Each year, AFI FEST presented by Audi highlights cutting-edge virtual reality (VR) storytelling with the State of the Art Technology Showcase. AFI spoke with James Kaelan, current Director of Development + Acquisitions at VRcreative studio and production company Wevr, about his work in VR and the future of the medium. Formerly Creative Director at Seed&Spark, Kaelan brought his immersive short-film horror experience THE VISITOR to AFI FEST last year for the Showcase.

AFI: What got you interested in creating VR work in the first place?

JK: Im as surprised as anyone to find myself working in VR. Ive always considered myself something of a Luddite skeptical, generally, of the advance of technology. But back at the end of 2014, Anthony Batt, whos a co-founder of Wevr, was advising at Seed&Spark (which I helped co-found), and invited our team to visit their offices and watch some of the preliminary 360 video and CGI work they were producing. I remember sitting in the conference room and putting on the prototype of the Samsung Gear VR, and being immediately shocked by the potential of the technology. This wasnt some shiny new feature grafted onto cinema like 3D or a rumble pack in your theater chair. This was a new medium, requiring a brand new language.

AFI: What misconceptions do you think are out there among audiences when they first encounter VR work?

JK: I think audiences, rightfully, expect a lot from the medium. Most people whove had any direct contact with the very broad array of experiences that we broadly group together as VR have still only seen monoscopic 360 video, either on a Google Cardboard or a Gear. And with such work, after youve gotten over the initial thrill of discovering that you can look around, essentially, the inside of a sphere, your expectations accelerate. Two years ago we were still at the Lumirebrothers stage of VR. Workers leaving a factory? Awesome. Train pulling into a station? Super awesome. But unlike with cinema in its early years, the audience for VR has extremely high expectations about narrative complexity and image fidelity gleaned from the last 130 years of film. They wont tolerate inferior quality for very long. So those of us on the creative and technical side of the medium have to find a way to meet those assumptions. Some creators, in a rush to find a viable language in VR, have resorted to jamming it into the paradigm of framed storytelling, force-mediating the viewers perspective through edits, and teaching the audience to remain passive. And I dont want to dismiss those techniques out of hand. But I think its our job to actually forget the rules we apply to other media, and continue striving to invent a brand new way of telling stories. When we begin to master that new language, audiences will come in droves.

AFI: Whats the biggest challenge documentary filmmakers encounter when creating something for the VR space?

JK: I would actually say that documentary filmmakers are better equipped, naturally, to transition into VR or at least the 360 video element of it. And I say this because, without painting nonfiction storytellers with too broad a brush (and without sinking into the mire of the objectivity versus subjectivity debate), documentary filmmakers engage with existing subjects, rather than inventing new ones from scratch. Certainly when you look to the vrit side of documentary film, where the goal is observation rather than participation or investigation, 360 should feel quite natural to those artists because its actually closer (I say with great trepidation) to a purer strain of objectivity: because youve gotten rid of the frame. Youve chosen where to place the camera and when, but youre capturing the entirety of the environment simultaneously. Fiction filmmakers are probably less likely to encounter or invent story-worlds that unfold in both halves of the sphere simultaneously. All of that is to say, I literally wish Id spent more time making long-take docs before moving into VR!

AFI: What types of artists are you looking to work with at Wevr?

JK:Wevr is in this unique place where weve made a name for ourselves making some of the most phenomenal, intricate, interactive, CG, room-scale VR like theBlu and Gnomes & Goblins while simultaneously making, and being recognized on the international film festival circuit, for 360 monoscopic video work that has cost less than $10,000 to produce. So I dont want to pigeonhole Wevr. We make simulations with Jon Favreau on one end, and on the other, we work with college students who are interning with us during the summer. What unites those two groups is that both maximize, or exceed, whats capable within the constraints of their given budgets. Within reason, you give any artist enough time and money and shell make something incredible. More impressive and more attractive to us is the artist who can innovate in times of scarcity and abundance. Atthis moment in the history of VR, if you can tell stories dynamically without having to hire a team of engineers to execute your vision, youll get more work done. Youll actually get to practice your craft. Later you can have a team of 100, and a budget of a million times that.

AFI: Whats a common mistake you see new artists making when they first start creating work for the VR space?

JK: Artists working in VR try to replicate whats already familiar to them. And ironically, its the filmmakers who have the toughest time transitioning myself included. We miss the frame. We miss the authorial hand that mediates perspective and attention. We miss the freedom to juxtapose through editing. And because we miss those things, our first inclination is to figure out how to port them into VR. The best and least possible approach is to forget everything you know, like Pierre Menard trying to write the Quixote. Whereas artists from theater, from the gallery and museum installation world, come to VR almost naturally. They think about physical navigation and multi-sensory experience. They think about how things feel to the touch. They think about how things smell. They think about how the viewer moves, most importantly. Thats an invaluable perspective to have at this still-early stage in VR.

AFI: What was your experience like showcasing VR work at AFI FEST?

JK:For me and for my collaborators on the project, Blessing Yen and Eve Cohen showing THE VISITOR at AFI FEST last year was an honor. In order to earn a living while being a filmmaker, Ive done a lot of different jobs. In the beginning I bussed tables. Later I got to write about film for living. Now I get to create, and help others create, VR. But during that entire time, from clearing dishes at Mohawk Bend in Echo Park six years ago to working at Wevr now, AFI FEST has been the same: a free festival, stocked with the most discerning slate of films (and now VR) from around the world. And Ive gone every year since Ive lived in LA. So, it meant a lot to me to be included last year. On top of that, the presentation of the VR experiences themselves, spread around multiple dedicated spaces that never felt oppressively crowded or loud, made AFI one of my favorite stops on the circuit last year.

Interactive and virtual reality entries for AFI FEST 2017 presented by Audi are now being accepted for the State of the Art Technology Showcase, which highlights one-of-a-kind projects and events at the intersection of technology, cinema and innovation. The deadline to submit your projects is August 31, 2017. Submit today at AFI.com/AFIFEST or Withoutabox.com.

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The AFI FEST Interview: Wevr's James Kaelan on Virtual Reality Storytelling - American Film Magazine (blog)

Walk through the door of Spark VR in Vernon, and you'll see four spaces partitioned by a curtain, a projector screen on the back wall of each one, and a person strapped into a headset with joysticks swinging their arms around. Strap on the headset, and you'll be in an entirely different world.

Connecticut's first virtual reality arcade opened in May in Vernon, and allows users to experience VR technology that is currently too expensive and impractical to have in the home. Co-founder Joe Eilert, an engineer for General Dynamics, came up with the idea last year, and at the time, did not know of any other virtual reality arcades. Since then, others have popped up around the country, but Spark VR is the first in Connecticut.

Virtual reality has existed for about 30 years, and when most people think of VR, they picture a cardboard headset and a static video taken on a 360-degree camera. The VR used by Spark VR is known as interactive roomscale. It requires more physical space for users to participate and is interactive in a way that VR formerly was not.

Eilert and his fellow co-founder Matt McGivern described their vision for the arcade as similar to a bowling alley, only cooler.

"Your [virtual reality] bowling alley might involve zombies," says McGivern, who works for Pratt & Whitney.

Each "lane" has a high table with four bar-stools and a microphone for guests to speak directly into their friends' headsets while watching them play. Beyond that, the space is minimal, with a desk to sign a waiver at the front and a vending machine in the back. Eilert says the atmosphere has created a much more social experience than they originally expected.

"If there's more than one zone going at a time, people are going to the other zone, even if they don't know who the people are," Eilert says. "I didn't expect it to be quite that open."

The games and experiences range from mini-golf to zombie hunting to brewing potions as a wizard to a high-tech version of racquetball. Beyond games, users can explore Google Earth and other passive VR, including one experience in which the user is standing in a sunken ship at the bottom of the ocean while a blue whale swims by, mere feet away.

Customers are introduced to the technology with a brief tutorial in the VR space, which shows them how to use the controllers, move around, and not accidentally wander beyond the borders of the space and hit something in the real world.

