Global Market Overview of Stereoscopic Software Solutions

Many users from the high-tech sectors of biochemistry / molecular research, geo-information (GIS, photogrammetry & LiDAR), medicine (CT, MRI & ultrasound) or construction (CAD, CAM & 3D printing) - often do not know which of the many software applications offered on the market are capable of stereoscopic visualization with spatial 3D-stereo and therefore true depth-perception, in contrast to the standard, flat and perspective, monoscopic representation.

After two years of intensive research and in cooperation with leading software manufacturers, the company Schneider Digital, recognized for its professional 4K/8K and VR/AR hardware solutions, has now published for the first time a global market overview of all 3D-stereo software solutions. More than 300 applications are currently listed and linked together with their creators in a monthly updated community-based database. Schneider Digital first checks the individual applications for their basic 3D-stereo functionality in order to then certify them individually for plug & play operation with its 3D monitors or the smart VR wall. The overview provides an open platform for users and software manufacturers, on which they can quickly and easily find stereoscopic software solutions tailored to their requirements:

https://www.3d-pluraview.com/en/application-field#su-software

Through the continuous maintenance of this central database, in which all worldwide relevant 3D-stereo software applications are listed, the company Schneider Digital provides users with an always up-to-date orientation aid, how their work processes and visualization quality can be improved using 3D-stereo technologies. A declared goal of the Miesbach-based company is to help as many software manufacturers as possible, to effectively integrate stereoscopic image output options into their existing applications. This offer is extended also to the implementation of a stereoscopic mouse pointer, which enables the user to directly and intuitively select every point, surface and edge in 3D space. Schneider Digital has been providing significant company resources for this pioneering work for more than two years. As a result, a manufacturer and hardware-independent "Open-Source Compendium" was created for the benefit of all software manufacturers and application users. At a glance, this global market overview shows which of the available software applications really have native 3D-stereo capability. In other words - "which software is able to display 3D data true-to detail, holographically, as real objects in 3D space, and which software already has a 3D-stereo cursor"?

Cross-industry compendium of 3D-stereo applications

Following the vision of creating a comprehensive market overview of all relevant 3D-stereo applications, Schneider Digital tested more than 300 software applications for their 3D-stereo functionality. The company has already certified most of them for operation with its own, passive 3D monitor systems, the 3D PluraView monitors.

Software solutions from the geospatial industry, from medicine, CAx, DCC/CGI and biotech sectors and many others, can be found under the download link https://www.3d-pluraview.com/en/application-field#su-software. The applications are sorted according to software and areas of use. They are listed and linked in alphabetical order, including information about the respective manufacturer. With the help of this overview, software manufacturers and users can quickly and easily find a solution that is tailored to their requirements. It is also planned to further expand this collection with video tutorials for 3D-stereo configuration settings and include also a graphics card database with all suitable, stereo-capable and professional graphic cards. The project initiator and CEO of Schneider Digital, Josef Schneider, summarizes the goal of the project as follows:

“Our vision is the continuous expansion of this market overview, creating a complete, community-based database of all relevant 3D-stereo applications. In addition to listing all manufacturers and applications, we also want to integrate the relevant documentation, ‘how-to’ guides and video tutorials for the software configuration there.”

More than 300 3D-stereo solutions at a glance: www.3D-PluraVIEW.com

Most of the currently more than 300 software solutions have been extensively tested by Schneider Digital for their 3D functionality and certified for use with 3D monitors or power walls. The geospatial section includes leading 3D software applications from Esri, Hexagon, Bentley, Trimble, DAT/EM Systems, and Terrasolid, among many others. The "Medical" category includes, for example, the 3D Slicer software from KITWARE, the 3D application Stereotaxy from Brainlab, Vesalius3D, and the 3D software syngo.foursight TEE & Cinematic Anatomy from Siemens. All 3D software applications listed in the overview are widespread solutions for sophisticated visualization. For design and modeling in the CAx area, 3D-stereo solutions are listed, e.g. from Autodesk, Dassault Systems, PTC, Siemens and ESI. Autodesk, Blender, Dassault Systems, KeyShot, and Lumiscaphe offer professional 3D software solutions for design and rendering. “Our goal is to make stereo technology more widespread in the market for use with professional applications. We would like to further establish the advantages of working and visualization in 3D-stereo for the most important industry applications," says Josef Schneider, summarizing the benefits of the market overview.

The market overview created by Schneider Digital with its more than 300 "real" 3D-stereo capable applications serves users and software manufacturers alike as an effective guide. The company makes the list of 3D-capable software applications available for download on its website at:

https://www.3d-pluraview.com/en/application-field#su-software. 

If you are not on the list with your 3D-stereo software application and would like to be included, please email Schneider Digital at software@pluraview.com.

Direct download of the PDF market overviews:

3D-Stereo Applications by Category

3D-Stereo Applications by Manufacturer

Complete 3D-stereo workstation solutions - a powerful combination of software and hardware

Working with holographically displayed 3D models is becoming increasingly established in application areas such as research, analytics, development, construction, design or medical diagnostics. The passive-stereo 3D PluraView monitors are now the industry standard for all stereoscopic software applications because they guarantee precise 3D-stereo visualization with the highest resolution of up to 4K per eye. They are used in a wide variety of areas, such as photogrammetry, GIS/mapping, LiDAR point clouds, laser scanning, oil & gas exploration, archaeology, AEC/BIM, visualization of 3D city models, CAx, medical or biotechnology and molecular chemistry.

