I'm updating this article I published last year because, as I settled in to watch Wimbledon, there was something amiss. Breaking a nearly 150-year-long tradition, which surely has the British royalty and nobles buried at nearby Westminster Abbey rolling in their graves, the men and women who stood guard, keenly watching the chalk (white titanium dioxide) lines to call a ball "OOOOOUT," are gone. Gone! A bastion of tradition has been replaced by technology.

I grew up watching tennis, and nothing ushered in July better than watching Wimbledon on the telly. To round out the fireworks on the 4th, I could always count on some colorful outbursts from tennis legend John McEnroe, who invariably argued points that didn’t go his way.

Thanks to ball tracking technology, Hawk-Eye, the days of throwing a tantrum about whether the tennis ball is in or outside the white titanium dioxide lines on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club have been over for nearly two decades.

Owned by Sony, Hawk-Eye Innovations first debuted Hawk-Eye at The Championships, Wimbledon, in 2007, and each year has brought improvements, efficiencies, and innovations to its services. To ensure gold-standard ball tracking and officiating services, The Championships, the All England Club, has agreed to a multi-year extension of its successful collaboration with Hawk-Eye Innovations.

Enhancing the Viewer Experience

Hawk-Eye will continue to provide world-class data tracking and officiating services at The Championships through its player and ball tracking technology, which are used not only for the most precise officiating systems but also to power advanced performance analytics solutions.

During the 2024 The Championships, Wimbledon, players, media, and fans noticed visualizations on replays, modernized broadcasts, live augmented reality views, and other innovative ways to use player and ball tracking data to enhance fans’ viewing experience.

Keeping the Hawk-Eye on the Ball

The collaboration will continue to explore how Hawk-Eye’s ever-evolving technology can further amplify the use of player and ball tracking information before, during, and after The Championships, increasing the overall engagement and dialogue as records are broken on the historic grass courts.

Bill Jinks, technology director at the All England Club, said, “I am delighted to extend our collaboration with Hawk-Eye. Since 2007, Hawk-Eye has delivered line-calling to the high standard expected at The Championships and has evolved its solution to fit the unique needs of the only Grand Slam played on grass. I am looking forward to working with Hawk-Eye on future innovations.”

Ben Crossing, Hawk-Eye managing director, added, “We are beyond thrilled to continue our very successful relationship with the All England Club for multiple years to come. Tennis is at our core, and we are excited to continue bringing our very best innovation and technology in order to deliver exceptional experiences at The Championships that the All England Club, the players, and millions of fans around the world deserve.”

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With new disguise locations opening up around the world and a software interface available in multiple languages, disguise is accelerating the democratization of its xR workflow to meet the expanding appetite for xR, virtual production and virtual studios. Its acquisition of Atlanta-based immersive entertainment specialists Meptik will bolster the expansion. 

As a rapidly growing global player in the events, media and entertainment space, disguise is well placed to support a similar growth trajectory for Meptik, bringing their creative and technical expertise to all. Customers can expect a Meptik team with the latest technology in their back pocket, and an ever-growing global team of experts to support them on their creative journey.

While both companies will continue to operate as separate entities, disguise will be leveraging Meptik’s expertise to expand its global reach, helping creatives build the next generation of extended reality and metaverse experiences. Meptik’s teams will work with disguise to workshop new solutions, create product roadmaps and drive new standards in entertainment technology.

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Defining What’s Next for xR, AR, MR and VP

Meptik specializes in creating dynamic virtual worlds that blow audiences away—and keeps them coming back. Their clients range from film studios to lifestyle brands, Fortune 500s, musical artists and more.

Combining creative chops with technical skills, Meptik is always working behind the scenes to define what’s next for extended reality (xR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual production (VP). Led by Sarah Linebaugh and Nick Rivero, their team of experts deliver groundbreaking projects for filmmakers and broadcasters as well as remarkable corporate and immersive installations.

xR technology unleashes storytelling potential by delivering photorealistic, three-dimensional, real-time graphics that immerse performers and audiences alike in a virtual world visible on set and in-camera.

disguise’s market-leading extended reality (xR) workflow has, in the past two years alone, enabled over 600 xR productions in over 50 countries, powering live entertainment productions 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 programs from Eurosport, MTV and ITV.

Meptik will also use its unique combination of creative and technical expertise to aid disguise in its mission to empower game-changing virtual experiences at the intersection of physical and virtual worlds.

Left Brain / Right Brain

“We have always prided ourselves on our ability to service both sides of the xR equation the creative and the technical—and we love creating dynamic virtual worlds that blow audiences away,” said Nick Rivero, co-founder of Meptik. “Joining forces with disguise will enhance our ability to continue to serve our clients from start to finish while maintaining our down-to-earth spirit.”

“Meptik has been a trusted partner of disguise for many years, growing to excel at bringing out the very best capability for disguise solutions. Given that we have both been, in the past two years, bringing extended reality and immersive entertainment to the world, this acquisition would expand on these efforts and lead the next era for extended reality and metaverse experiences,” said disguise CEO Fernando Küfer.

There is growing interest in immersive reality experiences by students and adults. According to the 2022 GroupM Annual Survey on Consumer Attitudes Toward Technology, nearly 1 in 3 consumers own an augmented reality/virtual reality device, and 15 percent will buy such a device in 2022.

In an effort to help students understand the science behind extended reality and its explosive potential to impact every aspect of consumers’ daily lives, Brave Williams, MFA, the director of the iEX Center and an associate professor in Husson University’s School of Technology and Innovation, will share his thoughts on immersive experiences at the Maine Science Festival on Thursday, March 17, 2022 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. from the main stage at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Husson’s iEX Center has the largest variety of extended reality (XR) equipment in one place in Maine. Williams will provide Maine Science Festival attendees with an overview of the iEX Center, a demonstration of some of the equipment, and an overview of what XR is and why it’s important.

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term for three-dimensional computing environments. It uses computing technologies like mobile devices, various specialized software, virtual reality (VR) goggles, augmented reality (AR) glasses, website XR (WebXR), and AR environments to create immersive, integrated, and interactive experiences. These new technologies represent enormous potential. Everyone from “artists to the zoologists” will be able to utilize three-dimensional presentations in the future.

According to Williams, “Six-hundred and fifty-six (656) students have already signed up for this seminar and there are more on the waiting list. Students have a lot of interest in learning more about immersive technologies. I’m hoping that this Husson University presentation will encourage the next generation of programmers and artists to learn more about the potential of extended reality and available professional career opportunities associated with this growing industry.”

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The Science Behind Bad Concert Sound

Later in the week, on Sunday, March 20, 2022, from 1 – 2 p.m. at Knapp’s Music Center, 51 Main Street in Bangor, another Husson University faculty member will share his insights. New England School of Communications Assistant Professor Eric Ferguson, MM, be talking about the science associated with live performances as part of a presentation called, “Don’t Blame the Sound Person: The Science Behind Bad Concert Sound.”

“Anyone who goes to concerts regularly has, at one time or another, been disappointed by the sound quality,” said Ferguson. “My goal is to help people understand why it’s almost impossible for the sound person to please everybody. This presentation will look at the different variables that affect how music is reproduced and perceived in a venue. These will include psychoacoustics, venue acoustics, and phase interaction between loudspeakers.”

Ferguson has over 30 years of professional audio experience. As a staff engineer at the legendary A&M Studios, he worked with numerous platinum recording artists such as Chicago, Ringo Starr, Macy Gray, and Billy Corgan. As a freelance engineer, Ferguson has been involved in over a hundred recording, mixing, and post-production projects including work for such luminaries as Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, Kool & The Gang, Fourplay, and Dave Grusin. Accomplished in sound reinforcement, Ferguson has toured in over 17 countries for artists such as Lee Ritenour, James Ingram, and Dave Koz.

