Category Archives: Virtual Reality

The Norwegian publishers of Upstream, a weekly oil and gas journal, wanted to stand out at the Offshore Technology Conference, amid the hundreds of booths that compete for attention of convention-goers. So the company used some of its newsprint to design fabric that it fashioned into outfits for employees working the booth.

"We realized we wanted something more to be visible," said Rita Hausken Barkhodaee, sales director for the publishing company based in Stavanger, Norway. The company designed the first roll of fabric in 1999 and has updated it yearly to reflect the latest oil and gas news. The outfits are custom tailored in Singapore.

The outfits cause OTC convention-goers to stop and look. And when the employees roam around the exposition floor, they never stop promoting.

"You can always carry the brand with you," Barkhodaee said.

- L.M. Sixel

The two-year oil bust resembles the theorized asteroid 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs but ultimately paved the way for the evolution of human life, said Jose Gutierrez, Transocean director of technology and innovation.

Gutierrez spoke Tuesday at the Offshore Technology Conference about the need to innovate, collaborate and find greater cost efficiencies now that most energy companies can no longer afford to simply throw money at problems. Transocean is one of the world's largest offshore drillers.

"The oil debacle - it's actually the best opportunity for innovation," he said, noting that companies are now forced to collaborate. "This is like the meteor that landed in the Gulf of Mexico."

The theory is the asteroid hit in the Gulf of Mexico near the Yucatan Peninsula and wiped out most of the dinosaurs and much other life. But enough mammals survived and the evolutionary cycle eventually led to humans, who today get around on fuels for which dinos provided the raw materials.

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

- Jordan Blum

The old cast-iron pipes are corroding at BP's oil and gas gathering center on Alaska's North Slope. The company knew it had to replace them, at an enormous cost. Then it plugged the project into a 3-D model. And the software revealed that the British oil major doesn't need to remove all the old piping, only some of it. Engineers can simply lay the new, stainless-steel pipe over the rest.

The digital subscription that allows BP to see its North Slope gathering center in augmented reality costs the company a few hundred thousand dollars a year. The adjustment to the pipe layout should, BP executives at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston said, save the company tens of millions of dollars.

Digital technology is changing the way companies drill for oil, examine reservoirs and rebuild refineries. And companies like BP say that, because the technology has largely been pioneered for other applications - Microsoft builds 3-D software for gaming, not oil and gas - they can access it for thousands, not millions, of dollars.

"Price points are drastically lower," said Dave Truch, technology director of digital innovation at BP. "We could not have done this two decades ago."

-David Hunn

In the visual cacophony of OTC's expo floor, companies do whatever they can to grab attention - and few things are more eye-catching than people staring, transfixed, into clunky virtual reality headsets.

It seemed to work for the Dutch offshore services provider Boskalis, at least, which lured passers-by in with the promise of a free out-of-body experience. (Its sushi counter, in contrast, was by invitation only.)

The actual experience, while effective in demonstrating the size and scope of towering rigs and ships, was less than transformative. It may have had to do with low-volume headphones that didn't fit well over the goggles. One user, George Osgood of Kiewit Offshore Services, was underwhelmed.

"I think a lot of it has to do with the content," Osgood says, mentioning that he's seen some of it before in regular videos. Still, some parts of Boskalis' VR demo offered a twist. "When you're on the vessel looking up at the crane, that's when it becomes neat."

-Lydia DePillis

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Reporter's notebook: Prehistory to virtual reality - Houston Chronicle

**Warning:Spoilersfor the currently airing Season 4 of HBOs Silicon Valley below. Continue at your own risk!**

This past Sunday, April 30th, Episode 2 of Silicon Valleys 4th season aired and virtual reality occupied a minor side plot throughout the episode. When the trailer released for this years run of the show it seemed like virtual reality would claim a more prominent role in the show, but we havent seen that come to fruition in the episodes themselves quite yet.

If youre reading this right now, chances are youre aware of the fact that VR is absolutely taking the world by storm in recent years and ground zero for its meteoric rise in popularity is none other than the tech capital of the world, Silicon Valley. Naturally, a comedyfocused on the region would address it eventually.