3D visualization is a complex subject which can only lead to excellent, industrial-grade visualization results, if the software and hardware components work flawlessly together. Schneider Digital has over 25 years of industry and product experience with sophisticated professional hardware and has gathered detailed market knowledge and application expertise over these years. Schneider's experience has proved: the combination of computing performance and visualization technology is essential! If you use a 3D-stereo software solution and want to work stereoscopically - or with VR/AR - you need a competent CPU/GPU hardware combination. Only in perfect interaction with powerful, professional hardware can landscapes, buildings, entire cities, complex CAD models, GIS infrastructure, industrial processes or human anatomy be processed and visualized in three dimensions, true to detail, efficiently and smoothly. The larger the data sets to be processed are, the higher the demands on the performance of the workstations and the image quality of the 3D monitors. Professional users with demanding 3D work tasks benefit from the Schneider Digital’s visualization technology, in combination with high-performance workstations and 3D/VR/AR input devices as complete workplace solutions.

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Vendor-neutral and hardware-independent open-source compendium: Schneider Digital regularly publishes a global market overview of 3D-capable software solutions. Over 300 applications have already been tested for their 3D stereo functionality and certified for operation with 3D monitors or power walls.

Schneider Digital – The company:

Schneider Digital is a global full-service solution provider for professional 3D-stereo, 4K/8K and VR/AR hardware. Based on its 25 years of industry and product experience as well as its excellent relationships with leading manufacturers, Schneider Digital offers innovative, sophisticated professional hardware products and customized complete solutions for professional use. Qualified advice and committed after-sales service are the company's own standards.

The Schneider Digital product portfolio includes the right professional hardware solution for the respective requirements in these areas: High resolution 4K/8K to multi-display walls. Schneider Digital is the manufacturer of its own powerwall solution smartVR-Wall and the passive stereo monitor 3D PluraView. Performance workstations and professional graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA as well as innovative hardware peripherals (tracking, input devices, etc.) round off the product range. Many articles are in stock. This guarantees fast delivery and project realization.

Schneider Digital is an authorised service distributor of AMD FirePRO/Radeon Pro, PNY/NVIDIA Quadro, 3Dconnexion, Stealth int., Planar and EIZO. Schneider Digital products are used primarily in graphics-intensive computer applications such as CAD/CAM/CAE, FEM, CFD, simulation, GIS, architecture, medicine and research, film, TV, animation and digital imaging.

Further information is available at www.schneider-digital.com and www.3d-pluraview.com.

Schneider Digital press contact:

LEAD Industrie-Marketing GmbH

André Geßner

Tel.: +49 80 22 - 91 53

188Hauptstr.46 D-83684 Tegernsee

E-Mail: agessner@lead-industrie-marketing.de

Internet: www.lead-industrie-marketing.de 

disguise Finalizes AdMiRe Research Project with the European Union Program

(London, 23 May 2022) disguise, the visual storytelling platform and market leader for extended reality (xR) solutions announces their successful participation in AdMiRe, a collaborative research project designed to help develop new solutions for Mixed Reality (MR) technology.

AdMiRe (Advanced Mixed Realities) is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952027. In addition to disguise, the programme’s consortium includes Brainstorm, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland), NRK Nirsk Rikskringkasting As (Norway), Premier Sports, Societatea Romana De Televiziune (Romania) and the Spanish National Research Council.  

The main mission of AdMiRe is to research, validate and demonstrate innovations for MR pipelines with the goal of enabling a new level of interactivity in TV programmes, thereby enhancing the audience’s feeling of immersion and making broadcast content more engaging. AdMiRe also seeks to develop MR and xR workflows that radically improve how live-action talent interacts with CG elements on set in a realistic, hybrid environment where virtual and physical components blend seamlessly. 

disguise’s contribution focused on prototyping innovative features in its xR workflow to substantially increase efficiency and facilitate the creation of high-quality in-camera visual effects. This will empower better performances from talent interacting with and immersed in believable and captivating virtual environments. It will also enable creatives to deliver more innovative and engaging content while substantially reducing production and postproduction costs. The research also investigated further democratising of these new technologies.

The European Commission’s Innovation Radar has identified disguise as a ‘key innovator’ and will feature the innovations developed in the AdMiRe project on their platform amongst the most impressive technological and scientific advances being delivered by researchers and innovators around Europe.

disguise researchers focus on the challenges of machine learning, computer vision, graphics and classical algorithm design from the ground up. Using a complete end-to-end workflow of devising project proposals, finding and working with other world-leading partners and delivering significant state-of-the-art research that goes beyond incremental improvements, disguise research expertly crafts new approaches to solving difficult problems in the production space.

Through the two years of structured research at AdMiRe, disguise has not only generated fully working prototypes but also generated novel patents. The new features will make the disguise xR setup process even faster and easier and enable on-stage talent to physically interact with the virtual realm in real-time. 

“Through the dedication and hard work of our team of researchers, we are so pleased with the outcome of this project. We can hardly wait to get these fantastic new workflows into the hands of our customers, both new and existing. Combining these features will make the whole disguise xR process of setup even faster and easier and enable the on-stage talent to physically interact with the virtual realm in real-time,” says Richard Sykes, Lead Software Engineer at disguise

“Research-based collaborations like AdMiRe are invaluable opportunities for disguise to develop new prototypes and to experiment in new and wider scenarios. These programmes allow us to peek around corners that don’t exist yet and test what the future of technology might look like while capitalizing on this knowledge to ensure that our products are always at the forefront of innovation,” says Sara Coppola-Nicholson, Head of the Research Programme at disguise

Upon conclusion of the AdMiRe research project, disguise has been awarded a new grant as part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme.

