The Art for After 4D Experience with Animated Augmented Reality (AR) was in full form at the Chalk Festival in Venice, FL in November! The next step over 3D…
Over 2,000 people in three days lined up to experience and participate a live demonstration of 4D, that is using animated AR overlaid with hand painted illusionary murals as one cohesive use of fine art and emerging technologies. A brand new experience for all!
Viewed through our monitor, Art for After Hours was able to share and present this mingling of art and technology to people and demographics of all ages…
This is what they saw… Hand painted 3D illusionary art as part of the immersive whole where our attendees were ‘Hangin On’ to the side of a building (in a playful way) on the ground while ‘avoiding’ giant animated AR butterflies live overlaid upon the event. An immersive experience limited only but what Art for After Hours will do next!
Project definable by our clients needs, multiple locations, with full Art for After Hours team led by Anthony Cappetto.
As one can see, people were having a great time interpreting their unique immersive 4D experiences with the installation…
Please keep in mind that these images are from a monitor but the concept of blending illusionary art and emerging technologies is very clear.
This example of our painted 3D illusionary art is much sharper and gives you the effect of the traditional 3D reverse anamorphic illusion – the foundation of the use of augmented, virtual reality as the immersive 4D experience… Reach out to us to design, develop, and realize your unique 4D vision in events, tradeshows, conventions, commercials, launches and more…
Anthony Cappetto is an internationally recognized artist working in 3D street/mural art and a pioneer in the use of 4D emerging technologies in street art installations such as animated augmented reality, virtual reality in the art. Cappetto is founder of Art for After Hours, the first 3D street painting Company in 2001. Also pictured: Wendy Stum, Marketing Director of Art for After Hours.
If you are excited by the possibilities of 4D street art and emerging technologies including haptics, mixed reality, holography, and more – reach out to us for more information.
Social VR is a hot topic right now. With the release of the Oculus Touch controllers, both of the major headsets — Oculus Rift and HTC Vive — have motion tracked controllers and roomscale capabilities. This not only means playing roomscale games and experiences that allow you to freely move around and navigate virtual worlds, but it means an extraordinary level of presence for social VR applications.
Head-tracking is one thing, but moving my hands around while inside VR, evoking that sense of body language, is a magical thing. We’ve all seen the slew of social VR applications on the market, from Altspace and vTime to Bigscreen and Facebook’s upcoming social experiences. No one knows who will snag the holy grail of social VR first, but according to Shawn Whiting of PlutoVR, the real vision is a layer of connectivity across all apps, not a single app for social interaction.
Enter Pluto, a VR app that adds a social layer of interaction across SteamVR, regardless of what you’re doing. During my demo, I launched Pluto, set up my audio configurations, made an avatar, and invited Whiting to a ‘Call.’ At first, it seemed like nothing happened. I hadn’t loaded into a VR app, I was still standing in my holodeck-skinned dashboard. Then I hear a voice say, “I’m behind you.” I spin around to see a floating head with two hands wave at me — right in the middle of my very own SteamVR environment.
Whiting explained that Pluto works by essentially running over the top of your other applications, almost like an independent overlay of sorts. I can adjust the opacity of the avatars, mute myself, show my hands, and tweak a variety of other options. I can even hide avatars all together if I just want to do a voice call.
The way it works is that each individual user sees whatever they would normally see, whether it’s their SteamVR dashboard or any other application. I could be playing a game of Onward while someone else is playing Space Pirate Trainer and we would see each other’s avatars in real-time. There’s even a position reset button you can press that brings all of the avatars together, regardless of where they are in their physical rooms, to make it easier to communicate.
Pluto becomes something even more special if you run apps concurrently, like Google Earth VR. We both loaded it into it together and went to the same spot at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Hovering in the air like superheroes, we chatted about the implications of the program and where social VR is going next. It was unlike anything I’ve tried in VR yet. You can’t connect apps together or sync up in locations like this using the program, but that’s something they’re looking into offering for those types of situations.