“One of the great things about the Maine Science Festival is that it always has interesting presentations from a variety of disciplines,” said Dr. Marie Hansen, dean of the College of Business at Husson University. “Students often don’t stop to think about how science is making their virtual reality goggles or audio devices possible. But thanks to the Maine Science Festival and the educational contributions of Husson University faculty members, students now have the opportunity to understand and appreciate the scientific principles that makes their technology work and concert experiences enjoyable.”

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Husson University Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Lynne Coy-Ogan, EdD, observed, “The Maine Science Festival is also an outstanding way to help showcase the variety of science-related expertise available at Husson University. Our faculty members have both in-depth scientific knowledge and practical experience in applying science to real-life situations. We’re proud to support this educational effort and help make the festival a great experience for students of all ages.”

For more than 120 years, Husson University has shown its adaptability and strength in delivering educational programs that prepare future leaders to handle the challenges of tomorrow through innovative undergraduate and graduate degrees. With a commitment to delivering affordable classroom, online and experiential learning opportunities, Husson University has come to represent a superior value in higher education. The hallmarks of a Husson education include advanced knowledge delivered through quality educational programs in business; health and education; pharmacy studies; science and humanities; as well as communication. According to a recent analysis of tuition and fees by U.S. News & World Report, Husson University is one of the most affordable private colleges in New England. For more information about educational opportunities that can lead to personal and professional success, visit Husson.edu.

Immersive media enables people to interact with virtual content on a realistic level. Rather than just viewing a static video, it creates an environment that allows people to step into the video and interact with the content. Immersive media eliminates traditional greenscreens and creates an environment that can be interactive, almost as if it’s a physical environment. Over the last year, immersive technology has gained popularity in entertainment and broadcast production through mixed reality. 

Drexel University Westphal College of Media Arts and Design launched one of the first accredited virtual reality and immersive media programs. In 2018, Drexel University’s Animation, Capture and Effects Lab, known as the ACE-Lab, introduced immersive media, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and other interactive experiences. Today, Drexel’s virtual reality and immersive media programs continue to lead, teaching and engaging students with the latest processes and technologies. 

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In early 2021, Drexel University introduced new immersive media technology that provides students with in-depth and hands-on learning experiences. Drexel University collaborated with Scalable Display Technologies to create a cost-effective, realistic solution for the traditional LED displays utilized in immersive environments. 

“The typical immersive media environment is incredibly expensive,” said Nicholas Jushchyshyn, program director of VR and immersive media at Drexel University Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. “It requires multiple high-quality displays and it can be challenging for an academic institution, small organization, or independent producer to justify the investment. We wanted to utilize projection, rather than LED walls, to create a cost-effective solution."

The ACE-Lab is using an existing screen that is 10 feet wide and 12 feet high for the background. "The talent has traditional studio lights on them, but they’re not overexposed and the projection background can be pure white." Jushchyshyn added. "This is the result of two laser projectors that are synchronized, calibrated, warped, and overlapped. It creates the same intensity from a traditional LED video wall, but it’s from two projectors. Scalable enabled us to take two laser projectors and stack the projections with a perfect overlay.”

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The ACE-Lab is not only utilized for immersive media programs but also by many other graduate and undergraduate degree programs, including animation, visual effects, and digital design. Drexel University needed to implement a system that would accommodate the other programs utilizing the space. 

“For us, there were many advantages to utilizing projection instead of LED displays,” noted Jushchyshyn. “Not only is it far less expensive, but it’s incredibly flexible if we want to utilize it in a different location. The space we’re using for production is a multipurpose space. We have designed the entire system on a mobile cart. We can retain the versatility of the room by being able to relocate the projectors. 

“A secondary advantage of this particular approach is the future-proof design. We are currently utilizing a 12-foot wall, but we can add another wall in the future and create a full projection surface across a larger space. Utilizing Scalable’s software, we can project side-by-side and have an overlap blend between the images.”

Scalable’s software automatically warps and blends multiple projectors into one seamless display. It allows Drexel University to streamline recalibration if the system has been relocated. 

“Scalable’s one-touch calibration is incredibly intuitive,” said Jushchyshyn. “Their automatic calibration outputs text-based files with the calibration result. Once the calibration is completed, it’s effectively saved onto the GPU. It’s fully transparent to any software that’s running on the operating systems. By allowing the data to be saved internally to the GPU, it eliminates nearly all latency and any complexity on higher levels of software.”

The result was successful at all levels. The immersive media system provided Drexel University with a high-quality, cost-effective solution. “We can recreate the traditional immersive media experience at nearly a tenth of the cost of a traditional solution,” said Jushchyshyn. “We also have the added benefit of being able to readily move so we can maintain the flexibility of the space. Scalable provides opportunities, in particular for schools and independent productions, to work with immersive media technology. They can incorporate the software implications and toolsets identical to feature film-grade LED walls, motion capture and camera tracking. It’s the same technology as a large production but at a more accessible price point.”

Discovery Education, the innovative edtech company that introduced the first digital service delivering educational content directly to classrooms twenty years ago, is opening a new chapter in its history by launching a cutting-edge iPad app that puts Augmented Reality (AR) at the fingertips of learners and educators worldwide.

AR technology has the potential to expand educators' ability to create immersive, interactive learning experiences that unlock students' natural curiosity. By superimposing virtual images and data on a user's view of the real world, AR supports visualization of complex topics, creates digital "hands-on" learning opportunities, and heightens student engagement with digital content, all while improving students' ability to retain knowledge longer by being a participant in the learning experience. To help educators leverage the power of AR wherever learning takes place, Discovery Education has made the Sandbox AR iPad app available now in the Apple App Store. 

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Discovery Education's Sandbox AR app empowers students and teachers to create, share, and even inhabit virtual environments. Within Sandbox AR, users can create virtual worlds and populate them with some of the hundreds of unique objects from history, the built world, science and nature, and more. Sandbox AR also gives students new ways to express themselves and demonstrate their learning through a feature that lets learners take photos or record a video walkthrough with their own voice over. Sandbox AR even offers a mode that allows users to scale up and inhabit their own life size virtual environments.

For those new to AR, Sandbox AR includes many pre-built sandboxes exploring diverse subjects such as ancient Egypt, space exploration, Mayan civilization, road construction, and more, with additional sandboxes coming soon. Discovery Education is also making available several free, pre-built lessons educators can use with the app to familiarize themselves with integrating AR into classroom instruction. Sandbox AR is available for download here.

Also New: DE Originals, A New Generation of Streaming Media

In addition to announcing the availability of the Sandbox AR app, Discovery Education is today introducing DE Originals. Produced by Discovery Education's expert curriculum team, DE Originals represent a new generation of streaming media and is exclusively available to subscribers of Discovery Education's K-12 learning platform.

The DE Originals content features many of the company's former educators presenting assorted topics to students in a fun and engaging fashion. Designed to ignite every student's spirit of inquiry, DE Originals spark a desire to solve real-world problems while offering all students a chance to be seen, heard, and valued by their peers.

The more than 100 new DE Originals now available to Discovery Education educators are headlined by the DEmystfied series. The first DE Originals series, DEmystfied, explains complex science concepts through fun, funny, short, digestible, and standards-aligned videos. Combining Discovery Education's signature storytelling style with creative graphics, DEmystfied helps students ask and answer questions about the world around them. Discovery Education users can access DEmystfied here.

When COVID-19 shuttered sporting and events arenas, many events were cancelled. That wasn’t good enough for Worre Studios founder and CEO, Marina Worre. With plans to host and interact with tens of thousands of attendees during multiple events scheduled to take place at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Worre quickly pivoted to creating a virtual studio. With just three months until the first event was to take place, the Worre Studios team pulled out all the stops to ideate, design and install a 25,000-square-foot production studio and event space. 