This grant will fund further research with AdMiRe partners Brainstorm and Spain’s Universitat Pompeu Fabra, as well as new collaborators. Commencing in September 2022, the 30-month project, known as “MAX-R,” will create new pathways to advance innovation in xR with the aim to launch an entirely new era in the production, distribution and enjoyment of creative media. 

“disguise’s mission is to be one step ahead and push the boundaries: always looking for new ideas, collaborating with knowledgeable partners and creating best-in-class solutions. AdMiRe has led to the development of prototypes that will carve out a new path for mixed reality technology. With MAX-R kicking off later this year, we continue our mission to develop tools that deliver a new era of extended reality production, helping both existing clients and new users. This is all a continuation of our mission to allow people to tell their stories in the most compelling and immersive way,” says disguise CTO Ed Plowman.

If you would like to get in touch with the research team at disguise, email marketing@disguise.one.

#  #  #

About disguise

disguise is the platform to imagine, create and deliver spectacular visual experiences. Its award-winning extended reality (xR) solution has powered over 600 immersive real-time productions across live entertainment for music artists such as Katy Perry and Billie Eilish, film and episodic TV productions for Netflix and Amazon Prime, corporate presentations for Siemens and Verizon, and live broadcast programmes from Eurosport, MTV and ITV,  in more than 50 countries.

With an ever increasing global partner network and working alongside the world’s most talented visual designers and technical teams in live events, TV broadcasts, films, concert touring, theatre, fixed installations and corporate and entertainment events, disguise is building the next generation of collaborative tools to help artists and technologists realise their vision.

Recognised as one of the Financial Times’ top 1000 fastest growing businesses for 2021, disguise has recently announced new majority backing from investment firm Carlyle Group, with Epic Games taking a minority stake.

For more information, please visit www.disguise.one    

Germany https://www.disguise.one/de

France https://www.disguise.one/fr

Spain https://www.disguise.one/es

Japan https://www.disguise.one/jp    

China https://www.disguise.one/cn

Korea https://www.disguise.one/kr 

Edstutia Launches Instructor Certification Program in Immersive Tech

Edstutia is a 21st century virtual learning platform at the intersection of business and technology. We have developed one of the world's first fully immersive campuses in true VR. We are finalizing our B2C programs which will launch in January 2023; however, we are currently working with Corp L&D to integrate VR-enhanced learning for onboarding, upskilling, team building, DEI initiatives, and more. Given the newness of the metaverse and immersive tech, we have learned first hand that one of our jobs is to educate people on the value and potential of learning in the metaverse.

As such, we designed a 10-week instructor certification program for instructors, professors, coaches, instructional designers, and other HR professionals to learn how to leverage XR and thus create impactful learning experiences for their respective audiences. Participants will learn what the metaverse is all about and why they should care. What, specifically, should L&D professionals understand about the possibilities of learning/teaching in the metaverse? What are the differences between 2D, 3D, AR, VR, MR, XR? They will be introduced to a variety of tools to design their own simulations/exercises, and learn how to capture and leverage data for performance measurement. At the end of the 10 week session - which has both asynchronous and synchronous components - participants will be expected to deliver a one-hour learning experience in VR to showcase their newly acquired skills.

The first two cohorts kick off in September. Cohorts are capped at 20 participants for optimal engagement. Participants will meet for 2 hours of live instructor-led training in VR each week. Upon completion of all the required components, participants will receive a digital certificate of completion. Cost: $5,000 pp. Required device: Oculus Quest headset.

Click here for more information, testimonials, and to register: https://edstutia.com/immersive-tech-instructor-certification/ The more people who go through this program, the more they will want to utilize the amazing tools and solutions that VRARA members are developing. Let's help them get on board and be meta ready. Because ready or not... here it comes!

Highlights from our VRARA Education Forum 2022: Top Sessions & Speakers. 1500+ attendees from 75 countries, 100+ schools/orgs, 50+ vendors

Thank you everyone who participated in our annual VRARA Education Forum hosted by our Education Committee and special thank yous to our event sponsors!

Below are some of the highlights from our Forum!

Let’s continue the discussions and collaboration during our weekly Online Meets!

XR is the perfect workplace investigation communication tool. We just need to use it.

The complex world of workplace accidents

Effectively communicating the casual and contributing factors of workplace accidents has always been a challenge. Accidents are complex, particularly when they involve people. During one of my first health and safety roles I was tasked with developing a process to communicate learnings from incident investigations across a large, geographically distributed enterprise. Being new to the industry, I searched for effective ways to communicate investigation outcomes and came across the US Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigation videos; in particular the video of the Formosa Plastics Vinyl Chloride Explosion accident, which happened in 2004. The video included a computer-generated simulation of the events that led to an explosion of highly flammable vinyl chloride. The simulation was an effective way to communicate a complex work process and accident event timeline.  

