8Aug/16Off
Talking augmented reality at the GeoTech meetup
Our next foray and case study was a Mars AR experience with a 3D model of planet Mars featuring the Schiaparelli crater. We built it using height data from NASA and with advice from UK Space Agency involved in ExoMars mission. In February this year Christopher Wesson, an OS cartographer, produced a map of the red planet that proved very popular with people from all over the world. Within OS Labs, we had the idea for an educational cartography piece to allow enthusiasts to study the surface of Mars, the depth of craters and the terrain. Vuforia, Blender and Unity were used to create the app which recognises the Mars map as an augmentable target. When this happens a 3D model is snapped onto the real world paper map and is tracked in real time. The next stage is embedding this experience into Gear VR headset.
Another interesting case study in progress is the concept of using AR in hospital navigation by displaying navigation arrows in an AR experience on a real time camera view. The arrows would help you navigate in a turn by turn fashion. This is underpinned by iBeacon technology for indoor positioning. An extension to this would be the concept of smart signs that look like generic symbols but within an AR app, as you hold your mobile device up to them, relevant content to your appointment within the hospital is revealed, including how to get to the relevant clinic and any delay times. This is all tied into your calendar and custom to you as a user.
See the full story here: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2016/08/talking-augmented-reality-geotech-meetup/
8Aug/16Off
Virtual Reality Is Becoming the Next Great Storytelling Canvas – Brands use it to strengthen consumer relationships
In the current state of modern media, where ad blocking and viewability have emerged as major challenges for the ad-buying community, the immersive nature of VR offers some unique advantages. That said, establishing a scalable (and seamless) ad model will be vital in ensuring ongoing investment and exploration. In my view, the most elegant path forward embraces a native marketing sensibility that emphasizes both context and creative. Plus, focusing on native content experiences allows for more organic social engagement.
For brands, the temptation to explore the creative boundaries of this immersive technology will be more than challenging to resist. And while "empathy" has emerged as the new "authentic" in content marketing circles, the fundamentals remain the same: Respect your audience, deliver tangible value and clearly establish your editorial authority to best preserve the long-term vitality and integrity of the canvas.
See the full story here: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/virtual-reality-becoming-next-great-storytelling-canvas-172797
8Aug/16Off
‘Virtual reality’ Hypercube to tour music festivals
By putting on a headset, fans will feel as though they are in a suspended glass box as fireworks and pyrotechnics explode around them and the band plays their track Flammable.
Fifty festival-goers at a time will be able to stand inside a Hypercube, standing at almost four metres high, and feel that they are in the video with Biffy.
See the full story here: http://www.irishexaminer.com/examviral/technology-and-gaming/virtual-reality-hypercube-to-tour-music-festivals-414749.html
8Aug/16Off
The Olympics May Give Virtual Reality Its Long-Anticipated Close-Up NBC and Samsung will offer 85 hours of footage
The VR initiative went live on Saturday when the athletic competitions started in earnest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Olympics Broadcasting Services will capture 85 hours of VR programming for Samsung Gear VR users, which appears to be a growing audience as more than 1 million people tried the headset in April.
The VR footage will include action from men's basketball, gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball, diving, boxing and fencing as NBC will offer highlight packages for those sports. The content will be supplied to NBC, which will help distribute it through the NBC Sports app.
To protect NBC's TV interests, the virtual reality programming will be presented on delay, ...
At any rate, how popular VR proves to be during the Olympics should give marketers a healthy perspective on how far along consumer adoption has come for such experiences.
Meanwhile, here's NBC's planned VR schedule for the next two weeks:
Aug. 8: Boxing prelims (10:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m.)
Aug. 9: Boxing prelims (10:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m.)
Aug. 10: Gymnastics, men's all-around (3:00 p.m.)
Aug. 11: Gymnastics, women's all-around (3:00 p.m.)
Aug. 12: Fencing, men's team foil (8:30 a.m., 4:00 p.m.)
Aug. 13: Track and field (8:30 a.m., 7:00 p.m.)
Aug. 14: Track and field (7:20 p.m.)
Aug. 15: Track and field (8:30 a.m., 7:15 p.m.)