Looking down at my controllers, I could see opaque silhouettes of my avatar’s hands layered behind the Vive wand models. Resting my thumb on various parts of the Vive controller trackpads allowed me to make a thumbs up, or point my finger, and even do an open-hand gesture for high-fives.
The program is still in pre-alpha and is only accepting a very limited number in signups. But if you’ve got a Rift with Touch or a Vive, you can sign up on the official website right now in hopes of hearing back with alpha information.
Pluto is a new social app currently in alpha from the Seattle-based startup Pluto VR. Instead of taking its cues from multi-user spaces like AltspaceVR or VR Chat however, which provide users with various shared virtual environments and must be run to the exclusion of other apps, Pluto is focused on delivering the convenience of an always-on video messaging apps like Skype or Google Hangouts. This means you can use any VR game or app you want and still be able to take a sort of ‘VR call’ from friends. To learn more about VR’s newest social tool, I popped into the app with Pluto VR co-founder Forest Gibson and Mad Scientist (real job title) Shawn Whiting, co-founder of early social VR space ConVRge.
Once started, Pluto runs quietly in the background of any app you choose to run, hiding itself in a SteamVR menu tab. Clicking on the tab, you can see your Steam friend’s list, settings, and configure your avatar.
Pluto offers standard choices of face shape, skin tone, facial hair, eyes, nose…etc. I subscribe to the Monster Factory school of avatar making: The more horrible I can make my avatar, the better the avatar maker. Unfortunately I was only able to create a perfectly presentable Mii-style avatar.
Through the connections tab you can see who’s online, and start both voice and ‘Visual Calls’ directly. The emphasis on a ‘Visual Call’ over ‘VR Call’ likely comes from the fact that Pluto is setting itself up also serve AR devices in the near future.
Pluto VR’s Mad Scientist Shawn Whiting initiated a call, and founder Forest Gibson popped in shortly after. Floating heads and hands greeted me. I was seated at the moment, but got up to talk to both of them face to face (seeing as home I was now hosting two others in my tiny office at home).
Having haunted social VR applications since the Oculus Rift DK1 days, the first things I automatically asked was “So, where do we go?”
Gibson explained that Pluto wouldn’t actually take us anywhere like other social VR apps, and that the chats take place parallel to whatever it is you’re doing at that moment. To demonstrate, we all opened our own apps which were invisible to eachother, and went along our merry ways.
playing a little ‘Space Pirate Trainer’ while in a serious business meeting
Opening Google Earth VR, a notoriously bandwidth-hungry app that loads world geometry in real-time, I didn’t notice any significant disruptions in the chat as we kept on our discussion about Pluto’s vision of the future.
Gibson explained that Pluto VR hasn’t focused on building any bespoke in-game items or environments, instead opting to leave the system open for whatever standard arises.
Life is fast, but our virtual reality lives are still slow. We plug in and play one or two games and take off the headset. However Pluto VR sees a future of always-on AR/VR headsets, where quickly popping into someone’s virtual space doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing your own in the process.
Pluto VR is currently taking applications for its alpha. Follow the link below for more information.
360-degree content has come along way since the early days of virtual reality’s (VR) resurgence, with companies like Jaunt, Littlstar, NextVR, The New York Times, and many more creating and distributing immersive content. Today imaging expert Nikon has released the results from its national Life in 360 survey, which asked Americans about their awareness and attitudes toward emerging 360-degree video technology and gain insights into what Americans want to view and capture in 360.
Conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative US adults ages 18+, between 15th – 21st November, 2016, using an email invitation and an online survey, respondents were asked what content, if any, that they currently watch would be better if shot with a 360-degree camera.The results that came back showed 90% indicated they believe some content would be better viewed in 360, while 3 in 5 (60 percent) believed sports and travel content would be better with a full 360-degree view. Live entertainment (55 percent), movies (39 percent), news programs and documentaries (31 percent) and television shows (30 percent) also featured.