Source: https://youtu.be/fjOfp_3GRb4 

At the time, XR technologies as we currently know them were in their infancy. Remember, this was 10 years before even Google cardboard was released. I recall finding a conference paper from a few years earlier that discussed a simulation of a mining fuel truck accident that was developed using 3D Studio MAX and exported into virtual reality modeling language viewed via Cosmo player. Too complicated, clunky and expensive to implement back then, I reluctantly settled on PowerPoint slides packed with photos with annotations and the occasional video. Throughout the rest of my health & safety career, video really took off to communicate workplace accident investigation outcomes, but XR never took hold.  

This all came back to me a week or so ago when I received as WhatsApp message from Martin Sawtell, XR Director at Dell Technologies. He sent me a link to the latest video from CSB, a simulation of a fire at Evergreen Packaging. We were both really impressed with the quality of the animation, a massive improvement over the 15 years since the Formosa Plastics video. Sure, it’s pre-rendered but it highlights how effective simulation and storytelling can be to communicate the complexities of significant workplace accidents. 

Source: https://youtu.be/mF1fHHUcstg 

Having worked in XR for a while now, it dawned on me that XR technologies are still not widely used for incident investigation communication, so I Googled “VR for incident investigation communication” and guess what popped up on the first page of results;  the conference paper with the mining fuel truck simulation using 3D Studio Max. 

VR is often used for health and safety training; in fact, it may even be the most common VR use case across the globe. So why aren’t XR technologies used more often for incident investigation communication? Let’s briefly explore the use case. 

Incident investigation 101

I am not going to go into the safety science or the forensic side of incident investigation, or even the difference in definition between accidents and incidents. Simply put, when things go wrong at work; something gets damaged, people get hurt (or worse) or the environment is harmed etc.; organizations have an obligation (often a legal one) to understand what went wrong on several levels (organization, system task, individual etc.). They do this to try and identify what they can improve. In modern safety science, it is becoming more popular to not just investigate when things go wrong, but also when things go right (perhaps this is an even more powerful approach). Either way, effectively all investigations have a timeline of events and outcomes that can often be very difficult to understand, especially if the work process is highly technical and the geospatial relationship between hazards and people is challenging to articulate in text or 2D. Communicating the outcomes of an investigation across an organization is a requirement of good safety management, generally a regulatory one. Communicating investigation outcomes are often poorly executed. 

Investigation communication 101 

I’ve dropped the word incident preceding investigation communication in the title of this section, because investigating good work is also a great idea and well worth communicating. Typically, investigations are communicated via a .PDF “newsflash”, .PPT slide deck (*snore – yes, I am guilty of this hundreds of times over), but if you are lucky perhaps a video is created as a communication tool and if you are really, really lucky, that video is supported with an animation. 

XR for Investigation Communication 

So here is the opportunity. Investigations are ultimately stories, so what better way to communicate a story than with immersive technologies? You can start simple, recreate an incident scene using a 360 camera, add annotations and port to a VR headset for low-effort immersive experience. For more complex scenarios, developing a CGI simulation could be well worth the effort to enable effective investigation communication without geographical constraints. You may even consider using AR to spatially anchor historical incident information around an asset, using a pair of AR smart glasses that overlay investigation learnings as you walk through the facility. The technology is available to improve the way we communicate investigation outcomes, it’s just waiting for us to use it. 

Cameron is a global XR strategist & chartered health & safety professional most comfortable exploring the intersection of emerging technologies and business performance. Cameron holds a BSc in Physical Therapy and a MSc in Ergonomics, Safety & Health with postgraduate studies in digital transformation and artificial intelligence ethics. He has extensive experience in safety & risk management and business transformation in high-risk industry having worked around the globe for ExxonMobil, BHP, Vermilion Oil & Gas and Oil Search Limited. Cameron is currently leading the commercial Augmented & Virtual Reality business for Lenovo in Australia and New Zealand after 3 years as a Solution Engineer with RealWear Inc. deploying wearable computing for enterprise.  

As the trusted voice for XR safety and risk management, Cameron volunteers on the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance Safety & Human Factors committees, the authoring committee for the ISO Standard for AR/VR Safety and contributes to the ISO Standards committee for Artificial Intelligence. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronmstevens/ 

Nextech AR in Partnership With Restaurants Canada Launches 365 MetaMarketplace

Nextech AR is pleased to announce the launch of the groundbreaking 365 Marketplace with Restaurants Canada at the RC Show 2022—Canada’s leading foodservice and hospitality event, taking place May 9-11, 2022.

Designed by Nextech AR Solutions, the platform creates a hybrid blend of virtual event space and international marketplace, with up to 5,000 virtual vendor profiles serving 30,000+ members. 365 Marketplace aims to be a thriving centre for ecommerce, using unique 3D augmented reality technology to showcase products in their truest form, allowing members to interact at a higher level.

“The 365 Marketplace offers a one-stop-resource for international communities to connect with the Canadian foodservice market, and vice-versa,” says Roy Little, Interim President and CEO, Restaurants Canada. “Our partnership with Nextech AR Solutions offers industry professionals the tools they need to help better serve the Canadian market and establish global connections. We look forward to bringing the virtual 365 Marketplace platform to the industry to break down barriers and encourage business across borders as the global foodservice industry revives post-pandemic.”

Learn more here.

Exclusive: Orlando Sets Out to Cement Itself as the Center of the Metaverse

The VRAR Association is playing an important role in the metaverse ecosystem, and is especially apparent in the Orlando chapter. See below for an excerpt from the Orlando Inno Business Journal:

The masters of the metaverse are in Central Florida. 