First-timer Aaron Bergeron was impressed and planned on returning.

"I'm kind of a techy guy so I knew that they had the headsets but I had just never had one on my head," Bergeron says.

The arcade is not just for those who already play video games, Eilert says. Because it's a full-body experience, he says, it's much more natural to learn the technology.

Jenee Jordan says she is not into video games, but regularly comes to Spark VR. She enjoys watching her friends play, and the movements they make out of context.

"Just the laughter alone, I would pay $40 just to watch him play," Jordan says, while watching her boyfriend play a climbing game.

Jordan lives in Manchester, and says it's easy for her to come to the arcade frequently, but she says she would still come if it was farther away.

The owners say they already have repeat and even regular customers and expect their customer base to increase when UConn students return in the fall.

Because McGivern and Eilert both still work their day jobs, the arcade is only open Thursday and Friday nights, as well as weekends. They said they hope as their audience continues to grow, that the arcade will become a full-time endeavor.

Gamers heading to Spark VR, at 425 Talcottville Road, can reserve a time online or just walk in. It is open Thursday, 6 to 10 p.m.; Friday, 6 to 11 p.m; Saturday, noon to midnight; and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Space is available by the hour. $40 per hour for groups of one to five people. Parties for the entire space start at $300 for a minimum of two hours. Ages 10 and up. sparkvirtualreality.com.

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New Virtual Reality Arcade Brings Immersive, Social Experience - Hartford Courant

In the past few years, Ive been on the lookout for virtual reality experiences that cross the line into believable experiences. Ive demod Microsoft HoloLens and explored Vive, Oculus, and Samsung Gear.

They all have their place, but none of them took me out of this world, and into another -- except one.

Two years ago, I was one of the first people to demo a new technology platform called The Void at the TED conference in Vancouver.

The Void describes Itself as hyper-reality": a whole-body, fully immersive VR experience.

I wore a haptic vest that uses sound and vibration to ramp up the sense of realism for explorers. I was transported to an ancient temple. From there, I walked down the stone-lined pathways, solving puzzles to open a door into the next chamber. On the wall, a torch was burning, and a voice in my headset suggested I take it along with me.

The plot was carefully choreographed to play out from room to room, with actual walls and stone chairs that drove the sense of reality. The floors shook and the walls felt cold to the touch.

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Then a floor dropped away and a lake emerged with a rumble, and a massive serpent rose up and moved in for the kill. Thankfully, I had my torch to keep the serpent at bay.

The Utah-based startup has developed a proprietary head-mounted display, the haptic vest, a tracking system and software called Rapture.

TED's Katherine McCartney said The Void "is pioneering a new form of cinematic virtual reality.

Because The Void is both digital and physical, it takes your mind places that just images and sound cannot. The images of the waves crashing on the shore are combined with a mist of water -- and that little physical clue takes you there. Its not fake, its real. And it felt to me then as if id seen a glimpse into the future.

At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusion, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds, said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; its what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell.

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Youre my only hope. Princess Leia Organa Smell? Yes, the idea is to engage all your senses and turn audience members into active participants. How many of us have imagined having a light saber in our hands, hearing the sound as it cuts through the air, and our hands tingling when our saber connects with a combatant's weapon? Im SO THERE!

The Force will be with you. Always. Obi-Wan Kenobi

The executive in charge of ILMxLab, Vicki Dobbs Beck said, By combining Lucasfilms storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience 'Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire 'to a galaxy far, far away.

For a generation raised on "Star Wars," this is a journey weve been waiting for.

Do. Or do not. There is no try. Yoda

If you want to see what it feels like to be inside The Void, this was my experience at TED:

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Can 'Star Wars' Ignite Cinematic Virtual Reality? - MediaPost Communications

A demonstration shows Mozilla's Firefox catching up to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge with WebVR support.

Mozilla plans to release a version of its Firefox browser Tuesday that embraces a version of virtual reality for the web.

Back in 2014, Mozilla developers including Vladimir Vukicevic put together a concept called WebVR. The idea was to let web browsers navigate virtual realms, and make it easier for people to create a VR world once that would work on all sorts of devices.

But Vukicevic headed off to game engine maker Unity, and Google's Chrome browser beat Mozilla with WebVR support. Microsoft's Edge also edged out Firefox, adding WebVR support in April. Microsoft and Google, which both sell devices to experience virtual reality and its augmented reality cousin, have a big incentive to make virtual reality real.

"WebVR is the major platform feature shipping in Firefox 55," the latest Firefox release calendar update says. "Firefox users with an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset will be able to experience VR content on the web and can explore some exciting demos."

There's plenty to do on the web with a PC, and plenty of apps to run on a phone. But for VR to thrive, there has to be plenty of stuff for us to do online virtually, too. WebVR is an important part of keeping keep us supplied with games, tourist attractions, educational lessons and other interesting things to do in virtual realms.

There are caveats to using WebVR today. Chrome's support only is on Android-powered devices right now, and WebVR on Edge requires you to put the browser in a developer mode.

WebVR is also important for Mozilla. The nonprofit organization is fighting to reclaim its relevance and restore its reputation after Firefox slid into Chrome's shadow in recent years. The work to get Firefox back into fighting trim will culminate with Firefox 57, due to arrive Nov. 14.

There's plenty of VR hardware available, from high-end headsets like Facebook's Oculus Rift and HTC's Vive to basic models like Google's inexpensive Cardboard, which relies on your phone to show VR views. With WebVR, it's in principle easier to build those VR destinations, because developers don't have to re-create them for each device.

WebVR isn't the only way to bridge the divide, though: Unity also offers tools to span multiple headsets.

And WebVR is no universal cure. Some VR headsets don't support WebVR, and some browsers don't support all devices.

Mozilla has high hopes for VR. Its senior vice president of emerging technologies, Sean White, has been working with VR for more than two decades.

"In the 1990s, unless you had $5 million or $10 million, you couldn't do it," he said in a recent interview. "Now if there's somebody with Parkinson's disease who can't move or travel, I could take them to Angkor Wat."

In the long term, he and his boss, Mozilla Chief Executive Chris Beard, think VR could be eclipsed by augmented reality. VR immerses you in fully computerized worlds of VR, but AR overlays computer-generated imagery atop the real world.

"VR will beget AR pretty quickly as a mass-market opportunity," Beard said. "Browsers play a very meaningful role."

First published Aug. 8, 5 a.m. PT. Update, 10:55 a.m.: Adds detail about Microsoft and Chrome support for WebVR.

Virtual reality 101: CNET tells you everything you need to know about VR.

Tech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility.

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Firefox soon will help you lose yourself in the VR web - CNET

August 7, 2017 Two 138-degree light field panoramas (top and center) and a depth estimate of the second panorama (bottom). Credit: Stanford Computational Imaging Lab and Photonic Systems Integration Laboratory at UC San Diego

Engineers at Stanford University and the University of California San Diego have developed a camera that generates four-dimensional images and can capture 138 degrees of information. The new camerathe first-ever single-lens, wide field of view, light field cameracould generate information-rich images and video frames that will enable robots to better navigate the world and understand certain aspects of their environment, such as object distance and surface texture.

The researchers also see this technology being used in autonomous vehicles and augmented and virtual reality technologies. Researchers presented their new technology at the computer vision conference CVPR 2017 in July.

"We want to consider what would be the right camera for a robot that drives or delivers packages by air. We're great at making cameras for humans but do robots need to see the way humans do? Probably not," said Donald Dansereau, a postdoctoral fellow in electrical engineering at Stanford and the first author of the paper.

The project is a collaboration between the labs of electrical engineering professors Gordon Wetzstein at Stanford and Joseph Ford at UC San Diego.

UC San Diego researchers designed a spherical lens that provides the camera with an extremely wide field of view, encompassing nearly a third of the circle around the camera. Ford's group had previously developed the spherical lenses under the DARPA "SCENICC" (Soldier CENtric Imaging with Computational Cameras) program to build a compact video camera that captures 360-degree images in high resolution, with 125 megapixels in each video frame. In that project, the video camera used fiber optic bundles to couple the spherical images to conventional flat focal planes, providing high-performance but at high cost.

