebVR API, and won’t have much to offer other users. It contains an extensive set of samples to showcase what can be done with VR on the web, along with documentation to help developers get started making their own content.

It is in a very early state; you can’t even access the address bar right now.

Eventually, Carmel will allow you to access both traditional 2D content and VR experiences through the web, but for now it’s focusing on the latter.

Oculus also launched the Carmel Starter Kit either for download or viewable online if you’ve got a compatible browser. It teaches developers how to get their content running inside a headset, how to utilize the Gear VR’s touchpad on the web, how to navigate HTML5 in VR, and display 360-degree content on a web page. The company’s dedicated WebVR page also has some examples of what’s possible with the API.

According to a blog announcing the release, Carmel is based on a version of WebVR that “most major browser vendors believe can reach general availability in mid-2017.” The company also notes that it is taking steps “alongside our partners at Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla” to deliver what it calls a “key milestone” for the Web.

Rift support for Carmel should be arriving later down the line. Oculus is also still working on its React VR framework for building WebVR interfaces too.

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Carmel Developer Preview veröffentlicht

Oculus hat nun die Developer Preview von Carmel veröffentlicht, mit der Web Content auf die aktuellen Virtual Reality Headsets gebracht werden soll. Somit soll die Hürde eines Downloads abgebaut werden und Nutzer sollen direkt Virtual Reality Inhalte über den Browser konsumieren können. Der Zugang zu den Inhalten wird dabei aber nicht auf Menschen begrenzt, die ein Virtual Reality Headset besitzen. Die Inhalte sollen auch ohne VR Headset nutzbar sein. Es handelt sich also um Inhalte, die mit jedem Gerät konsumierbar sein sollen.

Carmel Developer Preview

Die Developer Preview ist aktuell in den Gallery Apps auf der Gear VR im Oculus Store zu finden. Auch wenn für die Erstellung des Contents kein WebVR fähiger Browser nötig ist, so ist Oculus glücklich, dass das Unternehmen Zugriff auf die neuste WebVR API bieten kann und ihr die Inhalte direkt in VR mit der Gear VR testen könnt. Wenn ihr die Carmel Anwendung auf der Gear VR startet, dann könnt ihr bereits einige Inhalte sehen, die direkt von Oculus kommen.

Carmel Developer Preview

Bei der aktuellen Version von Carmel handelt es sich aber wirklich um eine Preview-Version. So fehlen derzeit einige Feature und 2D Inhalte lassen sich auch nicht anzeigen. Dennoch veröffentlicht Oculus die Anwendung bereits heute, damit Entwickler bereits mit der Technologie arbeiten können. Damit ihr einen einfachen Einstieg erhaltet, bietet Oculus auch ein Starter Kit mit Beispielen an. Dieses könnt ihr hier herunterladen. Doch auch wenn ihr nicht mit der Entwicklung starten wollt und nur die Beispiele sehen wollt, könnt ihr euch diese natürlich auch direkt anschauen. Ihr findet die Beispiele hier.

Oculus wird Carmel in der Zukunft noch weiter ausbauen und das Unternehmen arbeitet auch an einem Carmel Browser, welcher VR und 2D Inhalte zusammenführen soll. Bei diesem Projekt arbeitet Oculus mit Google, Microsoft und Mozilla zusammen.

Der Beitrag Carmel Developer Preview veröffentlicht zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Google’s Josh Carpenter on Bringing WebVR to Daydream in 2017

josh-carpenterGoogle announced at the W3C WebVR workshop in October that they would be shipping a WebVR-enabled Chromium browser in Q1 of 2017. I had a chance to catch up with Google’s Josh Carpenter last week to talk about some of the work that Google is doing to enable innovation on the open web, and more about his W3C talk on HTML, CSS & VR and some of Google’s early experiments with hybrid apps that combine OpenGL with web technologies.

LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST

Josh talks about how WebVR is drawing inspiration from the Extensible Web Manifesto in being able to provide low-level APIs that will create a common baseline of a solid experience based upon web technologies.

At GDC in March, the WebVR demos on the expo floor had trouble hitting 90 fps, but since then they’ve been able to start to meet that minimum baseline of performance. Achieving this milestone helped to show other VR companies that the web could actually be a viable distribution platform for VR.