That’s according to the Orlando Economic Partnership, which is spearheading an initiative to establish the region from Orlando to Miami as the “MetaCenter,” the national hub for technologies that power the metaverse. They include gaming, simulation, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Central Florida is moving to be the first U.S. market to embrace the identity of a metaverse hub, said OEP Chief Innovation Officer David Adelson. “After watching intently for years as the building blocks of this new frontier unfold, the metaverse is taking shape – and it is evident that Orlando’s tech companies play a big part in developing this new world.” 

David Adelson

Orlando Economic Partnership

What is the metaverse?

The metaverse concept refers to a network of interconnected virtual worlds where users can interact with various services and with each other. It’s expected to be boosted by Web 3.0, the term given to the next iteration of the internet that will be decentralized and blockchain-based.

The metaverse is a concept that’s quickly gaining popularity among startups, enterprise companies and the public at large. For example, Facebook last year rebranded as Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) with a new focus on the metaverse, and The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) in February charged Senior Vice President Mike White with leading the entertainment giant’s metaverse strategy.

The metaverse presents an $800 billion market opportunity, according to Bloomberg research. 

How does the metaverse relate to Orlando?

Metro Orlando is home to a large number of companies and research efforts focused on technologies that directly or indirectly support the metaverse, specifically in five tech verticals:

• Augmented and virtual reality: The Central Florida chapter of the VR/AR Association is the biggest and most active in the world, President John Cunningham told Orlando Inno. Meanwhile, Orlando is home to one of the nation’s highest concentration of Unity (NYSE: U) game engine licenses and the OEP's "digital twin" that virtually recreates 800 square miles of metro Orlando.

• Artificial intelligence: AdventHealth in 2019 opened the world’s largest medical “mission control” center in Orlando, which uses artificial intelligence to guide ambulance dispatches, patient transfers and treatment prioritization.

• Gaming: Electronic Arts Inc. and Iron Galaxy Studios LLC employ more than 900 people combined at two downtown Orlando video game studios. Meanwhile, The Princeton Review last year named UCF Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy’s graduate video game design program the best in the world, and ranked Full Sail University among the top 50 undergraduate game design programs.

• 3D reconstruction: This encompasses the region’s $6 billion modeling, simulation and training industry and Orlando’s photonics/optics sector that includes industry leaders like Luminar Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: LAZR) and UCF’s fast-growing photonics college.

• Internet of things: This can make essentially any device a smart device, and it’s powered by semiconductor technology and lightning-fast data networks. Semiconductor maker SkyWater Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: SKYT) recently set up shop in Osceola County’s NeoCity, while Lake Nona is home to one of Verizon Communications Inc.’s 5G Innovation Hubs.

Meanwhile, the Miami market is an emerging leader in blockchain and cryptocurrencies, two other integral components of the metaverse. 

What does the MetaCenter idea mean for Orlando’s economy?

Local governments, economic development groups and the tech community at large have spent years trying to build up the region’s innovative identity and diversify its economy with more high-wage, high-tech work. Labeling the region as the center for metaverse technologies not only boosts Orlando’s innovation profile, but it also may draw more companies and jobs here, Lewis said. “There are jobs, opportunities for entrepreneurs and lots of talent and knowledge here.”

What’s next?

So far, the OEP has filed for a trademark for the term “MetaCenter” and will launch a website dedicated to the initiative this week. The MetaCenter is expected to get a big boost June 1 when a video highlighting Central Florida as the MetaCenter will play during the AWE extended-reality expo keynote address by Unity CEO John Riccitiello.

From there, the OEP aims to target trade shows and conventions for the region that relate to the metaverse, take a “road show” to cities from California to New York to spread the word, create specific targets for job creation/economic impact and other emerging projects.

Source

Virtualware launches version 2.0 of its VIROO® VR platform

Virtualware, one of the pioneers in the Virtual Reality industry worldwide, today announced the launch of version 2.0 of its VIROO® VR platform.

VIROO® is a digital solution that allows the developing and deploying of multi-user Virtual Reality applications remotely. The platform aims to become the standard for developing multi-user VR applications worldwide, allowing to construct, handle and deploy immersive projects without constraints.

It incorporates its technological development with a physical space, the VIROO® Room, which allows several teams to work at full scale in the same material and virtual area.

Tracking systems are necessary to enjoy Virtual Reality experiences. Thus, the VIROO® room incorporates a complete tracking system that provides high precision compared to other relative positioning systems, allowing the collaboration of numerous users in the same physical space, whether large or large or small, safely.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently granted Virtualware a new patent for its tracking system, valid for 20 years.

In recent years, VIROO® has been the backbone of simulators. For example, the multinational GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is training its personnel and the technology that will soon enable the virtual training of ADIF railway infrastructure maintenance personnel.

We have created VIROO® to become the real next leap in the Virtual Reality industry. We expect hundreds of users to start developing complex, affordable, and meaningful immersive content that really changes the worlds.” explained the founder and CEO of the company, Unai Extremo

Remote connection without limits
The platform presents an improved version in terms of connectivity, making it more versatile, so multiple users can connect to the same collaborative space from different devices and locations. Either from a large VIROO® room or from a desktop computer, with or without VR viewers.

Virtual reality without limits
VIROO® version 2.0 includes advanced streaming technology, a new feature that allows the image to be displayed wirelessly on each virtual reality headset. In this way, users immersed in VIROO® rooms enjoy greater freedom, without the need to use VR Backpacks.