The new camera uses a version of the spherical lenses that eliminates the fiber bundles through a combination of lenslets and digital signal processing. Combining the optics design and system integration hardware expertise of Ford's lab and the signal processing and algorithmic expertise of Wetzstein's lab resulted in a digital solution that not only leads to the creation of these extra-wide images but enhances them.

The new camera also relies on a technology developed at Stanford called light field photography, which is what adds a fourth dimension to this camerait captures the two-axis direction of the light hitting the lens and combines that information with the 2-D image. Another noteworthy feature of light field photography is that it allows users to refocus images after they are taken because the images include information about the light position and direction. Robots could use this technology to see through rain and other things that could obscure their vision.

"One of the things you realize when you work with an omnidirectional camera is that it's impossible to focus in every direction at oncesomething is always close to the camera, while other things are far away," Ford said. "Light field imaging allows the captured video to be refocused during replay, as well as single-aperture depth mapping of the scene. These capabilities open up all kinds of applications in VR and robotics."

"It could enable various types of artificially intelligent technology to understand how far away objects are, whether they're moving and what they're made of," Wetzstein said. "This system could be helpful in any situation where you have limited space and you want the computer to understand the entire world around it."

And while this camera can work like a conventional camera at far distances, it is also designed to improve close-up images. Examples where it would be particularly useful include robots that have to navigate through small areas, landing drones and self-driving cars. As part of an augmented or virtual reality system, its depth information could result in more seamless renderings of real scenes and support better integration between those scenes and virtual components.

The camera is currently at the proof-of-concept stage and the team is planning to create a compact prototype to test on a robot.

Explore further: Lensless camera technology for adjusting video focus after image capture

More information: Technical paper: http://www.computationalimaging.org/w 04/LFMonocentric.pdf

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4-D camera could improve robot vision, virtual reality and self-driving cars - Phys.Org

LA 2024 knew it couldnt bring every member of the International Olympic Committee to UCLA.

So it brought UCLA to the IOC.

LA 2024 which, following a deal with the committee, is now LA 2028 gave a presentation at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland last month and brought a virtual reality video with it. The goal was to convince the committee that Los Angeles was games-ready because the facilities at UCLA will serve as the Olympic Village.

The video takes the viewer around UCLAs sports and living facilities in 360 degrees, seamlessly transitioning from spots like the basketball courts at the John Wooden Center to the dining room at Bruin Plate.

We wanted to be able to showcase this and really put people on UCLAs campus and in the middle of the village, even if they couldnt be here, said LA 2028s director of marketing, Matt Rohmer. With the latest developments in (virtual reality), we were able to develop a VR film that literally puts you on the middle of campus.

The video came out of a joint effort between LA 2028s team and two other companies: advertising agency 72andSunny and virtual reality team Jaunt.

The partnership between 72andSunny and LA 2028 has lasted for the last three years, with the two working together to develop a brand for the movement. 72andSunny was the first team to come up with the idea to use VR.

Sean Matthews one of two creative directors at 72andSunny said developing an athletes village is one of the main challenges of creating an Olympic bid, so a key message in the video was that Los Angeles already has a fully equipped facility. With the village ready to go, there will be no need to invest billions of dollars in building one.

Paris has plans to build a city, or to build this Olympic Village, Matthews said. You can put on this headset and well actually show you how an athlete will train, will live and will dine. Instead of showing you renders and blueprints, lets just show you the real thing.

From there, LA 2028 and 72andSunny reached out to Jaunt, which started as a Silicon Valley technology company four years ago, but has since started Jaunt Studios, a content-driven, cinematic VR producer located in Santa Monica.

When 72andSunny approached us, (the company) had a very tight deadline to create a very high-end piece of immersive content to help seal the deal for (its) bid, said Jaunt Studios creative director Patrick Meegan.

Jaunt had less than six weeks to shrink UCLAs campus down to the size of a VR headset. The approaching summer break accelerated its timeline even more, since it was crucial that the campus be populated with students.

On the timeline we were doing, this would have been very difficult a year ago, Meegan said. You could have done it potentially a year ago, but definitely not five years ago or even two years ago.

Meegan said technologies that Jaunt developed in the past year allowed them to meet the deadline. Jaunt used hardware like waterproof cameras, drones, remote control cameras and cable cams in addition to recently developed software to help ease the transitions between scenes.

Though the IOC was LA 2028s initial target audience, the video has been shared on Facebook, amassing more than 340 thousand views, 7,000 reacts and 1,000 shares, many of which came from within the UCLA community.

Meegan added she thinks VRs ability to make an empathetic connection, and how the new medium lends itself to a certain type of honesty and authenticity, allows the campus to speak for itself.

With a 360 view, you cant hide anything, Meegan said. I think that part of why it resonates with UCLAs current students and alumni is that youre very much put back there; its very familiar.

Even with all the outside people LA 2028 had to bring in to make the video, it didnt have to look far to find athletes. UCLA swimmers, divers and track and field runners participated in the production of the video and even made the final cut.

UCLA has such an amazing athletics program; we could really get the highest caliber of athletes to do set pieces with us, Meegan said.

One of those athletes was diver Annika Lenz, who holds the UCLA record with a platform score of 323.15. At one point Lenz was atop Spieker Aquatics Centers 10-meter platform, eye-to-eye with a drone camera hovering above the pool.

Ive always loved the Olympics, Lenz said. Ive wanted to go to the Olympics. I mean, Ive been to Olympic trials, but I didnt qualify, so I think its great to be part of the Olympic spirit that brings us all together.

The best part about the video, though, is that it worked. The IOC was convinced.

Los Angeles was officially named the host of the 2028 games July 31. In just 11 short years, UCLA will be the site of the Olympic Village in more than just virtual reality.

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Virtual reality video showcases UCLA campus as 2028 Olympic Village - Daily Bruin

As the world's tech giants invest heavily in virtual reality, the relatively few workers who specialize in the nascent field are seeing big benefits.

Demand for online freelancers with virtual-reality expertise grew far faster than for people with any other skill in the previous quarter. Billings on virtual-reality projects grew more than 30-fold from the same period a year earlier, according to U.S. data provided by Upwork Inc.'s website that connects freelancers with employers.

Virtual reality has so far struggled to break into the mainstream, with the technology largely confined to high-end video-gaming. Facebook Inc., which bought virtual-reality headset maker Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion, has already been lowering prices for the Oculus headset and is working on a more consumer-friendly version to be sold next year. Other companies that make virtual-reality goggles include Samsung Electronics Co., Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and Sony Corp.

Overall, tech-related skills accounted for nearly two-thirds of Upwork's list of the 20 fastest-growing skills. Conometrics, a subspecialty of economics that involves building mathematical models to explain and predict the real world, also saw a big spike in demand for its work.

SundayMonday Business on 08/07/2017

Print Headline: Virtual-reality freelancers most sought

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Virtual-reality freelancers most sought - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Arkansas Online

Dive Brief:

Between 70% and 80% of 1,000 early technology-adopting consumers surveyed by L.E.K. Consulting said they are eager to use virtual reality and augmented reality technology to design rooms, try on apparel and take virtual shopping trips as part of the shopping process.

Specifically, 80% of those surveyed said they want to use AR or VR to design a room or physical space by browsing virtual or physical showrooms, getting information about furniture and dcor, and seeing what an item looks like in a room by using technology to place it into view.

About 70% of those surveyed said they want to use v-commerce tools to try on clothes and accessories and to customize them. Another 70% said they are strongly interested in virtual shopping, where consumers use VR headsets to shop in a virtual store with a friend who isnt physically present, or with an AI virtual shopper similar to Alexa or Siri.

Evidence of strong interest in use of virtual reality for room design and furniture shopping reinforces some of the earliest retail uses of the technology we have seen in retail so far.