When asked if 360-videos can capture content in more exciting ways than traditional video technology and what types of experiences they would like to capture using a 360-camera, the results showed that 92 percent want to use a 360-camera to record personal experiences, including holidays (60 percent), family moments (53 percent), milestone events (45 percent), outdoor activities (42 percent), sports they play (19 percent) and getting intimate with a partner (15 percent). 98 percent said that 360-degree videos can capture experiences in more exciting ways than other video technology on the market.
“As Nikon enters this emerging space with the new KeyMission 360 camera, the Nikon Life in 360 study sheds intriguing light on the interest of consumers in capturing and sharing their experiences in a new, exciting way,” said Lisa Baxt, Associate General Manager of Communications, Nikon Inc. “Nikon is committed to innovation in this space and providing creators with the tools to capture, experience and share their lives in 360.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Nikon, reporting back with the latest 360-degree news.
Frontier Games’ Elite: Dangerous [Review: 8/10] remains one of the biggest and deepest games to support VR, and we could well see it on another headset in the near future.
After a lot of speculation and a release on Xbox One, Frontier has finally confirmed that its sci-fi epic will be coming to PlayStation 4 in early 2017. Company founder and CEO, David Braben, confirmed as much on the PlayStation Blog, along with revealing a new trailer that you can see below. Everything released for the game so far, including the recent Horizons expansion, will be making its way to the console, and it will also support PS4 Pro and special DualShock 4 features.
But, let’s face it, you’re here to read about PlayStation VR support.
Elite already supports the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on PC, but today’s announcement makes no mention of integration with Sony’s headset. We reached out to Frontier to find out more. PR and Communications Manager Michael Gapper simply told us: “We’re looking into it but we have nothing to announce for launch.”
While it’s not the confirmation we were hoping for, it’s nice to know PS VR support hasn’t been ruled out right now. You might wonder why integration wouldn’t be included, but the simple truth is that the PS4 isn’t as powerful as the PCs that can run the Rift or Vive, and adding the strains of VR support on top of an already demanding game like Elite might prove too much for the console. We certainly hope we’re wrong, of course.
We reviewed Elite back at the launch of the Oculus Rift in March. “It’s the kind of game that makes you feel like the champion of the galaxy for landing your ship correctly and a few hours later has you blasting across the stars to track down your latest bounty,” David Jagneux wrote. “With the right cockpit and HOTAS setup, it can quickly become one of the most immersive and accurate implementations of VR to date.”
A new report from Let's Play Video Games suggests that Dark Souls III could be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Developer From Software is also considering porting the first two games of the series to the new system.
Indie developers have been the backbone of virtual reality (VR) content, taking more risks than larger studio to produce immersive experiences that help to grow the industry as a whole. Today Australian studio Big Dumb Fun Games has announced the development of a VR episodic role-playing game (RPG) Strange Allies, with an initial proof of concept episode now available as a free download for HTC Vive.
In Strange Allies, players are a small-time criminal who stumbles into a military conspiracy that could have galaxy-shattering consequences. The proof of concept episode introduces the game’s combat and its interactive storytelling. While relatively short, the experience provides insight into what the final game will offer players, particularly in terms of how the story will unfold. The episode features two distinct environments, starting in a Navy dockyard, it then moves onto the ship players are there to steal.
“We decided to start the Proof of Concept Episode at the start of Act 2, mid-way through the episode, and it ends at the completion of that Act, just after you’ve learned what the real story is and got some idea of how epic the journey is going to be,” said the game’s designer and scriptwriter, Mark Christopher.
The free download has been released in order to gather VR gamer feedback on its gameplay, and on its trackpad walking movement in particular. The team believes it has hit a “sweet spot” with its trackpad walking, aiming to reduce simulator sickness which Christopher professes to suffer from. “Yeah, I actually suffer pretty bad simulator sickness myself,” Christopher admitted, “but we seem to have gotten Strange Allies to a good place with its trackpad walking now, because I’ve been playing it several times a day recently and it doesn’t make me sick at all anymore. Our hope is that means we’ve hit a sweet spot, but we’re not going to know for sure until we put the game out there and gather real-world feedback.”