The space required broadcast-quality audio, video equipment and displays, capable of hosting live events with real-time interactivity between hosts and attendees. “The most important aspect in designing the studio was to create a space that gave every attendee a front row seat, as well as the ability to interact with the event hosts,” Worre said.

Overcoming Obstacles 

The project began in mid-September 2020, with Advanced LED Displays sourcing LED, trusses, and lighting for the space. “Most LED takes 60 to 90 days to manufacture, so that was a big obstacle right out of the gate. And then determining how long it was going to take us to build it, and install all the other pieces,” said Art Martinez, vice president of Business Development, at Advanced LED Displays.

Martinez and his team designed free-standing curved LED walls. “The walls grew in size, and tightened in radius,” Martinez said of the installation. “At that point, we knew we needed some serious processing to handle it—and most processors can’t handle a wall of this size. It was not an option to do anything other than the Spyder X80.” 

The Christie Spyder X80 multi-screen windowing processor can control up to 80 million pixels with 24 inputs and 16 outputs, and with image processing in 4K@60Hz. One Spyder X80 was installed to drive content to the wall, and one as a back-up.

Two of the video walls are 73 feet wide by 14 feet tall, and curved, and the other two are 25 feet wide by 14 feet tall. “After the walls were built, Marina asked if I could move one of the large walls to the other end of the room to accommodate space for an audience and prepare for hybrid events in the future. I accepted the challenge and designed a set of tracks recessed into the concrete floor for one of the large walls to move across the room,” Martinez said. 

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[ AV/IT Team: Purpose-built Displays ] 

Seamless Interaction

The result is a studio capable of in-person, hybrid and virtual events, where presenters can seamlessly interact with hundreds of thousands of participants virtually, reach millions through pretty much any social media channel, stream through platforms including Twitter and YouTube, as well as host a live audience.

“Events are fully interactive, and we host guests from all around the world – and with our real-time translation platform, we’ve removed the language barrier so everyone can have the same live experience,” Worre added. “The studio was built for our needs originally but given its success and the demand for a pliable space with this technology, it’s now available for any event. We have hosted seminars, done product launches using the Spyder that reached more than 10 million viewers, and we even recorded a music video.” 

As a result of these needs, selecting a processor that was not only reliable, but had space to handle additional inputs and outputs as needed, was a requirement. “At Agility AVL, we design and build a lot of sports books, and the Spyder is always our go-to because of the number of layers, up to 24, and the options we have on inputs and outputs,” Martinez said. “It’s something only the Spyder has, and it can handle 80 million pixels.”

“There’s nothing that has been built like this in the world,” Martinez said of Worre Studios. “For us, it was always Christie Spyder. It’s the only product that I know will work flawlessly and continue to run day in and day out without problems.”

Inspired and encouraged by a creative father, Brian Allen, executive vice president of Technology and Content, Illuminarium Experiences, grew up building haunted houses in the family garage. But his creations took the experience to a level most wouldn’t have dreamed. Skeleton masks sitting on compressed air actuators were triggered as unsuspecting trick-or-treaters walked past. “I live and breathe immersive,” Allen said. “Since childhood my mind has been molded and framed to think about experience.”  

For Allen, the idea spans across many modes of life and can be applied to any exercise of curating, manipulating, or framing the way a person sees, hears, touches, smells, and tastes a world you are trying to create. “These are the building blocks of experience—whether you are designing a restaurant or a rock concert—all the same rules apply,” he said. This principle applies beyond one’s physiological sense. “I would argue that when designing a truly immersive experience you need to take into account one’s emotional and cognitive events. What does the audience feel emotionally? Do they come away with questions? Do they come out inspired? These are all important factors in a great experience.”

Transportation

Allen and his team at Illuminarium Experiences use projection as the main method to transport audiences. “With a pixel space in the hundreds of millions, there is no shortage of canvas to work with. No matter how big or small the installation or high or low the budget is—in the world of projection, content is king,” Allen explained. But visual content is only one element, and he urges creators to broaden their ideas about what content brings to the audience experience. “Too often I see installations heavily rely on video content to carry the audience experience. This tends to be one-dimensional in that that experience is only stimulating one out of the five senses.”

More AV/IT Team Articles

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[ AV/IT Team: Out of this World Visualization ]

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[ AV/IT Team: Purpose-built Displays ] 

A Landscape of Sound

In theater, the illusion of depth is created with layers of set pieces and props given the fixed audience position. “You can take that same idea of layering to create depth where there is none. You can layer the mise en scène (the arrangement of scenery and stage properties, usually in a play) of a given shot in your video content or you can take it a step further by breaking through the fourth wall and “spill” your content into the physical world,” Allen said. 

Now, what does it sound like? Audio content is often underappreciated and overlooked but adding a curated layer of audio to your space can make all the difference. “Audio technology nowadays can offer many methods of delivering sound to your audience. It can be localized, big, small, far away, vocal, musical, or completely ambient. The word ‘soundscape’ gets thrown around a lot and I love that for describing sound across an experience. A landscape of sound,” Allen explained. Experience designers and creators imagine what an experience sounds like, not just at any given point in time but also at any given vantage point in physical space. “An extra dimension in sound design is another tool in the toolbox for creation. Not every experience requires every tool to be used to be great but remembering that you have them at your disposal is a key tactic when designing and engineering a new experience,” he added.

Dream-on

There is a wide array of special effects available when designing immersive spaces. “The dreaming phase when you have no constraints to fit into is the time for you to craft your experience and think outside the box,” Allen said. “There are no limits whatsoever and the world is truly your oyster.” Then comes the seemingly difficult part. Designers need to work within budgets, physical constraints, power requirements and structural load requirements, which for some, puts the dream back into a box. But not for Allen, “I think this is where the magic happens. As a creative, giving yourself rails to work within is often one of the most freeing things you can do. Not burdened by choice, you now have the opportunity to shape your idea into something that will function. It's good to have one foot in the dream world without boundaries and one firmly grounded in what is actually possible. This will make you dangerous in this industry: A realistic dreamer.”

When creating a dream within the bounds of reality, Allen suggests that less is often more. “Can this experience be boiled down to a few core elements? Stripping away the fluff will often times bring the foundational elements back into focus.”  

360-degree Experiential Entertainment

Illuminarium Experiences is a global experiential entertainment company created by worldwide leaders in cinematic and interactive content, architectural and theatrical design, and venue operations. The immersive entertainment spectacles presented in custom-designed venues are called "Illuminariums." These reprogrammable immersive theaters surround visitors in a sensory space of sight, sound, and scale, and provide access to exotic and often out-of-reach places, people, and experiences.

Panasonic is the exclusive visual solution provider of native 4K projectors, 4K professional displays, and 4K professional camera solutions for Illuminarium’s 360-degree immersive experiential entertainment centers.

In July 2021, the first illuminarium opened in Atlanta, with its debut spectacle, WILD: A Safari Experience. The 26,000 square-foot entertainment complex showcases the splendor of Africa's most exotic animals in their natural habitats. Created by Alan Greenberg, RadicalMedia and Rockwell Group, and operated by Legends, Illuminarium Experiences will open in Las Vegas at AREA15 in January 2022, and in Miami, at Mana in the Wynwood Arts District, in fall 2022. Other North American locations are under consideration with plans to create a global footprint in the world's leading international destinations. 