In particular, Lowe's and Wayfair.com have been experimenting with AR and VR technology in recent years. In the last year, Lowe's has started to expand applications for its Holoroom technology, and just last month, the retailer appeared to up its commitment to AR and VR with the announcement that it had developed a new 3D scanning technology to help it develop extremely realistic components for VR and AR applications. AR and VR applications may only just now be entering the physical store environment, but any commitment to continue refining the technologies bodes as well for the future as this survey does.

Meanwhile, VR and AR also are being used in the context of mobile apps to drive sales. Sephora's Virtual Artist try-on features, for example, allows customers to try on beauty products virtually. In the apparel sector,Gap's virtual DressingRoom app allows shoppers to view items on virtual avatars.

Investing in these technologies does not come without risks, as L.E.K. Consulting also pointed out in its analysis. The initial investment can be expensive, and consumers have proven historically fickle about embracing VR for their own entertainment purposes. Yet, for retailers and brands, the potential marketing value of using VR and the ability of the technology to bridge the gap between in-store and online shopping capabilities may outweigh the risks.

Beyond the retailers mentioned above, not many more seem ready to commit. But,L.E.K. is advising retailers that have been on the fence about use of AR and VR that it is time to get off the fence, and at least approach the evolution methodically by starting to integrate these technologies into their digital strategies. Some consumers, at least, are ready for the era of v-commerce.

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Study: Many shoppers 'eager' to use virtual reality tools - Retail Dive

A handful of psychologists are testing a new service from a Silicon Valley startup called Limbix that offers exposure therapy through Daydream View, the Google headset that works in tandem with a smartphone.

SAN FRANCISCO Dawn Jewell recently treated a patient haunted by a car crash. The patient had developed acute anxiety over the cross streets where the crash occurred, unable to drive a route that carried so many painful memories.

So Jewell, a psychologist in Colorado, treated the patient through a technique called exposure therapy, providing emotional guidance as they revisited the intersection together.

But they did not physically return to the site. They revisited it through virtual reality.

Jewell is among a handful of psychologists testing a new service from a Silicon Valley startup called Limbix that offers exposure therapy through Daydream View, the Google headset that works in tandem with a smartphone.

It provides exposure in a way that patients feel safe, she said. We can go to a location together, and the patient can tell me what theyre feeling and what theyre thinking.

The service recreates outdoor locations by tapping into another Google product, Street View, a vast online database of photos that delivers panoramic scenes of roadways and other locations around the world. Using these virtual street scenes, Jewell has treated a second patient who struggled with anxiety after being injured by another person outside a local building.

The service is also designed to provide treatment in other ways, like taking patients to the top of a virtual skyscraper so they can face a fear of heights or to a virtual bar so they can address an alcohol addiction.

Backed by the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Limbix is less than 1 year old. The creators of its new service, including its chief executive and co-founder, Benjamin Lewis, worked in the seminal virtual reality efforts at Google and Facebook.

The hardware and software they are working with is still very young, but Limbix builds on more than two decades of research and clinical trials involving virtual reality and exposure therapy. At a time when much-hyped headsets like the Daydream and Facebooks Oculus are still struggling to find a wide audience in the world of gaming let alone other markets psychology is an area where technology and medical experts believe this tool can be a benefit.

As far back as the mid-1990s, clinical trials showed that this kind of technology could help treat phobias and other conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder.

Traditionally, psychologists have treated such conditions by helping patients imagine they are facing a fear, mentally creating a situation where they can address their anxieties. Virtual reality takes this a step further.

We feel pretty confident that exposure therapy using VR can supplement what a patients imagination alone can do, said Skip Rizzo, a clinical psychologist at the University of Southern California who has explored such technology over the past 20 years.

Barbara Rothbaum helped pioneer the practice at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and her work spawned a company called Virtually Better, which has long offered virtual reality exposure therapy tools to some doctors and hospitals through an older breed of headset. According to one clinical trial she helped build, virtual reality was just as effective as trips to airports in treating the fear of flying, with 90 percent of patients eventually conquering their anxieties.

Such technology has also been effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans. Unlike treatments built solely on imagination, Rothbaum said, virtual reality can force patients to face their past traumas.

PTSD is a disorder of avoidance. People dont want to think about it, she said. We need them to be engaged emotionally, and with virtual reality, its harder for them to avoid that.

Now, headsets like Googles Daydream, which works in tandem with common smartphones, and Facebooks Oculus, the self-contained $400 headset that sparked the recent resurgence in virtual reality technologies, could bring this kind of therapy to a much wider audience.

Virtually Better built its technology for virtual reality hardware that sold for several thousands of dollars. Today, Limbix and other companies, including a Spanish startup called Psious, can offer services that are far less expensive. Limbix recently began offering its tools to psychologists and other therapists outside its initial test. The service is free for now, with the company planning to sell more advanced tools at some point.

After testing the Limbix offering, Jewell said it allowed patients to face their anxieties in more controlled ways than they otherwise could. At the same time, such a tool can truly give patients the feeling that they are being transported to different locations at least in some cases.

Standing atop a virtual skyscraper, for instance, can cause anxiety even in those who are relatively comfortable with heights. Experts warn that a service like the one offered by Limbix requires the guiding hand of trained psychologists while still in development.

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Therapists use virtual reality as a new way to treat patients - Seattle Times

Star Wars lovers now have something else to get excited about this holiday season. In addition to The Last Jedi the second installment in the final trilogy slated to release December of this year, Disney will also be launching its hyper-realistic virtual reality experience near both of its parks Downtown Disney in Anaheim and Disney Springs in Florida.

The experience, titledStar Wars: Secrets of the Empire, is a joint venture with Lucasfilm, ILMxLab, and The Void a company who is pioneering whole-body, fully immersive VR experience.

WILLIAM SHATNER URGES 'STAR TREK: THE CRUISE' TO DITCH DOLPHIN EXPERIENCE

The collaboration is aiming to bring a new kind of storytelling to the beloved franchise by creating immersive social experiences that take visitors to new worlds.

Disney has not released a lot of details beyond a general timeline for the upcoming interactive Secrets of the Empire, but The Voids new CEO, Cliff Plumer told Business Insider that:

[The Lucasfilm story team] spent time with us understanding our process and looking at how we go about creating our experiences, and they had a storyline in mind. Its been a great collaboration since day one.

The Void has described its virtual reality as full of surprises and one second youre standing on solid ground, the next youre stepping deep into darkness, looking at unimaginable beauty or fending off danger in another realm.

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The Void has created other fully immersive experiences before. Its previous work including a Ghostbusters Dimension where people would wear virtual reality headsets and then walk around an area that was set up with tables and walls reflecting the layout of the area the users were experiencing in the game. Those who visited the Dimension said The Void used fans to recreate wind experienced in the game.

Though there is limited information about the new offering from Disney, The Void and Disney promise to create a first-of-its-kind experience for the park.

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'Star Wars' virtual reality experience to open near Disney parks this year - Fox News

Words matter. And as a stickler for accuracy in language that describes technology, it pains me to write this column.

I hesitate to expose the truth, because the public is already confused about virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), 360-degree video and heads-up displays. But facts are facts. And the fact is that the technology itself undermines clarity in language to describe it.

Before we get to my grand thesis, let's kill a few myths.

Silicon Valley just produced a mind-blowing new virtual reality product. It's a sci-fi backpack that houses a fast computer to power a high-resolution VR headset. Welcome to the future of VR gaming, right?

Wrong.

While the slightly-heavier-than-10-pound backpack is conceptually similar to existing gaming rigs, it's actually designed for enterprises, as well as healthcare applications. It's called the Z VR Backpack from HP. It works either with HP's new Windows Mixed Reality Headset or with HTC's Vive business edition headset, and houses a Windows 10 Pro PC, complete with an Intel Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM and, crucially, an Nvidia Quadro PS2000 graphics card. It also has hot-swappable batteries.

Will HP's new enterprise-ready VR backpack deliver mixed reality, augmented reality or virtual reality? The answer is yes!