SEE ALSO
Google Shows HTC Vive Running at 90 FPS in Chrome with WebVR

But Josh compares talking about WebVR to a VR developer right now as sort of like what it must have felt like to be Tim Berners Lee talking about the potential of the open web to a CD-ROM developer in the early 90s. There will continue to be premiere experiences and innovations happening within native VR applications, but there will likely be unique affordances and convenience that the web can provide to an immersive experience that goes beyond what a native app can do.

Josh gives Netflix as an example to to show the power of the open web. If we were to just look at graphic fidelity as the ultimate measure of performance and value, then we all would be watching movies on Blu-Ray discs rather than on Netflix. But there’s lower friction and instant gratification with Netflix, even though the graphic and audio fidelity isn’t as good. This is one example of how Josh thinks about the potential of an interconnected Metaverse in comparison to a closed, walled-garden app ecosystem that by all objective measures provides a vastly superior experience.

Josh appreciates the power of strongly vertical integration and proprietary solutions, but also believes that a common horizontal baseline of WebVR could enable the same type of rapid innovation and emergent creativity that the open web has enabled.

He also says that Google’s WebVR browser is going to be based upon the open source Chromium browser, and that Oculus’ WebVR browser named “Carmel” is also based upon Chromium. He says that native web apps like Slack are built on open web standards and bundled with Chromium and Electron, and that he’s looking forward to seeing what type of innovation comes from how developers imagine what a browser could do in a VR experience. One example is an anthropomorphized NPC character that is powered by the Chromium browser.

SEE ALSO
Oculus to Support WebVR Through New VR Browser Codenamed 'Carmel'

Josh sees 2017 as a year for exploration and seeing what developers do with the draft specifications of the WebVR standard. Right now Google’s team is dealing with how to view web content within a VR context. Josh says that Apple came up with pinch-to-zoom mechanic that allowed desktop-optimized layouts to be viewed with mobile browser before responsive designs were invented, and that Google is in the process of experimenting with optimizing 2D content into a 3D context when the pixel density isn’t high enough to do a direct translation. Google has also been experimenting with combing HTML and CSS with OpenGL content in order to do rapid prototyping of user experiences using standardized web development technology stacks.

Josh also shared with me that the Voices of VR podcast has been an important part of the evolution of WebVR since the beginning of the consumer VR gatherings starting with Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference in May of 2014. He said that the previous Voices of VR episodes on WebVR have been an important part of both getting the word out, but also helping to build internal buy-in at different key moments of WebVR’s history.

So here’s a list of my previous interviews about WebVR that go all the way back to episode #13. It’s pretty amazing to hear the evolution of where it started and to see where it’s at today with every single major VR company and browser vendor participating in the recent WebVR workshop.

To get more involved in WebVR, then be sure to go to WebVR.info and check out some of the additional links in the previous Voices of VR episode about WebVR.

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

The post Google’s Josh Carpenter on Bringing WebVR to Daydream in 2017 appeared first on Road to VR.

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Google Bringing WebVR 1.1 To Daydream in January

Google Bringing WebVR 1.1 To Daydream in January

The roll out for WebVR is going to be a long and complex process given the number of browsers and headsets involved, but another major piece of the puzzle should be arriving in a matter of months.

As reported by Road to VR, Google recently confirmed that the latest iteration of the framework, WebVR 1.1, is aiming to launch on the company’s Daydream mobile ecosystem very soon. Speaking at the W3C Workshop on Web & Virtual Reality last month, Megan Lindsay, WebVR Product Manager at Google stated that a beta version should launch in December 2016 followed by a stable launch in January 2017. During the beta phase, sites will need to request free access to the API.

“The API is still changing quite a bit, so this enables us to get feedback from developers before a stable release,” Lindsay explained.

WebVR allows users to view VR experiences on web pages rather than through native apps. In terms of YouTube, for example, to watch 360 videos with a Daydream you’d currently need to use the official app, but with WebVR integrated you’d be able to view content through the Chrome browser instead. Don’t expect to be playing full VR games or using apps like Tilt Brush in browsers any time soon, but we are inching towards a time that we can simply put on a headset and head to a specific website to quickly jump into content rather than downloading and then heading in and out of specific apps.

Elsewhere, Lindsay stated that support should come to Google Cardboard “soon”. This implies use with the regular Chrome app, as Cardboard apps are downloaded from Android’s Google Play Store. As for Chrome on desktops, Lindsay reiterated that support for both Rift and Vive is in the works.