For this most recent episode, Erlich Bachman (T.J. Miller) catches wind that one of the tenants Jian-Yang (Jimmy O. Yang), staying at his home that doubles as a tech incubator is seeking funding for a new application that presumably is related to VR.Upon finding out, Bachman states, Its a VR play. Thats the frothiest space in the valley right now. Nobody understands it, but everybody wants in. Any idiot could walk into a f*cking room, utter the letters V and R and VCs will hurl bricks of cash at them. By the time they find out its vaporware its too late. I have got to get in on this.

I mean, hes not wrong.

Naturally, you learn that things arent quite as wonderful as they seemed at first and the idea doesnt appear to be anywhere near as lucrative s Bachman was initially hoping. In the trailer (embedded above) we see VR and AR devices in use on more than one occasion, potentially hinting that there could be much more in the works.

In an interview last year with The Daily Beast, series creator Mike Judge stated that, We explored invented reality and visited some AR and VR companies, and yeah, theres a whole new wave coming of this stuff. And we might do some of it on the showJust the whole VR world thats blowing up right now. Well explore that. It sounds like our budding new industry will be in the spotlight more as the season continues.

Do you watch Silicon Valley? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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This Week's Episode Of Silicon Valley Finally Addresses Virtual Reality - UploadVR

An alphabet soup of tech acronyms is on Hollywoods menu these days, with VR and AR as the specials du jour. Those outside interactive media can be forgiven for not knowing how virtual reality and augmented reality will impact their businesses. But figuring this out is crucial for animation producers, whose pint-sized audiences are fluent with smartphones and other devices.

Theyre better at it than most adults, says Cartoon Network president Christina Miller. And they expect their brands of choice to be available wherever and whenever they want. To be part of our audiences habits, were multi-platform by design.

Miller notes the networks new OK K.O.! Lets Be Heroes is launching both as a show and console game, and theyre developing VR experiences for Adventure Time. The companys Adult Swim channel is programming VR for the Oculus and Vive headsets, but producing animated content for pricey hardware will take time. It will be the Wild West for a while, says Miller. Were emphasizing experimentation so that were ready when it IS a vibrant business.

Likely to have more imminent impact is augmented reality, especially with Facebook and Snapchat encouraging users to add digital images to real-world scenes. As Miller says: AR has been around a while, but then it got married to Pokemon. Never underestimate the power of a meaningful brand married to technology at the right time.

Nickelodeon Group president Cyma Zarghami admits, As a parent, when Snapchat arrived, my first instinct was game over. Since then, Ive realized its an exciting opportunity. We need to understand what the implications will be for our audiences.

Toward that end, Nickelodeon has launched the Entertainment Lab, headed by senior VP Chris Young. Ive spent a lot of time in kids animation, says Young. I see a future where we can apply things that were budgetarily or technically out of reach just a few years ago.

One of the Labs demos is a virtual puppet show using the star of Nicks The Loud House. As Zarghami says, Theyve used a game engine to create a 2D puppet of Lincoln Loud that can through an Adobe character animator host Saturday mornings for us. We can manipulate his arms, legs and mouth, and he can talk about anything in real time. We just have to bring in voice talent, we dont have to ship it to Asia for animation. Its a small application that Chris Youngs group has created, and there will be many more.

Promotional uses for these technologies are already emerging. Sony Pictures Animation has an interactive piece for Smurfs: The Lost Village running on Microsofts HoloLens platform, which allows kids to interact with virtual Smurfs.

It brings characters out of movie theaters and into homes, says Sony Pictures Animation senior VP Mike Moon. He notes that the Motiongate theme park in Dubai has a Hotel Transylvania AR experience, and expects there will be AR and VR associated with The Emoji Movie. There are marketing opportunities even while these technologies are in their infancy.

Moon says the greatest penetration remains on mobile devices. There are so many AR experiences that run on cellphones now. Thats the linchpin that brings it to the masses.

Fully immersive, headset-based VR is also being explored at studios as a creative production tool. At DreamWorks Animation, senior technologist Manny Francisco says: We have a lab where artists work in VR to understand how to draw or sculpt using VR tools. They can do previs or layout interactively. Its a good mechanism to take 2D storyboards and translate them into 3D space.