To me, the biggest news is that HP plans to open 13 customer experience centers around the world to showcase enterprise and business VR applications. If that surprises you, it's because the narrative around VR is that it's all about immersive gaming and other "fun" applications. It's far more likely that professional uses for VR will dwarf the market for consumer uses.

All of these technologies have been around for decades, at least conceptually. Just now, on the brink of mainstream use for both consumer and business applications, it's important to recognize that different people mean different things when they use the labels to describe these new technologies.

A Singapore-based company called Yi Technology this week introduced an apparently innovative mobile gadget called the Yi 360 VR Camera. The camera takes 5.7k video at 30 frames per second, and is capable of 2.5k live streaming.

Impressive! But is 360-degree video "virtual reality"? Some (like Yi) say yes. Others say no. (The correct answer is "yes" more on that later.)

Mixed reality and augmented reality are also contested labels. Everyone agrees that both mixed reality and augmented reality describe the addition of computer-generated objects to a view of the real world.

One opinion about the difference is that mixed reality virtual objects are "anchored" in reality they're placed specifically, and can interact with the real environment. For example, mixed reality objects can stand on or even hide behind a real table.

By contrast, augmented reality objects are not "anchored," but simply float in space, anchored not to physical spaces but instead to the user's field of view. That means Hololens is mixed reality, but Google Glass is augmented reality.

People disagree.

An alternative definition says that mixed reality is a kind of umbrella term for virtual objects placed into a view of the real world, while augmented reality content specifically enhances the understanding of, or "augments," reality. For example, if buildings are labeled or people's faces are recognized and information about them appears when they're in view, that's augmented reality in this definition.

Under this differentiation, Google Glass is neither mixed nor augmented reality, but simply a heads-up display information in the user's field of view that neither interacts with nor refers to real-world objects.

Complicating matters is that the "mixed reality" label is falling out of favor in some circles, with "augmented reality" serving as the umbrella term for all technologies that combine the real with the virtual.

If the use of "augmented reality" bothers you, just wait. That, too, may soon become unfashionable.

And now we get to the confusing bit. Despite clear differences between some familiar applications of, say, mixed reality and virtual reality, other applications blur the boundaries.

Consider new examples on YouTube.

One video shows an app built with Apple's ARKit, where the user is looking at a real scene, with one computer-generated addition: A computer-generated doorway in the middle of the lane creates the illusion of a garden world that isn't really there. The scene is almost entirely real, with one door-size virtual object. But when the user walks through the door, they are immersed in the garden world, and can even look back to see the doorway to the real world. On one side of the door, it's mixed reality. On other side, virtual reality. This simple app is MR and VR at the same time.

A second example is even more subtle. I'm old enough to remember a pop song from the 1980s called Take On Me by a band called A-ha. In the video, a girl in a diner gets pulled into a black-and-white comic book. While inside, she encounters a kind of window with "real life" on one side and "comic book world" on the other.

Someone explicitly created an app that immerses the user in a scenario identical to the "A-ha" video, wherein a tiny window gives a view into a charcoal-sketch comic world clearly "mixed reality" but then the user can step into that world, entering a fully virtual environment, with the exception of a tiny window into the real world.

This scenario is more semantically complicated than the previous one because all the "virtual reality" elements are in fact computer-modified representations of real-world video. It's impossible to accurately describe this app using either "mixed reality" or "virtual reality."

When you look around and see a live, clear view of the room you're in, that's 360-degree video, not virtual reality. But what if you see live 360 video of a room you're not in one on the other side of the world? What if that 360 video is not live, but essentially recorded or mapped as a virtual space? What if your experience of it is like you're tiny, like a mouse in a giant house, or like a giant in a tiny house? What if the lights are manipulated, or multiple rooms from different houses stitched together to create the illusion of the same house? It's impossible to differentiate at some point between 360 video and virtual reality.

Purists might say live, 360 video of, say, an office, is not VR. But what if you change the color of the furniture in software? What if the furniture is changed in software to animals? What if the walls are still there, but suddenly made out of bamboo? Where does the "real" end and the "virtual" begin?

Ultimately, the camera that shows you the "reality" to be augmented is merely a sensor. It can show you what you would see, along with virtual objects in the room, and everybody would be comfortable calling that mixed reality. But what if the app takes the motion and distance data and represents what it sees in a changed form. Instead of your own hands, for example, it could show robot hands in their place, synchronized to your actual movement. Is that MR or VR?

The next version of Apple maps will become a kind of VR experience. You'll be able to insert an iPhone into VR goggles and enter 3D maps mode. As you turn your head, you'll see what a city looks like as if you were Godzilla stomping through the streets. Categorically, what is that? (The 3D maps are "computer generated," but using photography.) It's not 360 photography.

The "blending" of virtual and augmented reality is made possible by two facts. First, all you need is a camera lashed to VR goggles in order to stream "reality" into a virtual reality scenario. Second, computers can augment, modify, tweak, change and distort video in real time to any degree desired by programmers. This leaves us word people confused about what to call something. "Video" and "computer generated" exist on a smooth spectrum. It's not one or the other.

This will be especially confusing for the public later this year, because it all goes mainstream with the introduction of the iPhone 8 (or whatever Apple will call it) and iOS 11, both of which are expected to hit the market within a month or two.

The Apple App Store will be flooded with apps that will not only do VR, AR, MR, 360 video and heads-up display content (when the iPhone is inserted into goggles) but that will creatively blend them in unanticipated combinations. Adding more confusion, some of the most advanced platforms, such as Microsoft Hololens, Magic Leap, Meta 2, Atheer AiR and others, will not be capable of doing virtual reality.

Cheap phones inserted into cardboard goggles can do VR and all the rest. But Microsoft's Hololens cannot.

All these labels are still useful for describing most of these new kinds of media and platforms. Individual apps may in fact offer mixed reality or virtual reality exclusively.

Over time we'll come to see these media in a hierarchy, with heads-up displays at the bottom and virtual reality at the top. Heads-up display devices like Google Glass can do only that. But "mixed reality" platforms can do mixed reality, augmented reality and heads-up display. "Virtual reality" platforms (those with cameras attached) can do it all.

Word meanings evolve and shift over time. At first, alternative word use is "incorrect." Then it's acceptable in some circles, but not others. Eventually, if enough people use the formerly wrong usage, it becomes right. This is how language evolves.

A great example is the word "hacker." Originally, the word referred to an "enthusiastic and skilful computer programmer or user." Through widespread misuse, however, the word has come to primarily mean "a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data."

Prescriptivists and purists argue that the old meaning is still primary or exclusive. But it's not. A word's meaning is decided by how a majority of people use it, not by rules, dictionaries or authority.

I suspect that over time the blurring of media will confuse the public into calling VR, AR, MR, 360 video and heads-up display "virtual reality" as the singular umbrella term that covers it all. At the very least, all these media will be called VR if they're experienced through VR-capable equipment.

And if we're going to pick an umbrella term, that's the best one. It's still close enough to describe all these new media. And in fact only VR devices can do it all.

Welcome to the fluid, flexible multimedia world of heads-up display, 360 video, mixed reality, augmented reality and virtual reality.

It's all one world now. It's all one thing. Just call it "virtual reality."

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Why Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are the same thing - Computerworld

Gamers are preparing to descend on Salford as the regions first virtual reality arcade opens.

Based at the University Business Park, SO VR immerses visitors into a world of zombie shoot outs and adventure.

Using the latest HTC Vive headsets the arcade has two gaming stations which can be booked per hour by groups of four.

The futuristic space is the brainchild of founder and lifelong gamer Chris Holland.

He said: Greater Manchester is up and coming for tech and gaming, so naturally it is the best place to launch something like this.

I have always wanted my own business but it was more about starting something at the right time in the right space. Virtual reality (VR) is the next big disrupter in every single sector so we are ahead of the curve.

The 26-year-old, who studied business management and economics at Nottingham Trent University, came up with the concept in April.

By July he had received 15,000 backing from a government loan start-up scheme and had found his first premises.

Asked what inspired him he says: One of my earliest memories is of my dad coming back from India and sitting down together to play GoldenEye or Mario Kart on the Nintendo.