Create your own content
Another benefit has been the update of VIROO® Scene Generator 2.0, a toolkit for UNITY® that facilitates the creation of immersive content without the need to generate a single line of code, providing greater autonomy to organizations. VIROO® Scene Generator 2.0 also allows experienced UNITY® profiles to develop complex content and deploy it through the platform.
Through the new VIROO® Academy portal, VIROO® user organizations can independently access tutorials and resources to generate their content.

The VIROO® platform is constantly evolving, incorporating five new interactive demos that showcase the platform’s graphical and collaborative capabilities, and further updates are planned for the end of the year.

The company expects more than 50 global organizations and industry associations to use the VIROO® standard in their processes by 2023.

To date, Virtualware has around 15 VIROO® user organizations (Industrial Companies, Universities, and Vocational Training Centers) and has deployed 20 VIROO® rooms around the world, in Wilmington and San Jose in the United States, Markham in Canada, Bogota in Colombia, Aguascalientes and Mexico City in Mexico, and others in Spain, including in Madrid and the Basque Country.

See more here:: https://youtu.be/QUJxeKkhnFg

Visit us at:  https://www.virtualwareco.com/viroo/

Mental Wellness App Healium Wins NFLPA Pitch Day @HealiumXR

The NFL Players Association has selected VRARA Member Healium, a Columbia, MO female-founded company for a $50,000 prize and for its groundbreaking mental wellness app which helps players sleep and recover faster. The event happened during the NFL Draft in Vegas. Read more here.

Extended Reality Firm Design Interactive Announces New Contract for Tactical Combat Casualty Care Training

Design Interactive Inc, (DI), an Orlando-based, family-owned eXtended Reality (XR) firm, announced a new $3.8 million, multi-year award from the Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program (JWMRP) to transition DI’s AUGMED® Mobile product line to operational capability. AUGMED® Mobile will deliver an XR-enabled tablet to provide anytime, anywhere training for Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) trainees over the next three years.

Design Interactive CEO, Dr. Kay Stanney, comments “Moving the product to a mobile platform and focusing on fielding the system with warfighters at the unit level provides the opportunity to fill critical training gaps and increase military medical readiness. Ultimately, we aim to provide XR training solutions that will support eliminating preventable death on the battlefield.”

AUGMED® Mobile fundamentally transforms and exponentially improves the approach to TCCC training through embodied, contextually rich and highly realistic training, thereby ensuring readiness in critical life-saving skills such as life-threatening bleeding control, airway management, and needle chest decompression. While testing the system at the Fort Indiantown Gap Medical Simulation Test Facility, Frank Karluk, former Combat Medic, said “AUGMED®’s brand of extended reality training specifically targets the needs of overseas Soldiers who may not be able to attend group refresher classes on a routine basis.”
AUGMED® Mobile has been field tested with multiple soldier touch points, including Fort Bragg, Hurlburt AF, Fort Indiantown Gap, and MacDill AFB. “We are confident that the integration of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality onto mobile devices will provide service members with highly accessible, engaging, and effective combat casualty care training. We are excited to see this project move forward towards full transition and fielding,” remarked Colonel Lockhart, chief nurse in the 6 MDG at MacDill AFB. The outcomes of the JWMRP award include system hardening, curriculum expansion, training validation, Risk Management Framework (RMF) compliance, and Acceptance Test Operation (ATO) readiness. The AUGMED® Mobile effort is an extension of DI’s existing AUGMED® product line, which utilizes XR head worn displays to present immersive, augmented training content to TCCC Combat Lifesavers.

See more here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yeiw3MgiVVY

About Design Interactive

DI is a woman-owned, small business in Orlando, Florida that specializes in the development of eXtended Reality training and operational support solutions that truly empower people. DI has been delivering value to customers in Defense, Manufacturing, Transportation, Aviation and Medicine since its founding in 1998.

 http://designinteractive.net/augmed/

Download our new VRARA Sports and Fitness featuring top companies

Download Report

VRARA Sports Fitness report

Foreword by Alen Paul Silverrstieen, President & CEO, ImagineAR

Due to the Pandemic starting in 2020, Sports and Sport's related market has been significantly impacted, transforming the way the sports team and leagues engage with fans to drive revenue. On-site fan attendance was reduced considerably during the pandemic, and fans discovered new alternative online entertainment, including e-sports, virtual worlds, tokens, NFTs, and online streaming. Even when fans were finally allowed to attend live sporting events, many continued pursuing their newly formed sports engagement habits during the pandemic at home. In 2022, sports teams and leagues are testing new dynamic, immersive strategies to lure fans back to live competitions in the stadium, spend money on team merchandise, and provide team sponsors with a measurable ROI.

Mobile Augmented Reality has become one of the key strategies to provide an immediate entry into the Metaverse for sports teams and leagues to engage fans with immersive and interactive activations. Leveraging an integrated SDK (Software Development Kit), such as the ImagineAR native IOS & Android SDK, into an existing mobile app delivers instant global engagement, including Player Holograms, AR Treasure Hunts, Sweepstakes, and Visual Image Activation. Brazilian Football 3X 2022 Champion – Clube Atlético Mineiro – experienced a 3000% increase in daily mobile app downloads when they launched immersive AR campaign integration in 2021.