[ Panasonic Expands Its Immersive Entertainment Collaboration with AREA15 ]

Personalized

Personalization and real-time content are going to change the way experiences are made. “With the advent of the game engine and the golden age of real-time graphics, more and more experiences will take advantage of this technology,” Allen said. “So much technology around us can be manipulated and customized to fit your specific needs.” He likens this to personal experiences such as frequenting a restaurant or bar and being greeted by name, or the bartender knows your favorite drink. “When personalization and real time manipulation intersect, you get something truly immersive. Not just in scale or in beauty, but real interaction. A chance to leave your mark and contribute to a living experience,” he added. 

Create Your Own Playbook

In the world of immersive and experience there is no playbook, which means you can find inspiration from anything. “Allowing yourself to become inspired by anything in life will take you much further. That incredible dinner you had last night where the wait staff remembered your name and never let your water glass go empty, or that botanical garden greenhouse you visited and smelled roses and oranges in the dead of winter—these are the tidbits that begin to craft legendary experiences,” Allen said. These are things that people remember for the rest of their lives. “Great artists and designers can look at the most mundane things in life and pick out the tiny spark that allows others to change the way they look at the world. Anything can be captivating and there are endless opportunities to wow, awe and inspire,” Allen concluded. 

The HIVE (Hub for Immersive Visualization and eResearch) at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, is one of the most advanced visualization facilities of its kind, and the only one in the world that contains five different large-scale visualization displays. Its work with technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), data and scientific visualization, photogrammetric 3D reconstruction, and volumetric imaging has been used to, among other things, help patients with spinal cord injuries, investigate consumer behavior and create virtual experiences of shipwreck sites.

“Essentially, it is a sandbox offering university research staff the opportunity to explore a wide range of visualization technology options in research projects across all expertise areas,” explained associate professor Andrew Woods, manager of the Curtin HIVE, who also served as the client lead for the upgrade project. “The facility was originally established in 2013, so it was definitely time to update the HIVE AV systems with the latest projection technology,” he added.

Immersive Visualization

The display facilities at the HIVE, located in a 49 foot-square former gallery space, comprise the Dome display, a 13 foot-diameter half-dome which fills a user’s primary and peripheral field of view; the Cylinder display, a wrap-around 3D display providing a VR experience for up to 50 users; the Wedge display, a pair of 12.5-foot diagonal 3D displays used mainly for scientific visualization; the Tiled display, which with 24MP resolution is used for super high-resolution visuals; and the Hologram Table, which provides two users with 3D visuals that project out of its tabletop display surface. The upgrade project focused on the Dome and the Cylinder displays.

“The HIVE Cylinder display is the flagship system in the facility,” Woods said. “The Cylinder display uses three projectors to light the 9.9-foot high, 26.25-foot diameter, 180-degree cylindrical projection screen. In upgrading the HIVE Cylinder display, in particular, we were keen to increase the display resolution to use native 4K projectors, which would provide a fourfold increase in displayed pixels, and to increase the brightness, all while maintaining the existing 120Hz stereoscopic 3D capability of the display.” 

After talking to Digital Projection, the team at InDesign Technologies, the project’s consultant, realized quickly that Digital Projection’s Satellite MLS was the only projection system that met the HIVE’s requirements (full 4K with 120Hz compatibility, and not subject to the exclusion zones that would be necessary with a class-3 laser product) – to the extent that Curtin University was willing to wait for it to come to market rather than compromise by specifying a different system.

“The Digital Projection Satellite Modular Laser System (MLS) was still in development as a technology when discussions commenced,” recalled Tanya Hall, business development manager, integrated solutions, for Amber Technology, Digital Projection’s distributor in Australia and New Zealand. Hall worked closely with Woods, InDesign, integrator Vizcom Technologies, and Emilijo Mihatov, regional sales manager for Digital Projection, to discuss and scope the technology requirements of the project, and VIOSO to develop a solution for the unique requirements of the HIVE Cylinder install.

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All-Around Support

Amber Technology worked with, and were supported by, Digital Projection at a very high level throughout the project timeline, said the Amber team. There were many hours of communication with the Digital Projection team to tap into their expertise on the specification, solution scope and system commissioning. In particular, the Digital Projection team’s insight into how the system would interact with the HIVE’s existing infrastructure was invaluable.

Working with such a new technology was bound to bring certain challenges. The projectors required specialist lenses that did not, at that time, have any local distribution representation, so with the help of Emilijo Mihatov from Digital Projection, Amber Technology were able to contact the lens manufacturer and establish a trading arrangement to bring the required lenses into Australia for this project.

Similarly, with the sophisticated blending requirements for the Cylinder component of the project, Amber was able to make the connection with VIOSO through Digital Projection and source the blending workstations.

Physical mounting positions also proved to be an issue, recalled Wrightson, with a full structural reinforcement required to have the mounting beams in the correct positions for both the Cylinder and Dome displays.

“With this mounting solution also came some environmental vibrations from the building’s HVAC systems,” Wrightson continued, “which was particularly noticeable when using the Jenoptik fisheye lens in the Dome display area, so we had to design and construct a custom lens collar to negate this.”

Richard Neale, Amber Technology’s general manager, integrated solutions, commented, “As the distributor for Digital Projection in Australia and New Zealand, we were excited to be involved in the first installation in the world of this new, cutting-edge technology. For Amber Technology, the HIVE is an important first as we introduce the capabilities of the new Digital Projection Satellite MLS system to the broader market in Australia and New Zealand. The HIVE perfectly showcases the possibilities for projection in new and exciting environments.”

“It has truly been a pleasure in seeing this project come to life,” Wrightston said, “and I hope I get the chance to work closely with the Digital Projection and Amber team again in the future.”

Satellite Modular Laser Technology

At the HIVE, three Satellite Modular Laser System (MLS) systems are installed in the cylinder display, with a further system deployed in the dome display. Taking advantage of the Satellite MLS’s modular nature, which allows up to 100m separation between the projection head and light source, InDesign was able to hang the unobtrusive satellite projector heads at the display sites while locating the light sources around 49 feet away in a server room containing the other AV and computer equipment.

The unique Satellite MLS separates the light source from the small, lightweight projector ‘head’, giving integrators greater freedom, particularly where space and access are restricted, while reducing noise and heat from the audience location. This technology makes high-end RGB laser illumination accessible at a cost-effective price point.

“There was a requirement for the projectors to make as little noise impact to the space as possible,” said Scott Wrightson, project manager for Vizcom Technologies. “This made the Digital Projection Satellite MLS systems invaluable. By having the main laser processor housed in the central comms room it made the operating noise level of the projection heads very low, which in turn suited this project perfectly.”

“The Digital Projection satellite technology allowed us to meet our needs and more, with a small head size, minimized audible noise from the head—because the light source is in the server room—rich laser-light engine visuals, and cinema-quality three-chip DLP images, at a reasonable budget point,” Woods added.

Invisible Technology

For the HIVE, the improved AV system is an important step forward for a facility whose work revolves around high-impact visuals. “Ultimately our aim is that the displays in the HIVE are essentially invisible to the user, just providing a window into a different world,” Woods explained. “Our aim is to put amazing visuals on the blank canvas of these displays—visuals that support the applications and research projects that our users come to us with.” The Satellite MLS more than delivers on that aim, he added, “Digital Projection worked incredibly hard to deliver a new-to-market product for installation into the HIVE, half-way across the world. Despite all the challenges, the systems are now in and working wonderfully.

“The Cylinder and Dome displays also have much more punch than they previously did, creating high-quality experiences for the HIVE’s users and visitors overall. We are very impressed with the result and already wowing people with the quality of the visuals and the university’s leading-edge research,” Woods concluded.

Steinway & Sons might be in its 169th year of creating pianos with an uncompromising standard for sound, touch, and beauty, but they have also kept up with the times. 

Steinway & Sons Launches Room View App

Steinway & Sons, makers of the finest pianos in the world, announces the launch of a custom-designed augmented reality (AR) app that allows piano buyers to see what a new piano will look like in a home, studio, classroom, or performance space—completely virtually.

