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Artistic VR Pieces to Feature in Kaleidoscope Summer Showcase Vol. 1 Next Week

Kaleidoscope Summer Showcase Vol. 1 is an event going on in the capital of the UK where both the art and science of virtual reality (VR) will be admired with various showcases and plenty of talks, and it will all take place one week today.

The event, hosted by VR marketing company Virtual Umbrella, will consist of two different sections: the Official Kaleidoscope Selection Vol. 1 where there will be over 20 new VR experiences, and the Community Showcase selection which opens up its display to local VR creators who have been invited to share their works.

kaleidoscope

As described by the event organisers themselves in a press release: “The virtual reality film and art scene is bursting in London and the Kaleidoscope Summer Showcase is a fantastic opportunity to bring together local innovators and curious individuals to discover, share, and promote the work of VR artists and creators, exploring the talent and diversity within VR as an art form.”

The confirmed set of speakers that will be attending includes CTO of Breaking Fourth, Peter Short, who created Ctrl; Erfan Saadati, Head of VR from Surround Vision, who has created 360 degree interactive pieces for Sky News; Phillip Day, Creator of Whirligig, a VR player and publishing tool of VR and 360 video; and Kim Majkut, a BAFTA nominated freelance Creative and Director with companies such as BBC, Nickelodeon, and Nissan, who specializes in immersive visual storytelling.

Tickets are now available to purchase from its official Eventbrite page for £10 (GBP) – plus a fee of 84 pence. Doors will open at 6.30pm on the 6th September, and the event will wrap up at 11pm.

For more on the latest events going on in the industry, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.

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Acer & Starbreeze Begin Shipping StarVR

Acer and Starbreeze AB today announced at a global press conference in Berlin that they have started to ship StarVR virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) to IMAX Corporation in preparation for the opening of the IMAX VR Center in Los Angeles, expected later this year, and others in the near future. This marks the first commercial availability of the Star VR HMD.

Star VR / StarVR HMD

Earlier in 2016, Acer committed to delivering a small volume of units of StarVR HMDs this year with mass production of the devices to commence in 2017. On hand at the press conference were Bo Andersson Klint, CEO at Starbreeze and Rob Lister, Chief Business Development Officer at IMAX Corporation.

“We’re extremely proud to be able to show the first manufactured units of the StarVR headset produced in our collaboration with Acer. Since announcing the StarVR headset in 2015, we’re finally at a place where we can see the pieces of our vision coming together. From day one we’ve been convinced that we can deliver premium experiences with premium hardware. The search for great partners sharing the same vision was long, but we’re happy to be able to lay down these two fundamental parts in Starbreeze VR-ecosystem together with Acer and IMAX. We can’t wait for people to start experiencing world-class virtual reality in the StarVR HMD and at IMAX VR centers,” said Bo Andersson Klint, Starbreeze CEO.

Starbreeze has recently disclosed details of the ramping-up for VR software development, incorporating two big film and television franchises, John Wick and The Walking Dead, into the company’s short-term VR software release strategy. Several partnerships have secured placement of the StarVR HMD in out-of-home VR experiences, similar to this first shipment to IMAX.

John Wick art

“With this shipment to as important a player in the entertainment industry as IMAX, we are absolutely thrilled that we are well on our way in bringing the virtual reality experience to the next level and to the world” said Jason Chen, President and CEO at Acer. “The realization of the most premium VR experience ever offered isn’t just our dream, but one of an entire ecosystem that encompasses hardware makers, videogame developers, theater companies, filmmakers and many others. [sic]”

Chen highlighted at the global press conference that movies and videogames have exceedingly become ever more closely entwined. The lines are blurring between movies and videogames, and are moving beyond just two mediums that have traditionally only complemented one another. He said they were converging to become a more dynamic, immersive form of storytelling, and virtual reality would feature prominently in this development.

StarVR is a unique HMD, delivering 210-degree horizontal field of view. The HMD is not currently targeting a consumer audience and no further details concerning commercial availability have yet been announced, but of course VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details.

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uSens Announces SDK and Hardware Series for Virtual and AR Tracking

uSens is a Silicon Valley start-up which was founded in San Jose, California in 2013. It has a team of researchers and developers of advanced user interaction technologies who aim at finding better and more efficient ways for people to interact with an ever-changing, rapid-paced global community.

Now, uSens is taking a step forward in developing natural hand-and-head tracking technologies for Augmented and Virtual Realities and for this purpose it has announced the open beta of its software developer kit (SDK) and pre-order availability for its new Fingo hardware series at a launch event in San Francisco.

uSens has launched its uDev network for the developer community to help them integrate the company’s industry-leading, industry-out 26DOF hand tracking and 6DOF head tracking technology in their ARVR projects. uDev offers the developer kits that are fully stacked and support the popular integrated development environments (IDEs) and the work flows. At the present, uSens supports technologies like Unity 3D, Java, C++, and C# for mobile and PC developers.

uSens  empowers the developers to create the most naturally interactive 3D experiences by integrating the hardware and software with the content makers and the platform. The company will go online to showcase the demonstrations of new content and technology along with the developers.