"Everyone loves the nostalgia of old games but VR brings it to life. You can put as many graphics as you like into a game but once you put the player inside its a whole different experience.

SO VR has a choice of 21 games from slicing flying watermelons in Fruit Ninja to surviving a zombie apocalypse in Arizona Sunshine.

Each group gets a trained VR guide who will help navigate them through the games to get the best experience.

There are currently two headset stations but this is likely to extend to four with a partition in the room.

Holland is also keen to create a community feel with a lounging area before you start gaming and expanding to offer a bar with snacks.

He has big plans for growing the business as he hopes extra investment will allow a second more developer-focused site in Manchester city centre.

Here game developers will be able to test out their latest title on gamers and fix any issues.

He also is looking to franchise SO VR further down the line so it can go nationwide. I am thinking big he tells me. This isnt just a one off.

Weekdays cost 32 per hour for a group of four - equalling 8 each. This goes to 40 on the weekend.

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The region's first virtual reality arcade opens in Salford - and it is epic - Manchester Evening News

Photo Lucasfilm and the Void, a Utah start-up, plan to build Star Wars virtual-reality experiences at Disney shopping malls. Credit ILMxLAB

LOS ANGELES Disney is already building lavish new Star Wars rides at its theme parks. On Thursday Disney unveiled additional plans for immersive Star Wars attractions at its shopping malls.

Lucasfilm, the Disney division that manages everything Star Wars, and the Void, a Utah start-up focused on walk-through virtual-reality experiences, plan to offer an attraction called Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, Calif., and Disney Springs, which is part of Walt Disney World outside Orlando, Fla. The companies said the experience would open beginning this holiday season.

The companies gave few additional details, omitting how much tickets would cost or exactly what participants would encounter. The Void described Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire this way in a news release, Guests will move freely throughout the untethered, social and multisensory experience as they interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters.

The attraction will probably be similar to one the Void created last year at Madame Tussauds in New York. Featuring a Ghostbusters story line and costing $20 a person, that experience allows participants outfitted with special virtual-reality gear to feel as if they are searching for ghosts in a New York apartment building. Each person (four people can participate at once) carries a plastic gun that becomes a functioning proton pack, just like in the Ghostbusters films, through the magic of virtual reality.

It is easy to imagine the Void creating Star Wars lightsaber fights using the same technology. The Void, which participates in Disneys accelerator program and prefers to call its offerings hyper-reality, is collaborating with Lucasfilms immersive entertainment division, ILMxLAB, on the Secrets of the Empire project.

The Void is a leader in an area of entertainment that big media companies like Disney see as growth opportunity. Imax has also opened virtual-reality locations that offer multiple experiences like the video arcades of yesteryear and a start-up called Dreamscape Immersive, run by a former Disney executive, plans to unveil virtual reality experiences in the fall.

A version of this article appears in print on August 4, 2017, on Page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Immersive Star Wars Attractions Due at Disney Malls.

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Virtual-Reality 'Star Wars' Attractions Coming to Disney Malls - New York Times

Learning Delivery

You can have top-notch design and the best trainers possible but the fact remains that most effective learning happens on the job. The ideal situation is to put employees to work right away but minimize the risk of mistakes. Virtual reality training programs are beginning to make that possibility a reality.

In late July, Google experimented with training with virtual reality by pitting two groups against each other to make the best cup of espresso. One group put on VR headsets and the other watched training videos on YouTube. In the end, neither made a great cup of coffee but the VR group did make fewer mistakes while brewing their cup in less time.

So is training with virtual reality still futuristic dreaming or reality? It depends on the industry.

VR More Than Just PR

In the construction industry, companies like Hong Kong-based Gammon Construction Ltd. and San Francisco-based Bechtel are already using VR to train their employees. Bechtel works with wearable technology company Human Condition Safety to improve site safety, prevent injuries and make training more fun for construction workers.

VR creates a much more immersive and engaging environment for training the workforce, said Chris Bunk, HCS chief operating officer.

Bunk said they have created four training modules and are launching a new one roughly every month and a half. Modules cover topics like hazard identification, forklift training, scaffolding training and iron worker training. Safety is the biggest benefit, he said.

People go up on a high rise doing iron work and when they get out on the beam for the first time the heights get to them more than they expected and they may feel like they have to cling to the beam or use their fall protection, Bunk said. We give them the opportunity to get acclimated to that environment beforehand.

Similarly, in forklift training VR gives employees an opportunity to practice on a test course.

The course has hazards like somebody walking up right in front of you, Bunk said. Thats the type of thing thats very difficult to simulate in real training because you dont want someone to accidentally get hit.

Another benefit of VR training is that employees like it. When set up in a classroom, the rest of the class can see on a screen what the person who is using the VR sees.

Everyone is very engaged, sometimes even friendly competitive, Bunk said. You go from people fumbling with their phones, half falling asleep from archaic PowerPoints to something where people are getting up, engaged and enriched in the material.

Bunk said word is spreading through the construction industry and those who havent tried VR yet are eager to do so. Its to the point where training is now something that someone is asking for which is very rare in a lot of industries, Bunk said.

But VR hasnt progressed as quickly in other industries like health care.

No VR for the ER Yet

While many hospitals and medical centers use simulations, the lack of money available for training is holding the industry back from investing in VR training.

Lynne Bamford, chief learning officer at Northshore University Health System in Chicago, said theres powerful potential for VR in training but also sensitivity to spending money since revenues across the health care industry have dropped. Budgeting for learning is an ongoing balancing act, she said.

Our budgets are in really bad shape. So its very difficult to say I want to spend more money on a virtual reality training session, she said.

Bamford said she could see VR being used for simulation training to be able to acculturate people to what their setting is going to be, simulate real operations and develop employee confidence. Shes skeptical about its use in more interactive scenarios.

For leadership development, sometimes you have to have difficult disciplinary conversations, she said. Theres constant need to upskill people in that area but I dont think VR is the place for that.

Despite that, HCS Bunk said virtual reality holds real promise as it continues to mature and become more realistic.

People are realistically believing they are in these environments, almost forgetting that its virtual reality, Bunk said. You can leverage that and be able to train people in ways that you never imagined.

He predicts that VR is going to be ubiquitous in industrial training within the next 10 years and the result will more efficient, engaging and safer training.

While Bamford sees limitations in its current form, if VR training can become more interactive, the sky is the limit. More investment and effort into VR will have implications but she isnt sure what the effects will be and how long they will take to happen. Those are the big questions, she said.

Despite that hesitation, some organizations are making significant investments. The University of Nebraska Medical Center spent $118.9 million on a VR training facility that will train students using simulations, VR, augmented reality and holographic technology. It is set to open in the fall of 2018.

Tags: Construction, health care, training, virtual reality

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Virtual Reality in Training Slowly Becoming a Reality - Chief Learning Officer

Inspired by the late Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford University where he shared how auditing a calligraphy class in college inspired him years later to add diverse fonts to Apple computers, we set out to visit classes around campus that make us think differently about what it means to be educated. This is one in a series of drop-ins.

Students explored East Asia through virtual reality andonline360-degree videos oflocations and cultural gems such asthis video of Chinesepanda bears. To see the video on Discovery Networks YouTube Channel,click here.

You visit a panda bear conservation base in China. You explore a historic cave on South Jeju Island. And you get lost in Tokyos streets.

It sounds like a study abroad trip. But you can visit all these and more from the comfort of home thanks to a new online class centered on virtual reality. Study and Travel East Asia through Virtual Reality (VR), offered through the Asian Studies Program part of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, is the first course of its kind at FIU.

Using materials like VR glasses, smartphones and Youtube videos, students get to experience East Asia like never before. Students who may not be able to afford study abroad trips now have an opportunity to explore the region without breaking the bank and possibly prepare for a future trip to Asia.

I want students to get a better understanding of what East Asia is and how real it is, how it works, says Marcela Lopez-Bravo, who designed the course and taught it this past summer.