The Steinway Room View app was developed in response to the global trend toward remote access technologies and the increase in new Steinway grand piano sales that stemmed from the pandemic and people spending more time at home. The utility of the app, however, offers opportunities far beyond those related to Covid-related distancing. With a simple user interface, piano buyers and designers can work with Steinway sales representatives to “try out” different piano sizes and colors, ensuring the right fit and style for each space. The app supports Steinway’s full line of grand pianos and some unique finishes.  

Steinway Room View was created by Membit, developers of location-based augmented reality applications. The company has created a proprietary geolocative photo and AR content sharing technology that allows pictures and digital models to be placed and viewed in exact locations. Users of iPhone and iPad can connect virtually with a Steinway sales representative to either make an appointment for an in-home visit or to conduct an augmented reality visit within the app. 

[ LG's Transparent OLED and Augmented Reality Combine to Elevate the Retail Experience ]

“For the first time in our company’s long history, buyers can experiment with the placement of our beautiful pianos without ever leaving their comfort of their homes or having an in-person visit from a representative,” said Gavin English, president of Steinway & Sons Americas. “It is fascinating to see how today’s innovative technologies support the pianos that have been world icons since 1853. We’re very proud to launch Steinway Room View—there is nothing else like it in the piano world.”

[ Augmented Reality Market to Hit $175B by 2026: ABI Research ]

According to new research by global tech market advisory firm ABI Research, nearly 28 million augmented and mixed reality smart glasses will ship in 2026, while the total global AR/MR market will surpass $175 billion in the same year. This growth and demand are spread across both enterprise and consumer, with gradual but steady enterprise demand meeting with accelerating consumer activity in the next few years.

“Major tech players across hardware, software, and services look familiar in the consumer space, contributing to strong and consistent overall growth,” said Eric Abbruzzese, research director for ABI Research. Apple, Facebook, Google, Samsung, Huawei, Microsoft, and others are all already investing significantly in AR. “Those big tech names, with active investment and product ranging from already available, to announced, to all-but-announced, are creating a consumer AR market that will be dynamic and welcoming rather than struggling and immature.”

[Tech Trends That WON’T Happen in 2021]

Even though consumer hype dominates headlines, enterprise adoption of augmented reality continues at a respectable pace of 66 percent CAGR through 2026 (compared to 100 percent or greater CAGR for some consumer verticals). Early value shown in remote assistance, training, and knowledge capture skyrocketed alongside COVID, where remote worker enablement became a requirement rather than a value add. Not all that interest converted to adoption immediately, with some expected hesitancy around novel investment, but that interest is only strengthening even as the pandemic begins to wane. Enterprise AR platforms from the likes of PTC, Teamviewer, RE’FLEKT, and ScopeAR are both competing and cooperating with increased in-house efforts from companies entering the space with broader digitization efforts as well as more focused immersive goals.

No matter the market, binocular and mixed-reality HMDs will be the headline in terms of growth rate, with nearly 130 percent CAGR for mixed reality glasses compared to 60 percent for augmented reality glasses. Declining prices, strengthened by fresh consumer hardware competition that needs to be affordable, along with greater competitive choice and software opportunity, make mixed reality solutions the more desirable offering on average. Some targeted use cases, especially around industrial verticals and applications, will remain focused on monocular products thanks to well-developed sales and implementation channels, safety and certification needs, and often simpler implementation and usage requirements.

[Future Vision: Volvo Tests New Car Designs by Driving With an XR Headset]

“Augmented reality has seen its share of ups and downs, but the combination of enterprise and consumer uptake, along with hardware support across smart glasses and mobile devices from heavy tech hitters and platform enablers, creates a compelling market picture overall,” Abbruzzese said. “Challenges in price and implementation remain, as do questions around ultimate value for new use cases for consumers, but early and ongoing investment in the space is addressing these challenges. This early market maturity keeps consumer promising, high value worker enablement maintains enterprise value, and so the outlook for AR is robust.”

These findings are from ABI Research’s Augmented and Mixed Reality Market Data: Devices, Use Cases, Verticals, and Value Chain market data report. This is part of the company’s Augmented and Virtual Reality research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Market Data spreadsheets are composed of deep data, market share analysis, and highly segmented, service-specific forecasts to provide detailed insight where opportunities lie.

Colleges and universities have been making use of augmented and virtual reality technologies for a while now. As the pandemic has forced institutions to reach more students remotely, AR and VR have the potential to contribute to a more engaging distance learning experience. Recently, AV Technology spoke with several leaders in the field to gain a better understanding of what this tech can do for higher ed.

Augmenting Anatomy

The Health Education Campus at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland officially opened its doors during the summer of 2019. Built in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic, the facility gathers students from Case Western’s medical, nursing, and dental programs under one roof. It also houses a number of spaces that were specifically designed to deliver anatomy education via augmented reality. 

Related: Volvo Tests New Car Designs by Driving With an XR Headset

Developed by what Case Western has dubbed the Interactive Commons—a group of anatomy faculty and software engineers—the university’s HoloAnatomy software in combination with Microsoft HoloLens AR headsets provides first- and second-year medical students with 3D perspectives of the human body, without the need for wet labs and cadavers. Miro Humer, associate vice president of client experience at Case Western, explained that his team is responsible for supporting the HoloLens devices as well as the technology that runs them. 

Humer said that during HoloAnatomy’s planning and design, there were some logistics to consider: how long would students need to wear these devices (and would they become too heavy to wear after a certain amount of time)? Would the devices cause headaches? And what about battery life? If a session was to last 45 minutes, and classes were scheduled back to back, would there be time to recharge the devices? “It drives how many devices you have to have on hand,” he said. “Our battery life is typically about two hours, but with age, that recedes.” He added that there was also significant discussion around how to apply the HoloLens to student testing: “When we have testing sessions and we’re using the HoloLens for the test, do we have enough devices? How do we proctor those tests? Some tests last an hour and a half, so the devices have to be fully charged and the batteries have to be in good condition to manage that.” And, if a device fails during the test, it’s necessary to have a backup on hand.

As of press time, only part of Case Western’s student body was back on campus, while the rest continued with remote learning. Humer relayed that when the university went fully remote in the spring of 2020, HoloLens devices were shipped to HoloAnatomy students and classes were able to continue. “Everybody saw how well this can work in a distributed world, where students can be anywhere and keep going with their education,” he said. During remote classes, students examining the same holographic image can also see avatars of each other, providing a level of interaction that Humer said is well beyond Zoom. “We’re going to continue our anatomy programs remotely. That would have been impossible in the old world, and that would have had significant financial impact to the university if we weren’t able to continue those classes.” 

Humer acknowledged that different people have different expectations of what AR and VR can deliver, and in order for an initiative like this to be successful, genuine collaboration between faculty and tech staff is a must. “There has to be a very strong partnership between the technology organization and the academic organization within the university to develop an effective solution—more so than, say, if you’re just deploying computers in a room,” he said. “It’s very closely aligned with the academic goals and students’ goals as well, [in terms of] what they can achieve in class. The technology organization has to be closely involved in the development of it.”

Professors Without Borders

In June of last year, Almo Professional A/V partnered with ARHT Media Inc., a holographic solutions developer based in Toronto.

Brian Rhatigan, director of business development at Almo, recounted that his colleague Sam Taylor, executive vice president and COO, was one of the driving forces behind the partnership. “Sam recognized this as a pioneering technology that he felt we wanted to be a part of, and that it could be a mutually beneficial relationship for both companies,” he said. “We’ve been working cohesively to raise awareness of ARHT Media, which is not necessarily a brand-new company, but new to our customer base. We’re getting the word out about the possibilities of the things you can do that, really, are outside of what the traditional pro AV integrator typically thinks of from a presentation and communications perspective.”