Fingo

uSens-Fingo

uSens consists of a Fingo series that offers an advanced 3D human-computer interaction capability for the mobile as well as tethered systems that includes Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Cardboard. The users can enjoy their favorite apps without much of the power consumption or dull performance on their mobile devices by attaching this module to the front of an HMD.

There are three kinds of Fingo- entry Fingo, Color Fingo, and Power Fingo which enable the developers to integrate their developments with the technologies mentioned in the above paragraphs with different DOFs according to the Fingo used by them.

uSens CTO and co-founder, Dr. Yue Fei says that they are mainly focused on the inside-out hand and position tracking tools that offer flexibility and ease of use. With this, the developers can easily customize and support the craft of the most realistic and immersive experiences in ARVR.

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The post uSens Announces SDK and Hardware Series for Virtual and AR Tracking appeared first on Infinityleap - Technology stops for no one..

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Life in 360°: A Life Most Nendoroid-y

Our midweek trip into things relating to 360 degree video has us heading for Japan this week and to the countries hub for all things relating to anime and games. Yes, we’re off to Akihabara – a geek’s paradise and most definitely proud of it. But what exactly is going on there that has created a 360 degree video? Well the answer to that comes in the shape of a company some of you who collect anime and gaming memorabilia are likely to know but who are much more likely to recognise their product name, the Nendoroid.

The Good Smile Company have produced the ‘chibi’, multifaceted representations of notable characters from animation and video games, amongst other products, for fifteen years. And its in celebration of this anniversary that The Good Smile Company has put together a special event space showing over 1000 different examples of its ever more prolific work. Free to enter if you’re lucky enough to be able to go. the company have released a video that takes you for a stroll throughout the venue and down the aisles packed with company history.

You can see that video below. VRFocus will be back on Friday with another example of 360 degree video in use.

 

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Lytro zeigt erste Aufnahmen der Lytro Immerge VR-Kamera

Aktuell gibt es 360 Grad Kameras bereits von diversen Herstellern. So können Amateure und Profis bereits viel Geld für ein einfaches oder komplexes System ausgeben. Viele 360 Grad Kameras beherrschen aber aktuell noch keine stereoskopische Darstellung. Doch selbst wenn die stereoskopische Aufnahme von 360 Grad Content möglich ist, so fehlt ein entscheidendes Feature. Virtual Reality Nutzer sind es gewohnt, sich in der virtuellen Umgebung zu bewegen. Logischerweise ist dies bei einer Videoaufnahme aber schwer möglich. Oder etwas doch nicht?

Erste Aufnahmen der Lytro Immerge VR-Kamera

Lytro Kamera Abbildung

Lytro Immerge || Quelle: lytro.com

Lytro setzt bei der Lytro Immerge auf die Lichtfeldtechnologie, die das Unternehmen auch bei der Lytro ILLUM einsetzt. Dank dieser Technologie ist es möglich, dass der Betrachter sich einen Meter in alle Richtungen bewegen kann. Somit werden VR Filme mit der Lytro Immerge begehbar.

Bisher war dies aber nur eine Versprechung. Nun zeigt das Unternehmen aber drei Aufnahmen, die mit der Lytro Immerge gemacht wurden. In dem Video sieht man, dass sich die Betrachterin in die Szene hineinlehnen kann. The Verge hatte bereits die Möglichkeit die Aufnahmen mit einem VR-Headset zu betrachten und kann bestätigen, dass man sich frei bewegen kann. Leider leidet das rohe Material wohl noch unter Artefakten bei bewegten Objekten, doch das bearbeitete Material soll hervorragend aussehen.

Laut Lytro werden wir im ersten Quartal 2017 mehr VR-Erfahrungen mit der Lytro Immerge sehen. Dieser Content soll dann auch von anderen Produzenten kommen. Die Mond-Erfahrung von Lytro soll nur der Start sein. Wie bereits im Jahr 2015 bekannt war, wird Lytro die Lytro Immerge in verschiedenen Versionen anbieten. So kann durch die Verwendungen mehrer Kamera-Ringe die Bildqualität erhöht werden. Damit steigt aber natürlich auch der Preis. Um die Lytro Immerge zu betreiben, reicht aber nicht nur der Kauf der Kamera. Lytro liefert direkt ein dedizierten Server mit, der die hohen Datenmengen bewältigen kann.

[Quelle: The Verge]

Der Beitrag Lytro zeigt erste Aufnahmen der Lytro Immerge VR-Kamera zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Google Says Global VR Search Volume Grew 400% in 12 Months

Google, who has now has several major VR initiatives underway, notes major gains in interest in virtual reality and 360 degree video capture and sharing. The company is now prompting brands to consider what role VR will play in their marketing strategies.