Students also read academic texts about topics such as East Asian architecture, history and city development. They engage with each others ideas through an online discussion forum Lopez-Bravo dubbed the Tea Room. Part of their discussion posts include looking up and sharing 360-degree videos (videos that allow viewers to explore the entire panoramic range of motion) that illustrate the weeks topics of discussion.

Through the VR glasses: students strolled the streets ofNepal. To watch this 360-degree video, click here.

For the VR component of the class, students virtually visit locations theyve discussed in the readings or seen in assigned films and documentaries.

VR glasses are available online for as little as $10. Students download Google Street View on their smartphone and tap the Google Cardboard setting. Then they slip their phone into a retractable flap on the VR glasses, and theyre in another world.

The class visited three countries in six weeks. They explored temples, imperial palaces and national parks in cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Tapei.

The class is super fun, says Nanda Singh, a senior liberal studies major who took the class. Singh, who plans to pursue a masters degree in Asian Studies at FIU, says her favorite place to visit during the class was the Cheonggyecheon[a modern public recreation space] in Seoul, South Korea.

Its like youre really there and in a different world. Its like Santas Enchanted Forest. After that, I did some further research about it.

In fact, ask the students in the class about a location, and they dont just tell you what it looks like. They can often tell you its history, its cultural significance and its development.

Belowis an example of one of Singhs projects. To offer viewers a virtual tour of Kyoto, sheedited several 360-degree video clips together and recorded herown narration. Click and drag your mouse to see in every direction.

To be in a class where you get to immerse yourself in East Asia, especially if youve traveled there, you get nostalgic, says Dario Encalada, a Japanese Studies major.

Taking virtual strolls throughout East Asia brought back memories of smells and sounds he experienced on his previous trips, and he was also glad to explore new places he wants to visit in-person next.

Several students in the class explore East Asia during one of the class face-to-face meetings.

Part of the goals of the class, Lopez-Bravo says, is to attract tech-savvy students so they can use technology they may be familiar with in a new way as part of the learning process.

And students like Encalada are happy to be using VR and technology to experience education at the next level.

This class will be available in the summer of 2018 under its course ID: ASN 3503 Exploring East Asia: Virtual Reality Travel. This upcoming fall, Lopez-Bravo will teach another VR course titled Japanese Spirituality. To search for the class and register, find it under course ID: ASN 3931 RVC Special Topics in Asian Studies.

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Drop-in series: Virtual reality course brings Asia to students - FIU News

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are becoming more important as improved hardware is becoming readily available. The challenges are similar between AR and VR, but VR tends to require significantly higher resolution and processing power to deliver a good experience. AR solutions can often be implemented as part of the googles needed for hands-free AR applications. Smartphones usually have sufficient processing power to support this.

At the other end of the spectrum are VR platforms that typically require PC performance, often at the top end of the spectrum along with high performance graphics support. Resolutions of 1080p/eye are common, along with high frame rates.

Hewlett-Packards (HP) Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation and docking station (Fig. 1) targets mobile virtual reality applications. The G1 uses NVidias Quadro P5200 graphics subsystem with 16 Gbytes of video memory. It uses an Intel Core i7 vPro-based processor that makes remote management easier, and TPM 2.0 security hardware is included, as well. The backpack unit unsnaps from the harness and plugs into the docking station. The backpack harness also has quick release straps. The docking station supports up to two displays.

1. Hewlett-Packards Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation is ideal for mobile virtual reality scenarios. The unit plugs into a docking bay for development and updates.

The backpack unit running Microsoft Windows 10 is paired with a head-mounted display (HMD) like the HTC Vive (Fig. 2). HP is selling the business version with the backpack. The combination addresses major VR concerns, including performance, run time, and manageability.

2. The HP Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation can be combined with VR goggles like the HTC Vive.

The backpack unit has a pair of hot swap batteries. The HP Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation is priced at $3,299. The HTC Vive business edition is available separately. It is priced at $1,200.

There are a number of advantages to using the backpack approach in addition to the lack of a tether. The batteries can be larger, providing significantly longer run times. The higher-performance processing platforms allow for better VR rendering. In addition, the backpack enables more sophisticated applications such as collaborative design visualization and virtual reality showrooms.

HP also announced the HP Mars Home Planet project (Fig. 3) in conjunction with NVIDIA, Technicolor, Fusion, Autodesk, Unreal, Launch Forth and Vive. The idea is to create a global online co-creation VR community to reinvent life on Mars.

3. HP Mars Home Planet project will be a global online co-creation VR community to reinvent life on Mars.

Virtual reality applications are currently dominated by gaming applications where 3D environments are already available. Utilizing them in a VR presentation mode is a comparatively easy task. Commercial and industrial applications tend to be harder to generate, as ease of use and presentation quality take precedence over fast-moving game play.

There are other wearable PC solutions, but the HP Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation has a number of advantages such as its management oriented processing platform and dual, hot-swappable batteries. These can be used for AR or non-AR/VR applications as well. All it takes is a little imagination.

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HP Delivers Virtual Reality Backpack - Electronic Design

August 1, 2017 Theres not a snowflake in the sky, but Winter Olympic hopefuls are already flying off ski jumps in Utah, firing up their luge sleds in Lake Placid, N.Y., and cross-country skiing past Vermont cow pastures.

With everything from wet suits to wheels to virtual-reality tools, theyre simulating the challenges theyll face at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next February. The perseverance and perfection highlighted on TV for those short few weeks are being honed now, thanks in part to the innovative methods devised by coaches, trainers, and equipment designers.

Keaton McCargo uses the Ski Simulator at the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah. The simulator can be used in tandem with virtual reality technology that simulates the sensory environment of an alpine ski run.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard

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In some ways the lack of natural snow or ice actually makes for safer, more efficient training. Whereas alpine skiers would spend much of their on-snow training sessions riding the chairlift, for example, a skiing simulator allows them to cut straight to the actual training run. Essentially a lateral treadmill, it mimics the forces skiers contend with while hurtling down mountains and can be used in tandem with virtual-reality technology that replicates the sensory environment of a ski race. A huge bonus: theres no danger of crashing.

What were trying to do is use virtual reality to expand the time that the athletes can spend in their field of play, says Luke Bodensteiner, executive vice president, athletics at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) in Park City, Utah.

But he doesnt want to talk too much about that. Its one of the teams secret weapons heading into Pyeongchang.

Bodensteiner works out of the USSA Center of Excellence, which supports 195 national team athletes with state-of-the-art facilities (including napping areas) and a staff that includes conditioning coaches, dietitians, and physical therapists.

Chris Lillis is one of those athletes, and a rising star on the United States freestyle ski team. Last year he became the youngest male to win a World Cup in aerials skiing at age 17.

Freestyle skier Chris Lillis stands atop a jump at the Utah Olympic Park at the Tri-Nation Aerials Showdown on Sept. 11, 2016. Lillis trains at the facility during the summer and fall, and says that the softer landing afforded by the pool (below) enables him to fit in twice as many training jumps as on snow.

Tyler Tate/T Squared Action Sports

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Five days a week, he averages 25 to 30 jumps off the ramps at the Olympic Park, twisting in the air before landing in a pool. He wears ski boots and skis, and a wet suit in the summer switching to a dry suit in the fall as the temperatures drop, sometimes with sweatpants underneath.

The easier landing means he can do twice as many jumps as he would on snow. But theres a catch.

When we jump on snow the landing we jump on is between 28 and 32 degrees of pitch downwards, so if you land completely flat on water, you would land [wrong] on the snow, he explains, so they have to adjust their technique. You want to land forward to simulate snow.

Abby Ringquist also flies off jumps in Utah sans wet suit. A ski jumper, she cruises down porcelain tracks, springs into position, and floats through the air to land on moistened plastic. When she takes off, her hips must make an arcing motion similar to shooting a basketball your fist is kind of like your hips in ski jumping, explains Ringquist.

To perfect that motion, she also does imitations. Crouching down, she rides a small platform down a rollerboard, and then springs onto a pile of mats. Thats easier than when youre going 60 m.p.h. off a jump, explains Ringquist, who just placed second at US Nationals.