At the core of ARHT Media’s technology is the ARHT Engine, software that enables high-quality, low-latency AV streaming with end-to-end encryption. HoloPresence is a 3D display that doesn’t require viewers to wear 3D glasses, and which allows remote lecturers to appear in front of audiences as live holograms. Released in November 2020, HoloPod is a more portable version of HoloPresence (which does require an hour and a half to deploy). Designed for lecture halls, corporate training centers, and large corporate boardrooms, HoloPod is a plug-and-play cabinet on wheels that can be fully secured when not in use. Virtual Global Stage (VGS), the ARHT Media’s online, low-latency presentation platform, rounds out the company’s current lineup. 

ARHT Media CEO Larry O’Reilly explained that in using these solutions, universities become truly borderless. “What it allows higher education institutions to do is bring in core curriculum instructors or guest lecturers from anywhere in the world and have them present live or pre-recorded, lifelike, life-size, and fully interactive,” he said.

Last September, global healthcare company Novartis enlisted ARHT Media for a sponsored online presentation at the European Respiratory Society (ERS). Addressing the topic “Asthma Trends and Digital Health Solves,” three peer academic faculty based in Australia, Greece, and Germany were able to appear together, life-size, on the same Virtual Global Stage and interact with each other.  

“They wanted their presentation to look better than a Zoom call, which is what everybody else was doing … and we brought them together so that they could do their presentations individually, but more importantly, then have a panel discussion,” O’Reilly said. “It looked like they were all together in the exact same room because there was no latency. It was way more engaging.” According to ARHT Media, the presentation received over 2,000 views, and the company has continued to work with Novartis on other events since.

More Than Just a Laptop

The platform developed by zSpace Inc., an interactive technology company headquartered in San Jose, CA, integrates AR/VR technology into a laptop. The system also includes lightweight eyeglasses (enabling users to see each other while interacting with the technology), as well as a stylus. The laptop displays are equipped with tracking; as users tilt their heads to look around objects, the software automatically updates so that the image is presented in the correct perspective in full high definition. Users hold the stylus like they would a pen, with built-in buttons for additional functionality.

zSpace also offers a learning content catalog developed both in-house and by third-party providers. 

Michael Carbenia, executive director of career technical education (CTE) at zSpace, actually started out as a customer. Having grown up in the AV industry, Carbenia eventually pursued a career in education; prior to joining zSpace, he was the director of CTE for St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie County, FL.

“The idea of AR and VR is that it allows somebody to experience something that they’ve never experienced before, or perhaps they’re scared to [experience],” Carbenia said. “It’s never going to replace actually working on a car, or actually welding. That’s not the intent, and I think that’s a misconception that people often think about. This is really about accelerating learning and getting someone to have the option to be exposed to something.”

Last fall, Renton Technical College in Renton, WA supplied students in the school’s automotive technology program with zSpace laptops pre-loaded with course curriculum to accommodate remote learning. According to Warren Takata, automotive technology instructor at the school, the technology actually improved student engagement. 

“Usually when you transition to remote learning, you worry about students completing their work,” Takata said in an announcement. “With zSpace, a lot of them went beyond the regular lessons. It’s really engaging content, and they dove in even further than their assignments called for, learning on their own about motors and transmissions.”

Takata believes that in order to maintain this level of engagement, schools need to be open to incorporating new technologies into their teaching methods. “We’ve taught automotive technology in the same way for decades,” he said. “Students gravitate toward learning with high-tech tools like zSpace. Programs that don’t adopt new technologies are going to be left behind.” 

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Future of User Interfaces Shaping New Consumer Experiences, finds that user interface (UI) technologies have moved beyond the concept of simply representing machines to their users to enabling sophisticated and personalized interaction. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated their use in healthcare, manufacturing, education, retail, and banking to simplify interactivity and improve engagement. 

The global augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) market is expected to reach $661.40 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 86.3 percent from 2019 to 2025, driven by contactless commerce. Beyond 2030, AR and VR will merge, allowing users access to the total reality-virtuality continuum. Meanwhile, the global biometrics market revenue is forecast to reach $54.97 billion in 2025, with next-generation identification, palm vein and behavioral biometrics experiencing significant demand.

Related: Future Vision: Volvo Tests New Car Designs by Driving With an XR Headset

“The need for adoption of new user interface (UI) technologies to alleviate challenges posed by the global pandemic is immediate but constrained by infrastructure issues such as a lack of 5G networks and capable devices,” said Murali Krishnan, visionary innovation group senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “For futuristic UIs to become ubiquitous, security and privacy will be critical. Organizations must prioritize cybersecurity, business continuity plans, and risk assessments. Further, the transition to the fifth generation of wireless technology will be critical to the success of UI devices. Its ability to connect 1 million devices for every square kilometer will make 5G the backbone for UI devices and overall connected ecosystems.”

Krishnan added: “UI technologies will be an important component in the shift from the office to a virtual workplace that is mobile and more flexible, while interactive interfaces have expanded the scope of businesses to engage with their customers and build deep relationships. Technological advances in mixed reality, holographic displays, computer vision, and wearables will create new application opportunities.”

New technologies will drive growth opportunities in the short term as the adoption rate for user interfaces rises and organizations realize the productivity gains created by UI technologies:

Biometric technologies: With vendors integrating biometric technologies with AI and machine learning, there is a strong market for high-end biometric interfaces in the public and commercial sectors. A combination of iris, vein, fingerprint, facial recognition, and voiceprint interfaces for verification will offer additional security without compromising the user experience.

Digital twins: An estimated four out of five IoT platforms will employ digital twins over the next five years, propelling the global digital twin market to expand at a strong CAGR of 47.0 percent between 2019 and 2025. Retail, automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, and smart cities will benefit. Successful implementations will require high-speed communication networks and no service disruptions.

Brain-machine interface: Neural interfaces could have a significant impact on the restoration of vision and hearing, treatment of mental health disorders, and alleviating pain through electrical stimuli by focusing on the appropriate areas of the brain. In addition, the gaming community is pioneering new gaming control mechanisms based on brain signals utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) headsets.

AR/VR: By 2025, China is expected to lead the VR market, with investments pouring into patents, standards, and products. AR, VR, and robotics will merge to develop VR robots, which will have a huge impact on manufacturing, retail, security, healthcare, and defense. In particular, AR/VR market revenue for manufacturing, robotics, and the engineering supply chain is expected to reach $161.29 billion by 2025.

Future of User Interfaces Shaping New Consumer Experiences is the latest addition to Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Innovation Group research and analyses available through the Frost & Sullivan Leadership Council, which helps organizations identify a continuous flow of growth opportunities to succeed in an unpredictable future.

Through deep analysis of both key players and technologies, IDTechEx’s most recent report—Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality 2020-2030: Forecasts, Markets and Technologies—can provide readers with the trends this market will face in the coming decade.

The report covers one of the key markets of the future: the AR/VR/MR market. VR, MR, and AR products are used in many different settings, for example, for day-to-day workflow management, and on production lines.  This market, which IDTechEx forecasts predict to be over $30Bn by 2030, will impact many different industries, and future innovations will continue its growth in the wearables market. 

The report reviews and analyses over 100 products and details of over 80 companies to create succinct and detailed conclusions about the future of this market. This market research report includes market forecasts, player profiles, investments, and comprehensive company lists are all provided.

The company has also created a second report—Optics and Displays in AR, VR, and MR 2020-2030: Technologies, Players and Market—that offers a concise overview of the markets of optics and displays in both the AR/MR and VR technologies. It includes the forecasts for both the optical and display markets in AR/MR and VR markets. The current state of these markets is discussed and analyzed with long-range forecasts from 2020-2030 for revenue and volume by technology in AR/MR Optics, VR Optics, AR/MR micro-displays, and VR micro-displays.