“Beyond WebVR, we’re working on a version of Chrome that supports browsing in VR for regular 2D sites,” she added. “Timeline towards first half of 2017 for daydream, with later support for desktop.” AR was mentioned too, though Google isn’t “what this would entail yet.”

Representatives of other major companies were also at the session; Microsoft confirmed that WebVR is in development for its Edge browser and Oculus reiterated that it is working on its very own browser, codenamed Carmel, for Rift and Gear VR. We haven’t heard much on this front from Sony and PlayStation VR just yet, though it’s a question the company likely won’t leave unanswered for long.

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Google startet WebVR für Android im Januar

WebVR könnte ein wichtiger Schritt in der Entwicklung von Virtual Reality werden. Auf dem W3C Workshop hat Google nun bestätigt, dass es eine öffentliche Version von Chrome für Android mit WebVR 1.1 ab Januar geben wird.

Google startet WebVR für Android im Januar

WebVR in Google Chrome

Mit WebVR können Virtual Reality Inhalte direkt über den Browser zugänglich gemacht werden. Eine solche Funktion hat natürlich auch einige Fallstricke, doch Google hat bereits gezeigt, dass WebVR und 90 FPS mit der HTC Vive keine Widersprüche sein müssen.

Megan Lindsay, WebVR Produktmanagerin bei Google sagt, dass im Dezember die Beta für Android starten soll und im Januar die finale Version ausgerollt wird. Im Januar wird also WebVR in die herkömmliche Chrome Version für Android integriert und somit wird jedes Android Smatrphone (mit Chrome Browser) mit dieser Funktion ausgestattet. Ob ihr die Funktion aber nutzen könnt, wenn ihr kein Daydream Smartphone und Headset besitzt, ist aktuell nicht klar. Lindsay sagt, dass WebVR in erster Linie für Daydream veröffentlicht wird. Wir gehen davon aus, dass WebVR auch mit dem Cardboard nutzbar seien könnte, aber die Erfahrung wird dann natürlich deutlich schlechter ausfallen, als mit dem Daydream Headset.

Das Problem an Daydream ist derzeit, dass es aktuell nur das Daydream View Headset von Google gibt und dieses kann derzeit auch nur mit dem Pixel und dem Pixel XL Smartphone betrieben werden. In der Zukunft werden aber noch viele weitere Anbieter folgen und Daydream Ready Produkte auf den Markt bringen.

Der Vorteil an WebVR ist, dass der Nutzer sich kleine Inhalte herunterladen muss, da er diese direkt im Browser benutzen kann. Dies nimmt dem Nutzer eine kleine Hürde, um sich von Content zu Content zu surfen.

Doch WebVR wird nicht nur in Chrome für Android integriert. Google wird 2017 auch WebVR in die öffentlichen Versionen von Chrome für den PC integrieren und die Oculus Rift und die HTC Vive unterstützen. Außerdem arbeitet Google weiterhin an der Chrome VR Shell. Diese soll Webseiten in VR erfahrbar machen, die nicht als Virtual Reality Version zur Verfügung stehen.

(Quelle: Road to VR)

 

Der Beitrag Google startet WebVR für Android im Januar zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Google Launching WebVR Support for Android Chrome in January, Desktop to Follow

WebVR is gaining significant momentum; last month the biggest players in the browse space came together to discuss the future of VR on the web at the W3C Workshop on Web & Virtual Reality. There, Google said that the company soon plans to ship a public version of Chrome on Android with support for WebVR 1.1.

WebVR is an evolving foundation for delivering virtual reality directly from the web. It’s slowly being pulled into a coherent set of guidelines, features, and best practices to allow compatibility of virtual reality web content across a daunting array of web browser and VR systems, each with varying capabilities.

Just a few weeks ago, major forces collaborating on the WebVR Spec gathered in San Jose, CA for the W3C Workshop on Web & Virtual Reality, a two-day conference where the likes of Mozilla, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Oculus, The Khronos Group, and many more hashed out the latest developments and directions for the WebVR ecosystem.

It was there that Megan Lindsay, WebVR Product Manager at Google, announced that the company is working toward a public release of Chrome on Android that supports the latest WebVR 1.1 Spec.