The AR market has been forecasted to grow exponentially in the next few years. Sports will be a significant area where it will be used to build a fan community and ultimately drive new revenue opportunities. AR should be considered another central digital engagement channel, like social media, to provide fans with new interactive activation they want to engage with and instantly share with their community. As 5G Wireless becomes more prevalent in stadium and arena infrastructure, AR can be more interactive, immersive, and seamlessly integrate the physical and digital world experiences.

Additionally, many sports teams have implemented VR to improve player skills training using game simulation applications. Leveraging VR, players can consistently improve their reaction to specific plays and game situations by retraining their reflexes.

Using AI, players can analyze their particular body movements to understand optimization and areas requiring improvement. Technology has started to impact player on-field performance and will continue to expand globally and improve player's gameday performance.

We expect 2022 will be the year AR will be a permanent digital strategy for sports organizations to deliver immersive fan engagement and create new profitable revenue streams for the future.

Dilmer Valecillos, founder of Learn XR appointed as Board Advisor to the VRARA Central Florida Chapter

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dilmer Vallecillos as a Board Advisor to the VRARA Central Florida Chapter. Dilmer is the founder of Learn XR which is one of the most widely adopted platforms for XR developers and has over 60K followers on his popular Youtube site.

Dilmer is a recognized extended reality development expert and currently has over 70 GitHub open source repositories and more than 600 videos on his YouTube site that teach extended reality, game development, and recently AI.  

“Central Florida is the epicenter of the global modeling and simulation and the theme park industry and so many developers in our community already from Dilmer’s contributions and he has become a go-to-resource.  Having Dilmer in the VRARA and on our chapter board is a real benefit for our members as he can help shape how to better support our development community, if you are not already familiar with Dilmer I encourage you to get know him” John Cunningham, President of the Central Florida VRARA Chapter..

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilmerv/ and Twitter: twitter.com/dilmerv 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/dilmerv

Calling Female Founders in VR!

At the VR/AR Association, we want to curate a list to celebrate female entrepreneurship and innovation in the VR/AR industry across the globe. So we're calling all female founders, whether you're an established industry pro or a relative newcomer, to take part and represent the current generation of founders shaping the VR/AR community and the world.

This list will be featured across all our media channels, fill out the short form here!

80six uses disguise to shoot 100% Shutterstock Virtual Production Commercial @disguise_one

(28 April, 2022) – Shutterstock, the global provider of stock photography, stock footage and stock music, used disguise to power the virtual production in their recent commercial. 80six and Final Pixel worked with Shutterstock to help answer the question, “What can you create with 100% Shutterstock?”

Co-produced by Shutterstock Studios and Ridley Scott Creative Group’s RSA Films, the new spot was created solely with content available from Shutterstock and shot using virtual production technology by 80six at their Virtual Production Studios in the UK.

Two disguise vx 4 media servers and four rx II render nodes were an important part of the virtual production pipeline streamlining the workflow by facilitating a stable communication between Unreal Engine and Mo-sys StarTracker camera tracking through disguise’s RenderStream infrastructure. 

“The disguise workflow with Unreal Engine was streamlined to work seamlessly, which allowed me, as Technical Director, to support the creative team in fully realising their concept,” notes Paul Nicholls, Head of Virtual Production and Real-time Technology at 80six.

The Horizon media agency developed the concept, showcasing “the world of possibilities” that Shutterstock opens up to creatives. Directed by Juriaan Booij, the commercial follows a young woman through a series of colourful, surreal worlds filled with photoreal cityscapes, hot air balloons, pink flamingos, a lush rainforest and astronauts. At the end, the camera pulls back to reveal the woman has been on a stage where the immersive environments were composed of Shutterstock images projected onto a massive curved LED backdrop. 

The team at 80six worked with Final Pixel, who delivered Unreal Engine assets, to take 2D elements, such as photography, illustrations and vectors, and create a virtual 3D world, where actors and physical and digital props integrated seamlessly. By projecting the virtual world of Shutterstock images onto an LED screen, the young woman travelling through the different environments could see and interact with the changing, moving elements around her.

They used Unreal Engine to build, configure and customise the virtual scenes and translate the incoming visual data during the one-day shoot to a real-time render with disguise vx 4 media servers. disguise ensured that the LED visuals always adapted to the position of the camera in three-dimensional space. The upgraded graphics processing power of the new disguise rx II render nodes fully unlocked the photorealistic potential of the Unreal Engine content.

“Being able to utilise disguise’s powerful media server capabilities at the same time [as disguise RenderStream] allowed LED screens to be used as lighting sources all while maintaining a quick and easy workflow to support the creative team onsite,” says Nicholls.

At the core of the virtual production set was an 18 x 4.5-metre curved LED screen built from ROE Diamond 2.6mm panels, with a 12 x 5.4-metre ROE Visual Carbon 5.7mm LED ceiling illuminating the stage from above. Both LED screens ran on Brompton Tessera SX40 LED processors.

The 100% Shutterstock campaign is currently running on 19 cable networks in the US, plus Hulu, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, along with YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Credits

Media Agency: Horizon 

Director: Juriaan Booij 

Executive Producer: Mark Infante 

RSA Producer: Lisa Joseph 

Creative Director: Anastasia Marshall 

Executive Producer/ Virtual Production Producer: Dan Hamill 

Production Company: Shutterstock Studios and RSA Films 

Studios: Virtual Production Studios by 80six 

DOP: Andreas Neo 

Production Designer: Russell De Rozario 

Post: Final Pixel 

Sound: Eclectic

About Virtual Production Studios by 80six 

80six is a leading video technology company providing high-end equipment and world-class technical services for virtual production, film & TV drama, live entertainment, broadcast, (e)sports and corporate events.