For more information on both these market research reports, email research@IDTechEx.com or visit IDTechEx.com/Research/WT.

For generations, NYC’s Times Square has been the heart of New Year’s Eve celebrations around the globe, with millions watching and counting down the seconds until the clock strikes midnight. However, this year’s celebrations, like many things, will look a little different. Events will be virtual and socially-distanced from home, putting Samsung’s LED displays at One Times Square on center stage as the world welcomes 2021.

To help everyone safely celebrate the new year, Jamestown—a global real estate firm and owner of One Times Square, home of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Celebration—is partnering with several high-profile brands, including Samsung, to create a memorable and immersive virtual experience.

“As a company, Samsung is proud that our company and display products are being used for such a creative and exciting experience,” said Mark Quiroz, vice president, marketing, Display Division, Samsung Electronics America. “To see Samsung’s signage front and center in bringing friends, family, and strangers together for a new virtual New Year’s Eve is something we are excited about.”

[Best Practices for Creating an Immersive Outdoor Holiday Spectacular]

To bring the historic celebration into homes around the globe, Times Square will host the first ever multi-media, experiential technology platform that incorporates and controls live broadcast, augmented reality, virtual reality, entertainment, and gaming experiences through a dedicated App, website, and streaming services.

“Samsung is an integral partner for One Times Square’s New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Celebration, providing the technology for the building’s iconic LED displays,” said Michael Phillips, president at Jamestown. “This year, our partnership extends to our new VNYE experience. Samsung Odyssey continues to help us share engaging content with our viewers not only in the physical world, but now in the virtual world of Times Square as well.”

The NYE App will allow holiday revelers to create a personalized avatar to enter and explore the virtual world of NYC’s Times Square in a year when guests cannot be there live. Guests can walk around the plaza before heading over to One Times Square to access game rooms, and to the observation deck where they can take in the sights of the city along with Times Square’s iconic billboards powered by Samsung LED technology.

Samsung will have a special featured game in the app. The virtual One Times Square building will invite Avatars in to take the elevator to the Samsung Zero G game where they can get lost in a virtual world and win points along the way.  Avatars can also use the Samsung Odyssey Speed Gate to jump through and travel at light speed to reach other locations and hidden spots.

Join in the virtual celebration at  VNYE.com or download the app NYE available in all app stores.

In the augmented reality (AR) enterprise market, AR remote applications such as AR remote expertise and AR remote training will continue to grow in 2021 and lead in terms of adoption rates. According to global tech market advisory firm ABI Research, consumer AR software and content is expected to grow at over 100 percent CAGR between 2021 and 2025, to reach $20 billion in total revenue in 2025. The total AR media and entertainment market will see similar growth at 90 percent.

In its new whitepaper, 68 Technology Trends That Will Shape 2021, ABI Research’s analysts identify 37 trends that will shape the technology market and 31 others that, although attracting huge amounts of speculation and commentary, are less likely to move the needle over the next 12 months. “For success in 2021, especially after a very challenging 2020, one must understand fundamental trends early, and take a view on those trends that are buoyed by hyperbole and those that are sure to be uncomfortable realities,” said Stuart Carlaw, chief research officer at ABI Research. “Now is the time to double down on the right technology investment.”

Related: What Won't Happen in 2020: 8K Adoption, Quantum Computing, and More

What Will Happen in 2021: Broad and Significant AR Market Growth

“The risk of traveling and the experience from the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak will drive demand in 2021 for proactive solutions that increase employee and business efficiency and ensure employee safety,” said Eric Abbruzzese, AR/VR research director at ABI Research. AR software/platform providers will continue to update and expand their offerings, including more features and new strategic collaborations to support, automate, and simplify large-scale deployments while providing more data and analytics tools for proactive decisions. Enterprise AR hardware will not shift dramatically, as current offerings well serve value use cases. 

However, the consumer hardware market will be more dynamic. “2021 will be an important one for AR consumer hardware,” Abbruzzese said. “nReal will ship its first headsets to consumers, while Mad Gaze will also look to expand. Also, Facebook is expected to roll out its AR smart glasses out of its Reality Labs initiative; Google may join as well after the acquisition of North, and with pressure from Facebook and others. The total AR market, including content and usage on mobile devices, will be strong. Media and entertainment and retail and commerce will lead in terms of growth and adoption rates due to the establishment of ‘at home entertainment’ and the rise of online shopping.”

What Won’t Happen in 2021: Mainstream Virtual Reality

According to Abbruzzese, “Market elements have not aligned to enable mainstream virtual reality (VR) adoption. Growth will be strong in 2021, but the user base will not reach levels once thought probable since VR competes for usage time with TVs, smartphones, and traditional displays. Price and availability of valuable content remain primary barriers. The Oculus Quest 2 is the best positioned VR device the market has seen so far, with a $300 starting price and no other hardware required to use it, such as a tether to a smartphone or PC. The cost of $300 is likely to be a sweet spot for standalone VR, but it can still be expensive for a limited use item that will be outdated by next year. While smartphone-like upgrade cycles are possible and would spur growth overall, the lack of necessity for VR will limit that possibility.”

Read the full whitepaper 68 Technology Trends that Will Shape 2021: Predictions for What Will and Will Not Happen in The Year Ahead.

The Audio Engineering Society has released preliminary details on the upcoming International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality (AVAR), set to take place in its own online virtual venue, August 17–19. The event will serve as a hub of innovation for the latest research in the fields of spatial audio and technology for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, with a focus on technical solutions and recommended practices in the field. 

Registration for this event, sponsored by Facebook Reality Labs and Valve, and hosted by DigiPen Institute of Technology, starts at just $25 for AES members ($150 for non-members) and will be using AltSpaceVR as the platform to share keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, and more. The use of AltSpaceVR offers the option of attending in standard 2D mode or as an immersive experience, utilizing AR/VR devices such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, Samsung GearVR, or Windows Mixed Reality.   

“The necessity to take AVAR 2020 fully online is ideally suited to the conference content,” said Matt Klassen, chair. “Our attendees can plug in entirely, create an avatar, and participate and interact inside a virtual environment. One of the primary advantages of holding the conference in VR is the very compelling nature of the 3D audio for small group conversations—a big step up from flat-screen teleconferencing!” 

“Not only will AVAR 2020 explore practical and effective production workflow for audio production for immersive experiences, it will itself be such an experience and demonstrate an application of the technology that couldn’t be more timely,” said co-chair and treasurer Lawrence Schwedler.    

The 2020 AES Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality builds upon the AES’s two previous AVAR conferences and will offer a fresh look at audio production for these rapidly growing market segments. This year’s topics will include spatial audio capture, rendering, synthesis over headphones and loudspeakers, binaural applications, Ambisonics, 3D audio mixing and content production, sound design for VR/AR, and more, plus a featured panel discussion with Emily Ridgway of the Valve audio team on August 18 titled “When Worlds Collide: Audio Development of the Valve Index and Half:Life Alyx.” Additionally, two keynote addresses will take place during the conference: “New Audio Realities at Scale” with Varun Nair of Facebook on August 17 and “Empathetic Technology and Embodied User Experience” with Poppy Crum of Dolby on August 19. 

The AES AVAR 2020 Conference is organized by committee members from a variety of disciplines and experiences in the industry, including Matt Klassen, chair; Lawrence Schwedler, co-chair, treasurer; Pablo F. Hoffmann, papers chair; Sally Kellaway, workshops chair; Greg Dixon, audiovisual coordinator; Randi Ganulin, graphic designer/photographer; Phillip Klassen, social media coordinator; Anna Lantz, webmaster; and Dustin Williams, volunteer coordinator.  