One point on which technologists agree is that more and more animation will be created using real-time tools. And new software companies are emerging to meet that need. Former Pixar animator Tom Sanocki, who founded Limitless VR, is finding that even non-VR creatives are interested in his software. Theres definitely a way to hedge your bets by building something in VR, even if youre not ready to use VR as a delivery medium.

Even such production studios as Bento Box, creators of Bobs Burgers, are anticipating the time when a business model will emerge to move these technologies past the expensive R&D phase. As CEO Scott Greenberg says: Animation has a leg up in VR and AR. Were building worlds anyway.

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Augment, Virtual Technology Boosts Storytelling and Revenue Streams - Variety

Five contestants lean back into the couch, disappearing inch by inch into the cushions with every puff off the vaporizer or join. A golden trophy, filled to the brim with a mixed ounce of Rainbow Jones, Moon Cookies, and Thin Mint GSC, sits nobly among a table full of snacks. The winner of Leaflys High Five Virtual Reality Challenge would be the proud owner of the stash, but six episodes would stand between them and their prize.

In this inaugural episode, watch the five fearless contestants pass around the DaVinci IQ vaporizerbefore they slice and dice their way through a rousing game of Fruit Ninja.

Meet the Contestants:

Which participant maintained enough hand-eye coordination to be crowned Leaflys High Five Challenge champion? Tune in for Part Two of our six-part series to see who advances and whose bowl gets cashed too soon.

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Leafly's High Five VR Challenge: Stoned People Compete in Virtual Reality - Leafly

Virtual realitywhen done rightcan transport viewers to another world. Artist and director Arjan van Meertens newest film made specifically for VR, which debuted last week at the Tribeca Film Festivals Virtual Arcade, takes viewers to the edge and beyondliterally. Apex, which is van Meertens highly anticipated follow-up to his 2015 virtual reality music video Surge, puts the viewer right smack in the middle of theapocalypse, as it unfolds. Or at least thats what it felt like to me when I gave a whirl, on what was only my second time usinga VRheadset.

The directors new title, which was created separatelyfrom his more commercial animation work, was a partnership with his Amsterdam-baseddigital animation studio House of Secrets,Los Angeles VRcompany Wevrand Portlands Kaleidoscope VR. Venturing into VR was a logical thing to try to experiment with it, he told me by phone. VR, he said, allows viewers to see animations in a whole new way.

Van Meerten spent his youth entrenchedin theMetal scene, he tells me. The energy that the audience experiences at concerts, coupled with the fact the genre still makes up the core of his musical tastes served asthe foundation of bothSurge and Apex. But while the music for Apex, which van Meerten composed himself, is not Metal in the traditional sense and leans more towards Electronica, theres still a furious, rapturous energy thats palpable when paired withhis arresting visuals.

His inspiration for thosevisuals came from many places. but creatinga new kind of music video was his primary goal. He cites music videos by Aphex Twins and Radiohead as inspiration.In van Meertens fieryworld, a cityscape is engulfed by an exploding sun, fire tears through the urban landscapes streets and tunnels as creatures big and small scurry for cover, and a giant figure takes a walk like Godzilla above burning buildings. The, a dark, amorphous form envelops the viewer, passing through and eventually swallowing you up entirely. Apex is more than just a360, 3D animation; its a full-body experiencethat pushes the bounds of whats possiblewith VR.

While Apex features predictably familiar apocalyptic tropesfire, explosions and darknessvan Meerten also throws a heavy dose of more abstract forms into the mix.I tend to stay away from global symbolism, hesaid. [I] try to speak to the imagination of the viewerI wanted to choose images that are familiar (the deer, blocks figures) but more alien.

While I had the fortune of experiencing Apex firsthand at the festival,VR headsets have yet to become popular with the mass market as tech likesmartphones or smartwatches. At this moment its [VR] still really inaccessible and expensive. Eventually it will be more accessible, as mobile phones are getting better and stronger, says van Meerten. The director hopes that as interest grows in the technology, there will be more opportunities for his work, and that of his peers, to be viewed almost anywhere. At this moment Apex wont run on any phone because its too heavy on the graphics side. But it be wont be long before phones can run this and you can walk around with a small headset and daydream in VR.