Aug. 16: Track and field (8:30 a.m. 7:15 p.m.)
Aug. 17: Beach volleyball, women's medal matches (9:00 p.m.)
Aug. 18: Beach volleyball, men's medal matches (9:00 p.m.)
Aug. 19: Basketball, men's semifinals (2:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m.)
Aug. 20: Diving, men's 10m semi and final (10:00 a.m., 3:30 p.m.)
Aug. 21: Basketball, men's medal games (10:30 a.m., 2: p.m.), closing ceremony (7:00 p.m.)
8Aug/16Off
Six Flags coaster to use virtual reality to plunge riders into gargoyles game
Riders, who must be at least 13 years old, will wear Samsung Virtual Reality headsets. They will "fire" on the gargoyles based on their head movements.
That will allow riders to keep their hands on the lap bar as the roller coaster zips along the tracks.
The experience will send riders "twisting, turning and diving through the hazardous city streets — flying over battered skyscrapers, plunging underneath twisted bridges and dodging falling debris, all while shooting to repel these lethal demons and conquer the vicious master gargoyle," according to Six Flags.
"Rage of the Gargoyles" will replace a virtual reality experience called the "The New Revolution" previously unveiled at six Six Flags parks across the country.
See the full story here: http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2016/08/six_flags_coaster_to_introduce_virtual_reality_exp.html
6Aug/16Off
TheWaveVR raises $2.5M from KPCB and others to bring the concert experience into VR
TheWaveVR is about to have one of its biggest tests, hosting a “silent rave” at Los Angeles’s VRLA conference where attendees will sport headphones and headsets and jam to DJs while looking like idiots alongside one another in VR.
TheWaveVR gives users a platform where they can have a communicative relationship with onstage artists in VR, raising a digital lighter in the air or bobbing their head all while the onstage artist reacts accordingly. The experience is particularly suited, at lease early-on, for EDM music, as a large part of the experience involves the crazy digital light shows taking place onstage behind the artist. The whole situation may just be playing out with avatars at the moment but this is just the first step in the future evolution of users transporting themselves into digital live concert experiences.
The six-month-old, Austin-based company just raised $2.5 million in an oversubscribed Seed funding including KPCB Edge, Presence Capital, Rothenberg Ventures, RRE Ventures, The VR Fund, Boost VC, Luma Launch, Seedcamp and angels including Mike Fischer and Joe Kraus.
See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/05/thewavevr-raises-2-5m-from-kpcb-and-others-to-bring-the-concert-experience-into-vr/
4Aug/16Off
Intel shows off mystery depth-sensing virtual reality accessory
At least visually, the sensor seems somewhat similar to the designs of previous Intel RealSense developer kits that’s symmetrically designed with six sensors tracking the area in front of the headset.
He told us an accessory like this could track hand movement as well as IR-tracked controllers. The system could also scan the environment in real-time. This opens up the potential to detect obstacles automatically.
Leap Motion already has a developer kit out there which helps devs mount their sensor to the Vive and track user hand movement. It’s pretty great but there are some limitations with the scope of capture which works best when the hands are generally positioned right in front of the user.
See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/03/intel-shows-off-mystery-depth-sensing-virtual-reality-accessory/
4Aug/16Off
AUGMENTED REALITY IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
On February 18, David Doral of AERTEC Solutions, Jim Novack of Talent Swarm, and Raul Alarcon of the European Space Agency joined Paul Davies and me to discuss the status of Augmented Reality in their companies and client projects.
Each participant described the use cases and drivers for Augmented Reality adoption. For Boeing, the key metrics are reduction of errors and time to task completion. Use cases include training and work assistance. AERTEC Solutions, which works closely with Airbus, and Talent Swarm are both focusing on use cases where live video from a head-mounted camera can bring greater understanding of a technician’s context and questions, and permit more rapid analysis and resolution of issues.
The European Space Agency sees a variety of use cases on Earth and in space. Inspection and quality assurance, for example, could benefit from the use of Augmented Reality-assisted systems.
To learn more about the state of AR in the aerospace industry, please watch the webinar archive.
See the full story here: http://thearea.org/augmented-reality-in-the-aerospace-industry/