In between training, Lillis and Ringquist chip away at college and work multiple jobs. He works for a public-speaking company and a golf course; she coaches, works at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and waits tables at a breakfast restaurant.

None of my travel or equipment or lodging are covered unless its a World Cup weekend. So for me to travel this summer and next winter, its about $20,000, says Ringquist, who lives on a mini-ranch with her husband and their three dogs, two goats, and nine chickens. My plates overflowing, but I do the best I can.

Perhaps one of the hardest elements to replicate in summertime is the distractions of competition day. Take biathlon, for example, which combines cross-country skiing with shooting. As biathletes come into the shooting range, they stream into narrow lanes, pull their guns off their backs, load their ammo, and take aim at their five targets often with competitors right at their elbows.

Youll hear what theyre doing, youll see them out of the corner of your eye, says Susan Dunklee, whose silver at this years World Championships made her the first American woman to win an individual medal at Worlds. You always have to have a plan for when you do get distracted what are you going to do to refocus?

It can be something as simple as focusing on your trigger squeeze, which cant be too quick or too hard, or it will throw the bullet off course. So she practices that in the summertime just her finger and her rifle, getting to know that exact place where the trigger will engage, like the clutch of a car.

And thats just part of it. She also runs, hikes, bikes, and rollerskis through Vermont's rolling hills. Altogether, its up to four hours of training in the morning, and 1.5 hours in the afternoon six days a week. She goes through 17,000 rounds of ammunition a year.

As part of his summer training ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Tucker West (l.) practices his luge starts at a refrigerated facility in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Courtesy USA Luge

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Dunklee got her start in biathlon at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center, where elite athletes can live and eat for free.

Tucker West was recruited there after USA Luge heard about the luge track his dad had built in their backyard in Connecticut, which West would ride down on a plastic sled.

Those who deride luge as not a sport clearly havent heard about Wests workout regimen.

After 30 to 60 minutes of jogging and stretching, he shows up by 9 a.m.at a refrigerated facility with a short luge starting ramp equipped with starting gates and precision timing. He pulls six to 12 starts, then its off to the gym for an hour-long plyometric workout.

He eats lunch in 10 minutes no dessert and then one to three hours of lifting. Power cleans, power snatch, power jerks. And hanging by his fingers. All for those first few seconds when hell pull himself off the start and then use his hands to paddle down the icy track.

Sometimes they put wheels on their sleds and go down the streets of Lake Placid or even the actual luge tracks but thats too risky for an Olympic year. After stretching, massage, and other recovery methods, he eats dinner at 5 p.m. and then chips away at online college classes.

In bed by 10:30 to 11, he says. And then repeat.

With 192 days to go until the Pyeongchang Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from Lake Placid to Latvia have a lot of training ahead of them before the global spotlight is flicked on. Then, the world will see the fruits of their labors and maybe another little boy and his dad will be inspired to build something in their backyard, with a distant Olympics in mind.

Staff writer Story Hinckley contributed reporting.

Originally posted here:

How Winter Olympians prep in summertime: wheels, wet suits, and ... - Christian Science Monitor

Your third life is here (in beta).

The SF-based Linden Lab is at last launching an open creator beta of its VR-ready universe simulation, Sansar.The world creation and exploration title is expansive in its ambitions and still has a long way to go. After a lengthy creator preview in which early access was given to a couple thousand creators, there are 1,700 worlds to explore (some better than others, I imagine).

While last weeks surprise shutdown announcement for AltspaceVR, a social VR company that raised nearly $15 million, is still fresh on the minds, Linden Lab has the flexibility of profitability to help it guide its long-term vision for Sansar.

The company behind Second Life, a game which seemingly lost its wider cultural relevance more than a decade ago, has managed to make a ton of money as the titles most devoted lifers have continued to shovel cash into the online simulation. Despite the nascent nature of the VR market, the company has shifted its focus to building Sansar, though Second Life will continue on as a unique, separate entity.

Linden Lab has the luxury of monetizing world creation from the very beginning. In Second Life, users pay a pretty hefty amount in order to rent land while things beyond that stay relatively cheap otherwise. For Sansar, the land you build on is free (for your first few worlds); the costs start stacking up when you visit the asset store to populate those worlds with objects. If youre a budding 3D designer with time to spare, you can create a world customized to your liking on your own, but for those looking to drop a stock object like, say, a chair in their virtual home, they can drop some in-game coin on the product.

The company isnt looking to be very subtle with its ambitions of creating a wide network of explorable worlds that will grow to rival reality. Over my last several meetings, the company has not shied away from discussions of metaverses and simulations. In our latest meeting, a copy of Ready Player One sat unacknowledged on the table in the conference room, broadcasting its ambitions further without saying too much.

Whats launching today is very much a beta product of what Sansar will grow to become, but the experience is oddly so polished in some areas while sorely lacking in others. As-is, Sansar allows virtual reality users a wide swath of user-created worlds to explore and the potential to build their own whats missing are the tools to make exploring these arenas more interactive.

Unlike most VR developers, Linden Lab opted not to rely on an existing game engine like Unity or Unreal but instead built their own custom engine for Sansar thats wholly separate from what they built for Second Life. The limitations are pretty apparent early on, and while it is possible to build beautiful static worlds in Sansar, as an explorer youre ultimately left with a sort of three-dimensional board game to traverse thats generally only made dynamic by the multiplayer aspect. You can toss things like a basketball in some experiences, but the physics and controls themselves have a long ways to go.

Today, Sansar goes live on the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, as well as 2D desktop experience on PCs.

Link:

Second Life creator launches beta of its virtual reality simulation - TechCrunch

The Mill at Broadway is using a different tool to get people interested in moving there.

Ananda Rochita, KXTV 11:15 PM. PDT August 01, 2017

The Mill at Broadway is using a different tool to get people interested in moving there.

"The virtual reality gives it that cool factor and that sense we're on the cutting edge," Kevin Smith, Project Manager, Mill at Broadway, said.

They're trying to sell a completely new neighborhood which is hard. The area is known for being industrial.

Virtual reality takes people to what the community will look like from the inside of homes to the streets.

"Being able to see the view and look out what we were able to see was really kind of nice," said AllanDudding, homeowner.

This kind of technology is really new in real estate but some brokers say they don't bother with it since homes, neighborhoods, and reputations sell themselves.

However, in this new community off of Broadway, reality is best seen through goggles.

2017 KXTV-TV

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Virtual Reality: The future of real estate for developments on the rise - ABC10

Europes virtual reality economy continues to expand at a remarkable pace despite some overall skepticism about the technology, according to the second European Virtual Reality landscape released by The Venture Reality Fund and Belgiums LucidWeb.

The report identified 487 virtual reality companies operating in Europe, up from the 300 uncovered in the first report, released in February.

The companies are spread across the continent, but some hubs have started to emerge. The study identified 46 VR companies in the U.K., and 29 in France. With 19, Sweden jumped ahead of Germany, which had 15.

The VR industry continues to grow, and next to the United Kingdom and France, Sweden has now caught up in terms of the number of high-performing startups across the VR industry, said Leen Segers, cofounder and CEO at LucidWeb.

Silicon Valley-based venture firm The Venture Reality Fund has long measured investments in the augmented reality and VR markets. But earlier this year, it teamed up with LucidWeb to begin producing the semi-annual report.

The study includes VR companies that are making infrastructure, tools, platforms, and apps. The study noted that investment was on the rise in enterprise-related VR technologies but remained cooler for areas like healthcare and education.

Other notable findings:

Gaming remains the most crowded and competitive category.

User Input, which focuses on interactions in VR by brain, body, eyes, and feet, seems to be one of the fastest growing. This included a$23 million round raised byU.K.-based company Ultrahaptics.

Companies making 3D tools raised the most money. But then, this category includedU.K.-based Improbable, which raised a $500 million round inMay.

The report added a new category: advertising.

Sad, but inevitable, we suppose.

Read the original here:

Europe's virtual reality sector has grown to nearly 487 companies - VentureBeat