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This Virtual Reality Film Lets You Experience Apocalypse Firsthand - Observer

Its been two years since I wrote my primer on virtual reality: From Rectangles to Reality. Back then, VR was just starting to gain pace and people were truly excited about what was about to come.

Today, VR feels like a fairly normal experience. Samsung GearVR has sold over five million units, Google Cardboard is given away at agricultural conferences to inspire farmers, and gamers immerse themselves in all sorts of experiences from Canadian developers like CLOUDHEAD GAMES and their series The Gallery.

Beyond VR, we are seeing mixed reality becoming a useful tool in the world. Companies like Magic Leap have been hugely funded without product available yet, and Meta is starting to work on applications. Over the past few years, Microsoft secretly developed the Hololens in Victoria, BC, and now both Vancouver Island and the lower mainland have become the worlds hotbed of VR and MR development.

Over the next three to five years, VR and MR will be everywhere, and the metaverse will keep growing. Headsets and glasses will become standard, just like smartphones and Bluetooth earphones. We will start to move away from using our smartphones as those manufacturers Apple, Samsung, Google, and others and build out VR and MR capabilities beyond those screens in our pockets.

The evolution of the virtual, augmented, and mixed reality will be discussed at length as the designers, developers, visionaries, and users descend on Vancouver at CVR 2017 from May 5th to May 7th.

The three-day event includes speakers like Evelyn Miralles, lead VR innovator at NASA; Tony Bevilacqua, founder and CEO at Cognitive VR; and Kharis OConnell, director of senior director of UX at Meta. The event also includes hands-on demonstrations of the latest products, and will be open to industry professionals on Friday, and the general public for two days over the weekend.

Companies at the event will touch on topics like solving problems in outer space with VR, designing the future of virtual humans, and featuring the latest evolution in entertainment.

Im very excited to be presenting at the CVR 2017, the Canadians premier VR/AR/MR conference, said Miralles. VRs a technology that has been with us at NASA for several decades used for astronaut space training. But the technology has now come of age and itll be changing the way we interact with people and the environment around us.

If youre as excited about this as I am, and youll be in Vancouver from the 5th to 7th of May then you can be the lucky recipient of one of four tickets to CVR 2017. One person will also get a VR headset.

Just tweet Im excited about the future Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality in Canada and beyond at #CVR2017 and the team at CVR will be in touch if you are selected.

Link:

CVR 2017 exploring the future of virtual reality with speakers from NASA, Cognitive VR - BetaKit

Unlike most people, Arianna Huffington was relatively unfazed when asked to step off the ledge of a 500-foot building, albeit a virtual one.

At Fortunes Brainstorm Health conference in San Diego on Tuesday, the media mogul served as a guinea pig in a demonstration of how virtual reality can used in the medical field to help people overcome phobias.

The idea is that virtual reality environments can be so convincing that peoples bodies react like they are physically in real-life scenarios, complete with elevated heart rates and sweaty palms. By using technology to immerse people into scary situations, they can learn better coping techniques and apply them to the real world, explained Matthew Stoudt, the CEO of the virtual reality health startup AppliedVR.

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For the demonstration, Huffington, the founder of news site Huffington Post, strapped on a VR headset and was hoisted up a digital skyscraper in what resembled a virtual financial district in a bustling metropolis. When Huffington arrived at the 500-feet mark, Stoudt asked her to look around at the surroundings and stare into the virtual abyss below her. He then asked her to take one large confident step off the ledge, which Huffington agreed to do. She then plunged to the ground while Stoudt implored her to look down as you are coming down.

When the demonstration was over, Huffington brushed her hair, and smiled like she just exited a roller coaster. But Huffington was not distraught or made any physical motion indicating she was stressed, like clutching her heart with her hands.

Instead, she remained calm and cool and explained that while she felt scared prior to her leap and that the free-fall felt incredibly real, her training in meditation helped her deal with the virtual ordeal.

