Feb 1, 2020
Experts in vr animation weigh in on what they’ve learned from working in the medium so far.
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Experts in vr animation weigh in on what they’ve learned from working in the medium so far.
Luis Blackaller
Notes from Luis Blackaller’s lecture last week at Media Design Practices.
Meditation in virtual reality: it’s like French philosophy meets the Matrix
The cosmos swirls, wisps of purple, yellow and orange light flickering across the darkness of space, then across the visage of Buddha. An otherworldly plain fills the horizon, framed by the branches of a tree – the tree of enlightenment.
A familiar voice intrudes. “What or who is having this experience right this moment, right now?” Pause. “It is your own being. It is your innermost being that is having the experience, your true self.”
The voice continues. “Live here, with no regrets, no anticipation, no resistance, and you will be free. Freedom is always now. Being is now.”
Even if you enjoy psychedelic animation graphics you may struggle to live here, however, because visits last just 20 minutes and they are not real, not free and not quite now.
Welcome – if you have the headset or appropriate app – to Deepak Chopra’s latest venture: virtual reality (VR) meditation.
The new age entrepreneur and self-help guru unveiled the simulation, titled “Finding your true self”, this week at the headquarters of Wevr, a VR firm in Silicon Beach, Los Angeles’ tech hub.
Chopra, who narrates the simulation, hopes to sell the experience via booths at airports, hospitals and other locations, and via phones and laptops enabled with VR platforms.
“In 20 minutes you get a journey to enlightenment. The goal is to feel grounded and understand yourself a little better,” he told the Guardian. The technology, he said, facilitated an understanding of consciousness which eluded even René Descartes, the 17th century French philosopher. “He was good for his time but didn’t have VR to take it to the next level.”
Read more here.
At the present time, creating content for virtual reality is akin to navigating turbulent waters in the darkness. Creatives need to be bold, brave and resilient pioneers to truly stand out in this nascent market. How many of you can set up and work a 360° camera, let alone create a storyline involving a 360° setup that means stitching together all the different camera angles? Not many. Creatives have to invent the new rules of this game as they simultaneously master rapidly changing technologies. Not only do they have their work cut out for them but they also have to finance all this effort. Everything must be production quality lest audiences be turned off. It takes both a thick skin and an inventive orientation to survive this era as a creative, yet people are flocking to create new medium. Why? The opportunity is truly open and likely golden—with a little help from friends. Sophia Dominguez is the founder of AllThingsVR (allthingsvr.co), a weekly curated newsletter of the top VR news, innovators and content. She is also the Entrepreneur in Residence at Rothenberg Ventures for their second River Class. Eugene Chung, founder of Penrose Studios and former Oculus Story Studio head, wrote an excellent blog post about how the VR community should remain open and share so that we can learn from each other. As a testament to that, he shared a beta version of their Developer’s Cut of “Rose and I”, their first film. The current Oculus Story Studio head, Saschka Unseld, also wrote a blog post sighting the lessons they learned from making their first VR feature film, Lost. Sharing lessons learned is especially critical in these early days of VR so that indie content creators can generate better experiences that appeal to more consumers. A scene from Oculus Story Studio’s Henry Given VR’s promise and potential, companies are also building ties to creatives through offering technical support, funding and devices. They know they need to have skin in this game and to do that many are offering nice incentives and sweet accommodations. Last week, for instance, Samsung launched “Gear Indie”, a MilkVR channel dedicated to screening VR indie films. This affords these filmmakers an immediate distribution platform and can compete in the Wild Wild West of today’s VR. This Wired article explains Samsung’s strategy of developing a VR creation ecosystem, but a more selective, curated ecosystem than an open range of videos uploaded onto YouTube.” Gear Indie is their first step in this direction. In coming weeks, Samsung will add more videos to the Gear Indie platform and announce challenges designed to inspire creative solutions to both storytelling and technical problems. Samsung’s ‘Project Beyond’ camera Samsung’s Think Tank team is also developing a “3D omni-view” camera that captures “true stereoscopic 3D”, will have the capability to stream content live and of course access upload all content to MilkVR. They’ve coined this camera “Project Beyond” and have recently opened up sign-ups for creatives looking to test out the first version of their camera. Jaunt’s new camera, NEO Back [...]
Could the unnerving immediacy of V.R. cause us psychological harm?
In the past several years, as the nascent medium of virtual reality has come into its own, scientists and creators have begun to explore its potential effects on the human mind. Some are undoubtedly positive—as, for instance, when the technology is used to help war veterans overcome P.T.S.D., or as a means to expand a person’s capacity for compassion. But the immediacy of V.R. has a dark side, too. Several months ago, Michael Madary and Thomas K. Metzinger, researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, in Germany, published a series of recommendations on the ethical design and implementation of virtual reality. Their appraisal of the medium’s psychological force is both studious and foreboding. “The power of V.R. to induce particular kinds of emotions could be used deliberately to cause suffering,” they write. “Conceivably, the suffering could be so extreme as to be considered torture.” In filmmaking, the director must perform a kind of seduction of dread, leading viewers through an escalating series of psychological states. In the immersive world of V.R., no such dance is required.
“I’m neither a neurologist nor an anthropologist, but that kind of—I don’t know—that, like, deep-lizard stuff in our brains comes alive in virtual reality,” Scott Stephan, a designer at Wevr, a V.R. studio in Los Angeles, told me recently.
On horror and VR.
HTC's Vive virtual reality headset has finally begun shipping to enthusiasts' homes. But a high-end VR headset is only as good as its content. Which is why LA-b...
Sounds cool......
.....but I’m not behind exclusives. VR is a whole new field, and we already have exclusive content between the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. If you go to the site linked in the article, you’ll find that the company has released a version for the HTC Vive and plans on one for Samsung’s Gear VR, but has no listing for the Rift at all.
Stuff like this concerns me, as I would like to see VR as a whole flourish. It’s a budding industry, and I would rather everyone prosper instead of just one company over another.
Especially when you are talking about $600-$800 pieces of equipment that most people, if they can afford it at all, will only be able to afford one of the two.
Wevr Raises $25 Million With Launch Of Transport, A Content Distribution Platform
Los Angeles-based VR startup Wevr (pronounced “weaver”) raised $25 million in funding and is launching Transport, a “VR content distribution and discovery platform.” The $25 million is Wevr’s total funding to date, including $10 million raised from HTC last year.
Wevr is probably best known for creating theBlu, which is an underwater experience showcased early on with both the Samsung Gear VR and HTC Vive. The company also worked with Lionsgate, Adult Swim, Reggie Watts, Skybound Entertainment’s The Walking Dead, Kenan Thompson, and others.
Transport is described as a VR content network for creators to publish their work. The service is in private beta with plans to make it available across Google Cardboard, the Oculus platform, HTC Vive and Web.
Transport is different from existing content distribution platforms like Vrideo and Littl Star, which focus on 360-degree video and photos. Wevr is planning a multi-year roadmap for Transport’s features, beginning with helping to distribute content from the company’s creative partners. Part of the plan is to create a VR file format that encompasses multiple types of content. It’s a challenging problem to make distributing such a wide range of content easier for developers. The company hired experts in computer animation, gaming technology and browser-based 3D graphics to solve the problem.
“It’s a pain and it’s hard and our service to the community is to take away that pain and solve some hard problems,” said Neville Spiteri, Wevr CEO. “We’re investing heavily in a team with the breadth of expertise to cover those bases.”
Read more here.