Once Big Dumb Fun Games has received player feedback for the early episode it then plans to launch a crowd-funding campaign to support the project. “Honestly, there’s so much we would love to do with Strange Allies, and so much we could do,” Christopher said, “but the reality is we’re a small, budget-constrained indie team, and the funds we have available currently can only take us so far. So, yeah, we’re talking about running a crowd funding campaign. If we do, and if it’s successful, it would enable us to significantly expand what Strange Allies offers VR gamers, both in terms of more things to do and more story content to enjoy.”
If you want to try it out Strange Allies is available as a free download from both wearvr.com and vrdb.com. And for any further details on the project, keep reading VRFocus.
Jimmy Fallon had the opportunity to try out the Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild live on The Tonight Show on Wednesday. He also got to play a brief level of Super Mario Run, which launches on December 15.
If you’re a Daydream View owner, you’ll know it can be hard to keep track of what’s new for the headset each week. Today, though, Google is launching a lot of new apps for the device.
A total of six games and experiences are launching on the Google Play Store today, and there’s some pretty high profile releases in there. The vast majority of these are games, though HBO subscribers will finally be getting the HBO Now app, which allows you to watch new shows like Westworld and older ones like The Wire on a virtual screen inside a theater.
When it comes to games, though, there are several highlights. First up is Gunjack 2: End of Shift ($12.99), the sequel to CCP Games’ turret shooter set inside its popular EVE universe. The original debuted on Gear VR at launch, so it makes sense that the next game would arrive on Google’s new mobile platform first. In it, you use the Daydream controller to aim and blast enemies out of space, reliving stories that crew members share as they gather around a table at, you guessed it, the end of a shift.
Daydream also gets a taste of horror today with the launch of Layers of Fear: Solitude ($9.99), a port of Bloober Team’s first-person thriller that hit consoles and PC earlier this year. It’s the first time players can experience the game in a headset, though it’s obviously undergone some heavy tweaking to make use of the Daydream controller.
LEGO fans can also get their first taste of VR today with LEGO Brickheadz Builder VR. The game has you building your own LEGO models and also features a free build mode where you can let your imagination run wild. Best of all, it’s completely free with no in-app purchases required.
Also gracing Daydream today is a port of Wands($5.99), NUX Studios’ magical adventure that debuted on Gear VR earlier this year, and Underworld Overlord ($4.99), Otherside Entertainment’s demonic strategy game.
To play these games you’ll need either Google’s Pixel or Pixel XL smartphone, or Motorola’s Moto Z, which added Daydream support in a recent update. Daydream View is the only headset that currently supports the ecosystem, though expect more to be announced next year.
Not all fears are equal, especially where uniquely individual humans and their psyches are concerned, but Nevermind certainly attempts something novel with its Inception-like narrative, even when it becomes a supremely frustrating experience.
In the role of a medically trained “neuroprober,” players must embark on an adventure through the minds of five patients suffering from a range of mental and emotional illnesses. Much like Christopher Nolan’s film Inception, these mental afflictions manifest themselves in wholly unique and often fascinatingly inventive ways. Like how a female agoraphobe’s vision goes dark the further she gets from her apartment door, or an accomplished pianist forgets her music during an important performance thanks to her Alzheimer’s, or in the mind of a patient attempting to discern what really happened between her mother and father, the tall doors and furniture of her childhood home remind the player just how weak and ineffectual a child’s perspective is in a broken home.
Developer Flying Mollusk is, admirably, very upfront about how serious the depictions of these illnesses and their effects can be, and even weaves a message of the importance of self-care throughout the game. Needless to say, it would be difficult to recommend this as an experience for people who’ve already struggled through the illnesses on display, rather than unafflicted people wanting to glean a better understanding of them.
Where Nevermind really sets itself apart is the incorporation of biological feedback sensors used during gameplay which can significantly alter the perceived state of whichever environment or scenario the player traverses. Should the player’s heart rate begin to accelerate, their vision becomes blurred, and the environment begins to take on a darker tone. While the sensors can oftentimes be way too sensitive depending on the particular one you’re using, the game does provide the option to modify how aggressively it reads your vitals, or turn them off altogether.