For more Brainstorm Health coverage, watch:

I think that the reason I was as able to take a step was because Ive been meditating for many years, Huffington said. Part of my training with meditation is to not let outside circumstances affect how I feel.

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Here's Why Arianna Huffington Is Calm When Falling 500 Feet - Fortune

The year of 2016 saw a mixed growth for Virtual Reality, but what is expected for 2017?

Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the fairly new technologies that is going to dominate in the year 2017. The VR market has shown great promise in the last decade or so and is growing at a rapid pace. VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive only became available in the last year or so. With so much investment by big companies, the future of VR looks bright similar to other fairly new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

Virtual Reality is a combination of techniques by which a user can have a realistic experience through the use of sounds, images, and other real-world sensations.

The way VR enriches user experience makes it an excellent choice for future entertainment systems. VR is also applicable in other fields such as medical, education, marketing, etc.

So, is 2017 the year of Virtual reality? Is the growth substantial? Lets dive deep from the perspective of both the consumers and VR developers.

2017 looks promising for VR developers. The last year saw some great VR hardware releases. The release of Facebooks Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and other key VR headsets set the tone for the future of VR. However, they offered mediocre performance when it comes to sales and value for money.

VR/AR(Mixed Reality) games, on the other hand, provided the benchmark for performance. One big example is Pokmon GO that slew over $600 million revenue in the first few months after release. Sonys PlayStation VR also received a great welcome by the community ensuring that the future looks great for VR products.

So, what does it means for the VR developers? The 2016s events look promising, to say the least. VR is still in its infant stage, and the audience/companies are experimenting with the technology to find the right formula. Not to mention, VR is an active field when it comes to research. So, if you wish to become a VR developer in 2017, you cannot go wrong.

VR for consumers is an exciting place. Consumers can see better hardware pricing and products. VR is currently used in almost every sector and not only in gaming. Hotels are using VR to promote their exclusivity; educational institutes are using it to engage students and so on.

The consumer can see better hardware, better compatibility, and pricing this year. They will also see VR used in many new places such as tourism gradually. Magic Leap, a startup is showing demos that show real promise for the consumers.

Check out the original Magic Leap video to get hyped!

2017 could be a great year for Virtual Reality. Lets check out some of the big predictions that might come true for VR this year:

Social VR experience: Social VR experience could be a reality in 2017. So, what is Social VR experience? It is similar to VR, but it enables two or more users to interact with the virtual world.

Lower price point: The 1st generation of hardware always have the highest price due to high development and research costs.

Apple making it big in VR: Yes, you heard it right. Apple can make inroads to the VR/AR market with their new iPhone8 camera.

Proper mobile integration: VR can see proper mobile integration on mobiles. Right now, VR on mobile phones is weak and requires improvements in terms of quality, usability and user experience.

The year of 2016 saw a mixed growth for Virtual Reality. The VR headsets could have performed better, but the first generation of hardware always lags in terms of expectations and pricing. With the first batch of hardware already on the shelf, we can expect better products and hardware in the future. Better monitors, refresh rate and technologies will enable viewers to enjoy the VR more intuitively.

So, what do you think about Virtual Reality and its future in 2017? Comment below and let us know.

UX & Design by David Luria

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Is 2017 Year of Virtual Reality? - Geektime

Forbes

Four Big Trends In Virtual Reality On Display At The Tribeca Film Festival Forbes Film festivals have become the go-to place for the top players in virtual reality to show off what they're up to, while shedding light on where the nascent medium could be headed. Here are four big VR trends on display at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Tribeca Film Festival is ground zero for these pioneering VR experiencesDigital Trends Exploring virtual worlds at Tribeca 2017Film Journal Highlights From The 2017 Tribeca Film Festival VR ArcadePSFK (subscription) Twitter -YouTube -PEOPLE.com all 85 news articles »

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Four Big Trends In Virtual Reality On Display At The Tribeca Film Festival - Forbes

Virtual Reality, Apps Add Interactivity to Music Videos - The New ... New York Times More musicians are using new technology, including 360-degree cameras, virtual reality musical experiences and vertical videos, to reach the smartphone ... and more »

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Virtual Reality, Apps Add Interactivity to Music Videos - The New ... - New York Times