SEE ALSO
Google Shows HTC Vive Running at 90 FPS in Chrome with WebVR

Lindsay said that the company plans to launch a beta in December with a stable release planned for January. WebVR in the “stable” release means that it’ll make its way into the same Chrome browser app that everyone on Android sees in the Google Play store. Lindsay says that the company is targeting this release initially for Daydream, so it isn’t clear yet if the update will immediately add WebVR capability to all compatible phones, or if it will be restricted to Google’s Pixel phone (the first to be ‘Daydream ready’) and Daydream View headset. Once it does become available for all, it will mean WebVR capability for a huge swath of people (Chrome on Android has been downloaded between 1 and 5 billion times…).

That means that the browser will be compatible with WebVR content that’s built to the WebVR 1.1 Spec, allowing users to pop their phone into a Cardboard or Daydream headset to experience and jump between VR web content straight through Chrome, without the need to download individual apps.

Looking further out, Lindsay says that work is underway for WebVR in Chrome for Windows (supporting the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive), and will see a limited public release in early 2017, with a full rollout presumably later down the line.

SEE ALSO
Mozilla on Enabling the Open Metaverse with WebVR, A-Frame, and Servo

She also noted that the company is continuing work on the Chrome ‘VR Shell’ that will allow 2D websites not built for WebVR to be browsed in VR. That’s planned for the first half of 2017 on Chrome for Android, and later in 2017 for the desktop browser.

WebVR support of varying levels has been in development versions of Mozilla and Chrome for some time now, but those have yet to make their way to a public release as the WebVR Spec continues to be honed. Most recently, Microsoft announced their support for WebVR in the Edge browser; Opera and Apple’s Safari are notable holdouts, having not yet said if they plan to support the spec (though employees from both were registered to attend last month’s meeting).

The post Google Launching WebVR Support for Android Chrome in January, Desktop to Follow appeared first on Road to VR.

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Mozilla on Enabling the Open Metaverse with WebVR, A-Frame, and Servo

dmarcosSome of the earliest experiments of making VR a first-class citizen on the web originated at Mozilla in 2014. Then the WebVR spec was drafted in a collaboration between Mozilla and Google’s implementations. There’s been a lot of excitement and momentum building around WebVR over the last couple of months first with the WebVR announcements by Oculus at Oculus Connect 3, and then with over 140 WebVR developers meeting for a W3C workshop on WebVR that happened on October 19th & 20th.

LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST

chris-van-wiemeerschI had a chance to stop by Mozilla’s offices and catch up with two of the company’s WebVR developers, Diego Marcos and Chris Van Wiemeersch, who talked about the big takeaways that happened at the recent W3C WebVR Workshop.

There were some commitments made for a publicly available WebVR-enabled browser from Google in Q1 2017 and a pilot program from Mozilla also in Q1. Diego talks about Mozilla’s new experimental, high-performance web browser, Servo, implementing the WebVR APIs, and Chris talks the unprecedented momentum and public support that WebVR is seeing across the VR industry.

SEE ALSO
Oculus to Support WebVR Through New VR Browser Codenamed 'Carmel'

We also talk about some of the open web concepts like progressive web apps, launching WebGL games as native apps using Electron, emerging technologies enabled by the blockchain like the IPFS distributed web, and some of the next steps for WebVR.

WebVR Resource Links

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

The post Mozilla on Enabling the Open Metaverse with WebVR, A-Frame, and Servo appeared first on Road to VR.

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WebVR Hackathon Launches November, Partners Include Google, Microsoft & Mozilla

Next month Virtuleap is organising the WebVR Hackathon, an online 90-day event that features technology and launch partners such as Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, VRBASE, StartupAmsterdam and more.

Student groups from universities such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT and the ETC at Carnegie Mellon have confirmed their participation alongside VR First’s academic network and Sketchfab’s 3D design community.

Mozilla_Firefox_header

Participating teams will be tasked with developing concepts in virtual reality (VR) completely in WebVR, the Javascript API that runs straight out of a web browser. The WebVR engine makes frameworks like Mozilla’s AFrame – an open source library that doesn’t require knowledge of WebGL – accessible to developers and designers without any prior experience in building VR content.

“We’re on a mission to push WebVR as the priority platform for the whole industry,” says Amir-Esmaeil Bozorgzadeh, co-founder at Virtuleap and the co-organizer of the global hackathon. “It’s platform agnostic, democratic, immediately accessible, and positioned where there is already an entire universe of traffic: the web.