Virtual Production Studios by 80six is an 11,743 sq ft facility in Slough featuring a highly customizable LED stage and the latest real-time technologies for in-camera VFX (ICVFX) or xR (extended reality). 

About disguise

disguise is the platform to imagine, create and deliver spectacular visual experiences. Its award-winning extended reality (xR) solution has powered over 400 immersive real-time productions across live entertainment for music artists such as Katy Perry and Billie Eilish, film and episodic TV productions for Netflix and Amazon Prime, corporate presentations for Siemens and Verizon, and live broadcast programmes from Eurosport, MTV and ITV,  in more than 40 countries.

With an ever-increasing global partner network and working alongside the world’s most talented visual designers and technical teams in live events, TV broadcasts, films, concert touring, theatre, fixed installations and corporate and entertainment events, disguise is building the next generation of collaborative tools to help artists and technologists realise their vision.

Recognised as one of the Financial Times’ top 1000 fastest growing businesses for 2021, disguise has recently announced new majority backing from investment firm Carlyle Group, with Epic Games taking a minority stake.

For more information, please visit www.disguise.one    

Germany https://www.disguise.one/de

France https://www.disguise.one/fr

Spain https://www.disguise.one/es

Japan https://www.disguise.one/jp    

China https://www.disguise.one/cn

Korea https://www.disguise.one/kr 

Varjo Launches Reality Cloud Software Platform For Human-Eye Resolution Metaverse Streaming and VR/XR Workflows

April 28, 2022 – Helsinki – Varjo – the industry-leading provider of professional-grade VR/XR solutions – today announced the immediate availability of its Varjo Reality Cloud platform, which allows even the most complex metaverse to stream in real-time to supported devices for both professional and prosumer users.

Originally acclaimed for delivering the industry’s most advanced VR/XR hardware, the commercial availability of the Varjo Reality Cloud platform is a significant milestone on the company’s long-term journey to build the ultimate hardware/software stack for scaling high-performance immersive computing across all headsets, regardless of manufacturer.

Varjo Reality Cloud is powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in addition to state-of-the-art NVIDIA GPUs and is future-proofed for running graphically-intensive virtual- and mixed-reality applications across any device. With Varjo’s proprietary foveated transport algorithm, users can stream immersive content from Varjo Reality Cloud to devices with a lossless visual fidelity via a compression rate of 1000:1, and a bandwidth of 35 megabits-per-second via highly secure, enterprise-grade data encryption.

Through this, professional customers can at last safely and securely stream their most complex immersive VR/MR applications and models (as well as human-eye resolution VR/XR content) from the Reality Cloud directly to Varjo’s headsets. This use case specifically unlocks new levels of scalability and productivity for virtual and mixed reality workflows in one of the most demanding industries for VR/MR – automotive design using Autodesk VRED™.

Later this year, users will also be able to use the platform with other supported applications incorporating the leading 3D engines – Unity and Unreal Engine. To make this an industry-standard, Varjo intends to expand device support beyond its own portfolio of headsets to enable any user to join collaborative immersive sessions from a variety of iOS and Windows devices, including phones, tablets, and PCs in the second half of this year.

The launch of Reality Cloud is a major milestone towards Varjo’s ultimate vision of allowing real-world workflows and applications to move into photoreal-immersive environments that can be experienced across the Web in real-time. Starting today, Varjo Reality Cloud with cloud streaming support for Autodesk VRED is available for up to five concurrent users per company at $1495 per month. For professionals interested in using Varjo Reality Cloud, please visit www.Varjo.com/realitycloud.

Watch more here: http://vimeo.com/703677628

VTR Announces Virtual Reality Pilot Training with JetBlue Airways & JetBlue Technology Ventures

The Woodlands, TX: Visionary Training Resources (VTR) today announced a partnership with  JetBlue Airways to trial its virtual reality pilot training. The innovation project is backed by  JetBlue’s corporate venture subsidiary JetBlue Technology Ventures to bring startup use cases  to the airline.  

VTR provides airlines and pilots with modern learning tools that improve training efficiency and  success rates. Its signature virtual reality platform, FlightDeckToGoTM, is an immersive,  portable, virtual flight deck.  

As part of this partnership, FlightDeckToGoTM will be tailored to JetBlue’s exact needs and  specifications. This customized approach provides pilots with an ultra-efficient learning tool as  they prepare for Airbus A320 simulator training.  

“Airlines are looking to quickly integrate virtual reality in pilot training for its standardization  abilities and efficient nature. This partnership model allows us to deliver cost-effective learning  solutions that meet the complex and customized requirements of commercial airlines,” said  Captain Evey Cormican, CEO.  

“Virtual learning is coming to the flight deck, and we want to have a seat at the table in its  development. We are thrilled to test and grow VTR’s platform which is built by pilots for pilots,” said Stephen Snyder, Managing Director at JetBlue Technology Ventures.  

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VTR provides airlines and pilots with modern tools that improve efficiency and success in learning. Our virtual reality platform, FlightDeckToGoTM, provides pilots with an immersive, completely portable, virtual flight deck. Pilots learn faster and retain more knowledge than with traditional training methods. Visit www.VTRVR.com to learn more about Visionary Training Resources.