The original game previously released in 2015 as a traditional PC game, so now with the inclusion of VR, Nevermind’s more intense moments become that much more surreal. While I may never know the reality of living through an abusive relationship, I most certainly know the horrors of stage fright. The scene which Flying Mollusk crafts for such a scenario may stick with me forever.
A round of thunderous applause greets you as you venture out onto the stage, past a small gauntlet of chairs and music stands. It quickly becomes apparent just how skewed and unnatural the sea of empty audience chairs is, reaching higher into the distance than any theater I’ve ever seen, lending an eerie sense of otherworldliness to the experience. This sense of scale – again, like Inception – is a relative constant throughout Nevermind, separating the cerebral world from the physical, making for some of the most unique environments horror and narrative games have seen in the last few years.
Beyond the narrative hooks that Nevermind’s virtual reality and bio-sensor implementation give it, each patient’s tale plays out in similar fashion. Stories are bookended by relatively convincing patient narration explaining their thoughts and struggles, and it’s up to the neuroprober to find “snapshots,” collectable pictures with accompanying text that illustrate the reasons for each patient’s turmoil.
Where Nevermind begins to lose its way, however, is the implementation of puzzles that are, at best, innocuous and occasionally tie into the narrative in meaningful ways. At worst, and most often, they are maddeningly frustrating and effectively neuter the impact of each patient’s story.
On one end of the spectrum, a puzzle involving the Alzheimer’s patient’s struggle to remember her music is both evocative and inventive in a way that truly captures the nature of musical performance. After the aforementioned walk onto the stage, the invisible orchestra swells into an early crescendo, setting you up for a perfect and soulful piano melody. Six keys are marked with red ink, indicating the proper notes easily enough, but as the ink fades and notes sour, the growing whispers from the audience shook me to my core. It perfectly illustrates the feeling of helplessness a major blunder (much less one you have no control over) can have on a performer.
On the opposite end of that, the game attempts to illustrate the demanding regiment the patient was subjected to as a child by forcing you to memorize note patterns on increasingly macabre statues of human flesh and instruments morphed together in a procession of dark rooms. After the brilliant setup, these puzzles immediately halt any sense of foreboding or emotional impact the episode had built up to this point.
They’re little more than rough exercises in memorization, or worse, trial and error. The game provides you with hints scrawled on nearby chalkboards, but if the game senses so much as a slight rise in body temperature (probably thanks to frustration or your heater being on), your vision is obscured and the hint becomes impossible to read. I counted at least nine times I needed to turn off the game’s sensor feedback just to be able to see the puzzle, even after calming myself with some deep breaths.
As the game progresses, each narrative becomes plagued by a number of poorly designed puzzles, either with little to nothing in the way of context clues or frustrating fail conditions.
It’s a problem that many narrative-focused games seem to have these days, where arguments for “gameplay is king” reign supreme. The truth is, if your narrative is the key element of your game (I assure you nobody plays “walking simulators” or horror games for their mechanical prowess,) it seems imperative that everything act in support of that. While most of Nevermind’s puzzles do attempt to tie into each narrative with some visual or mechanical element, it’s often poorly executed.
For the first time in my career, I was actually driven to ask the developer for assistance in solving a seemingly mind-numbing puzzle not once, not twice, but three times. Before that, I consulted online guides for a smaller number of rough instances. I’d hate to think how a player without my resources would fare.
Final Score:6.5/10
As it stands, Nevermind is still a unique game, and at times even an objectively “important” one. To see such subjects like mental illness, suicide, or abusive behavior approached with such inventive and engaged intent isn’t something the games industry dares touch as often as it should. Flying Mollusk should be commended for bringing such an experience to VR, where it can truly shine by putting the player in the shoes of each individual patient even more intently. It’s frustrating that a lot of its impact as a vehicle for empathy might be neutered by poorly incorporated puzzles, but it’s certainly something for the history – and medical – books.
Nevermind is available on Steam right now with support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and OSVR at a price point of $19.99. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