“While games and entertainment content are allowed, extra brownie points go to teams that stretch their imaginations beyond just fun experiences. We want them to think about tools, tutorials, and products, and not focus on the easier gimmicky experiences that are fleeting, convert to nothing, or have no lasting impact.”

The platform will go live on 1st November via virtuleap.com. Submission’s will be accepted from 15th, November 2016 to 1st, February 2017, covering nine content categories, these include education, engineering, and healthcare. Approved submissions will then be showcased on the platform, with the winners selected through a voting mechanism, then by a panel of industry veterans.

There are a range of prizes in store, which include €30K cash and a slot in the first VR accelerator in Europe, VRBASE, and a 3-month internship program at VR studio Force Field VR. The prizes are inclusive of travel and living expenses for winners while they stay in the Netherlands.

Daniel Doornink, Founder and CEO at the VRBASE said in a statement: “We think WebVR can play a big role in the search of true value adding VR/AR software, because of its ease of use and often open-source character, which in turn enables knowledge sharing.”

For all the latest VR news from around the world, keep reading VRFocus.

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An Inflection Point for WebVR and the Open Metaverse

tony-parisiThere’s been a couple of key developments in the evolution of WebVR during the month of October. First, Nate Mitchell announced during his Oculus Connect 3 keynote that Oculus will be supporting the WebVR ecosystem with the React VR framework and a VR-enabled browser called Carmel. And then on October 19th and 20th, there was a historic W3C Workshop on Web & Virtual Reality where all of the major VR players gathered in San Jose to hash out the WebVR web standards for delivering VR and AR applications over the web. Some the participating companies included Mozilla, Google, Samsung, Oculus, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Valve, Sony, Yahoo, Unity, Intel, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, HP, Dolby, High Fidelity, JanusVR, and Sketchfab. With Oculus’ public support and the gathering momentum around delivering VR over the web, WebVR hit an inflection point of buy-in and momentum such that the future of the metaverse will more likely be based upon the principles of the open web rather than driven by a more closed, walled garden application ecosystem.

formvr

LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST

I had a chance to catch up with Tony Parisi at Oculus Connect 3, and he’s now started his own WebVR-focused company called Form VR that collaborated with Oculus on the TripAdvisor WebVR demo that was shown during the OC3 keynote. We talk about some of the latest developments in WebVR, how Microsoft is getting involved to get support for AR WebVR apps for the HoloLens, how Form VR is developing tools for creating WebVR applications, and some of the other big developments that are showing a lot of buy-in and momentum around WebVR.

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

The post An Inflection Point for WebVR and the Open Metaverse appeared first on Road to VR.

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Oculus to Support WebVR Through New VR Browser Codenamed ‘Carmel’

Oculus announced at Connect, the company’s annual developer conference, that they’ll be officially supporting WebVR through their new VR web browser codenamed Carmel. WebVR is an API that provides headsets access to web-based VR content.

Touted as an easy way to share VR experiences over the web, WebVR allows JavaScript developers a way of delivering simple VR content into the hands of anyone with a VR headset just by navigating to a URL (i.e. no long downloads or installs necessary).

Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell took the stage and presented the new VR browser, stating the WebVR initiative “is going to lead to an exponential growth in VR content out there. Everyone in the future is going to have their own VR destination on the web.”

SEE ALSO
Google is Adding a VR Shell to Chrome to Let You Browse the Entire Web in VR

Mitchell then introduced a number of usecases for prospective developers, some that he said could even be completed in just a few days like a web-based photo sphere site, or a 3D rendering of a new car.

webvr-carmel-oculus
a simple photo sphere ‘destination’ that lets you tour a hotel

Oculus says Carmel is optimized for performance, designed for navigation and input in VR, and will be tightly integrated with Home and “run on any Oculus device.”

Samsung’s Gear VR web browser ‘Samsung Internet’ already has preliminary support for WebVR, but the move by Oculus to support it directly and offer the tools to do so means they’ll be throwing their full weight behind the initiative.

carmel-browser

To help developers build VR web content, Oculus also announced React VR, a VR-focused version of the React open source javascript library created by Facebook in 2013 that helps developers build user interfaces for web-based content.

A developer preview of Carmel is said to come later this year along with React VR. Oculus has listed a number of real-world examples on their WebVR page to give prospective devs an idea of what to build for the coming VR web.

The post Oculus to Support WebVR Through New VR Browser Codenamed ‘Carmel’ appeared first on Road to VR.