Google was one of the earliest major companies to jump into the modern virtual reality space, announcing their now well known Cardboard project back in June of 2014. Since then, the project has grown to distribute more than 5 million of the low-coast devices which turn smartphones into VR viewers. Google has also added VR support to YouTube mobile apps on Android and iOS, and recently announced their high-performance VR initiative called Daydream, due to launch this Fall.

Brahim-Elbouchikhi-google-vr-daydream
See Also: Google’s (Day)dream: ‘Hundreds of Millions of Users in a Couple of Years’

It seems as if the company’s early bets are on their way to paying off. On the official Think With Google blog, Aaron Luber of Google’s VR team notes that the company has seen global search interest in virtual reality increase by 400% in the 12 months prior to June. Production of 360 degree video content is on the rise too, with the three months prior seeing double the amount of uploads to YouTube.

With the growing interest in virtual reality, Google is now prompting brands to consider how the new medium can be used to leverage their messages. Luber urges questions for brands to consider before deciding on a VR strategy:

Will VR give viewers an experience that they otherwise couldn’t have?
The subject matter should truly take advantage of the medium—transport people to a place, immerse them in a world, and compel them to explore.

Could you give shoppers a better feel for your product?
According to a study from Ericsson ConsumerLab, shopping was the top reason worldwide smartphone users were interested in VR, with “seeing items in real size and form when shopping online” cited by 64% of respondents. This doesn’t just apply to retail brands. Cadillac is already using VR to create virtual dealerships.

Will your recording environment be rich with things to see?
If you’re shooting in a simple white room with nothing on the walls, probably not. If you’re at a sports event or a music festival, there’s likely plenty to see.

Will viewers want to continue watching beyond the initial “That’s cool” moment?
It can be a challenge to get viewers to stick around after a minute or so. Make sure you have a compelling hook that will keep them engaged.

disney movies vr
See Also: ‘Disney Movies VR’ Needs More Real VR Content and Less Blatant Brand Engagement

“Film used to be the most immersive storytelling medium. But even with the best, highest-resolution TVs, you’re still just watching. You’re not there. The promise of VR is what the industry calls ‘presence’—the feeling that you’re really somewhere else. VR cameras like Jump can capture the entire experience of a place—every corner, every angle. […] It’s the closest thing we have to teleportation, enabling deeper engagement than has ever been possible,” Luber writes.

Marketers have been among the early adopters of VR, likely because the medium has the potential for deeper and more meaningful engagement. But brands won’t be able to rely on VR’s novelty forever; only those who can find a truly compelling reason for their audience to see their brand in VR will succeed.

The post Google Says Global VR Search Volume Grew 400% in 12 Months appeared first on Road to VR.

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SMI Talks Eye Tracking VR Applications & Foveated Rendering

Sensomotoric Instruments (SMI) is a German-based eye tracking company who has released an eye tracking kit for the Oculus DK2 & Gear VR, and most recently for the HTC Vive. At SIGGRAPH this year, Nvidia was showing a foveated rendering demo where it only renders high resolution to the sections of the scene that you are actually looking at. It’s really an imperceptible difference that would allow mobile technologies to render higher resolution scenes, or potentially help make it more feasible to wirelessly transfer data to a desktop VR HMD.

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Walter Nistico Tom Sengelaub

At SIGGRAPH, I had a chance to talk with Walter Nistico, Head of R&D and Lead Architect Computer Vision, as well as Tom Sengelaub, Manager Solution Delivery, about SMI tracking, and some of the applications in foveated rendering, medical applications for autism research and concussion detection, marketing and analytics, and even deception detection with Converus’ EyeDetect.

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See Also: FOVE Debuts Latest Design for Eye Tracking VR Headset

Researcher Hao Li told me that eye tracking is pretty essential in order to take VR social presence to the next level, and so I expect that the second generation of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive would both include eye tracking technologies. In talking to Walter and Tom at SIGGRAPH, they’re also very confident that we’ll start to see eye tracking technologies in the next generation of VR headsets.

From SMI’s perspective, they’re hoping to be able to license their eye tracking algorithms to the big headset manufacturers. In my interview with Tobii eye tracking, they also told me that they’ve also been in discussions with some of the major VR HMD manufacturers. SMI says that the hardware required for eye tracking is not a huge barrier, and so it will likely be a matter of whether the eye tracking algorithms are going to be developed in-house or licensed from one of the big eye tracking players.

Here’s a video of NVIDIA’s foveated rendering demo shown off at SIGGRAPH:

Here’s a shadertoy fovea visualizer demo that illustrates how your fovea works (be sure to watch it in full screen).

Here’s a recent demo of using SMI eye tracking with the HTC Vive.

Here’s a demo of eye tracking of a spatial search task within VR.

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

The post SMI Talks Eye Tracking VR Applications & Foveated Rendering appeared first on Road to VR.