For further information and registration links, click here. 

Disguise has enhanced its software with the aim of helping its community meet production challenges while away from their studios. With its latest release, r17.2, disguise introduces improvements to help users optimize their workflow at home, such as Application Mode, and devise new concepts to connect with audiences online with augmented reality and 360 video.

A key addition in r17.2 is the ability to run disguise’s Designer software in Application Mode. This enables Designer to run alongside multiple applications so users can perform tasks concurrently and switch between its software and other apps. With Application Mode, users can pull content from the web into a project to work up concepts and share works in progress with others to communicate progress, gather feedback, and collaborate better.

Related: Glue Launches Next-Gen VR Collaboration Platform for Dispersed Teams

r17.2 introduces support for HTC VIVE tracking accessories, which make it possible to develop AR experiences at home without high-end tracking equipment. HTC VIVE accessories can be used to emulate camera or object tracking systems, so users can work up AR concepts from lockdown in their home office setup, living room, bedroom, bathroom or kitchen—wherever they choose to augment their world.

r17.2 also allows users to create simple AR screens without the need for other tools, so they can quickly test out ideas for AR experiences. By making it possible to render layers separately, users can also experience better overall project performance and a cleaner workflow.

With the new Spherical Camera in r17.2, users can now render 360 video content in disguise, engaging content for online audiences. 360 video is also a valuable addition to users’ remote production toolkit, enabling them to test out arrangements, gather feedback, and gain confidence before sharing content. Users with a VR headset can also enter the 360 experience or share with others to view using a VR player.

Available now, r17.2 software is designed to help disguise users reach new creative heights at home during lockdown. The software update can be downloaded here. 

The What: Disguise has released r17.1 of its Designer software, adding new augmented reality (AR) capabilities and an enhanced user experience. The release coincides with the launch of a six-month free license for the software. 

[disguise and Evolve Media Group Announce New Partnership]

The What Else: The significant workflow improvements introduced in r17.1 enhance the ease of use for specialists delivering augmented reality (AR) experiences with disguise, making it a more compelling option for use in projects for broadcast, esports, and live contexts such as corporate, education, virtual environments and concert touring. As viewing figures surge, it becomes increasingly important to have the right tools available to create AR easily and efficiently and elevate at-home viewing with thrilling visuals.

The disguise solution provides full 3D simulation and camera planning tools that allow workflow specialists to pre-visualize and imagine every pixel of an AR experience ahead of time, communicate and collaborate with other teams, and respond to feedback at every stage of a production.

To date, disguise has already been used to power many major events, including the live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony of the Pakistan Super League, the longest ever accomplished duration of an AR-centered broadcast. AR was critical to the success of the broadcast and enhanced the experience for the 50 million viewers watching from home and around the world. With r17.1, disguise hopes to further enable its community to produce AR experiences.

As well as making it easier to create and deliver AR, the new disguise release also introduces a range of improvements to the software user experience.

With sequenced transitions, users can now transition to anywhere on a timeline using black and white content to define the transition. The feature opens new visual possibilities and saves time previously spent sequencing by simplifying the approach.

The new ability to generate test patterns within the software speeds up workflows by removing the need to leave the software to create test patterns in other tools. Test patterns in a pre-visualization give users confidence in their screen arrangement by letting them see precisely where the divides are between each screen. Test patterns are dynamically generated meaning users can react quickly to adapt a pre-visualization to feedback and on-site changes.

The launch of r17.1 comes in a week when disguise has offered a free six-month subscription promotion for its Designer software. This offer has been made to support the disguise and live events community at a time when it is key for creatives and designers to continue to create and prepare for live projects later in the year.

The Bottom Line: Built with disguise’s community of artists and technicians at its heart, r17.1 dramatically enhances the AR workflow so that its community can produce experiences with ease. With the release, disguise also hopes to help creative studios and production houses access the market opportunity presented by AR with the solution for delivering spectacular and immersive visuals.

For more information, and to download r17.1, click here.

You’re behind the wheel, cruising along at highway speed. But you’re not looking at the road—at least not directly. No, you’re piloting your car from behind a head-mounted display, and the world that meets your eyes is a curious mixture of the real and the virtual.

It sounds outrageous, but the practice of test driving vehicles while wearing a mixed reality headset has proven supremely practical for Volvo Cars, and the results have been nothing short of groundbreaking. Spearheaded by Casper Wickman, the company’s senior technical leader of human-centric methods and tools, these technological trials have dramatically simplified the Swedish marque’s process of evaluating new safety systems and design concepts. 

But what’s it like from the driver’s seat? 

“You would think that this would be a crazy experience, like you’re in a video game or something,” Wickman said. “But the thing is, as soon as you put the glasses on and you sit behind the steering wheel and start to drive, then your primary task is to drive the car, basically. Then you really forget that you’re inside a headset. It feels super natural to do it. It becomes your world, basically.”

Of course, you can’t do that with just any headset. To arrive at this destination required a tight-knit development partnership with Finnish XR innovator Varjo—and a whole lot of clever engineering.

Starting Up

Wickman has been helping Volvo improve its processes for two decades. He joined the company in 2000 as a student in its industrial PhD program, which employs a group of 50 to 70 students at its Gothenburg headquarters in tasks like variation simulation and visualization, and the analysis of quantitative data with the goal of eliminating manufacturing defects.

After five years in this capacity, he joined a new department formed to study “perceived quality”—to predict how things will look and feel in the completed vehicle. It’s within this general area that he has remained, working his way up through various leadership tiers to his current senior technical role focused on novel methodologies. 

“We want to develop tools with new emerging technologies to be able to put the user in the experience in the very early stages of design, in order to be able to evaluate whether we are doing the correct things before we do anything,” he said. “I’m working a lot within user experience, but really in any area where you need to put the user in the experience.” 

Getting in Gear

Wickman began considering the prospect of harnessing virtual and augmented reality in his work several years ago, but the technology wasn’t ready. “When it comes to detailing and understanding the look of things in a car context, you need to be able to see the stitching, see the textures, see how things are lined up against each other,” he said. “You need to see more than the complete design.”

Then, a couple years back, he participated in a project that involved using Microsoft HoloLens AR glasses for manufacturing and packaging activities. “But (in my view) they were using augmented reality as if it were an ordinary desktop application in some way,” Wickman said. “They were not utilizing the full capacity of AR.”

After some brainstorming over a better use for the technology, Wickman arrived at the wild idea of driving with the headset. “They answered ‘No, that wouldn’t be possible for several reasons: you wouldn’t be able to track stuff, you wouldn’t be safe,’” he said. 

It was around this time, however, that some other people at Volvo tipped him off to the work that Varjo was doing—specifically, the development of a head-worn display with a pixel density so high the company markets it as “human eye resolution.” Feeding this display with actual footage of the environment from cameras on the headset, Varjo’s XR-1 enables the merging of virtual and physical realities with a clarity never before possible. 

In January of 2018, Wickman set up a meeting with Varjo’s founder and chief product officer Urho Konttori and chief marketing officer Jussi Mäkinen to go over his vision. “We presented that in terms of different steps that we’d like to go through, with the first step just being able to drive with a pair of glasses, using the cameras with video pass-through, to evaluate just how you would manage motion sickness and whether it would be a safe thing to do,” he said.

If that worked, he wanted to begin overlaying data onto the real world; then, he wanted to be able to interact with the virtual content. He also proposed the desire to analyze “gaze data” to see exactly where people looked as they completed tasks. Lastly, if everything else was possible, he wanted to add interactive virtual objects outside of the car. 

“It was pretty cool,” Wickman said. “[Urho and Jussi] said directly, ‘This is the most challenging use case we’ve ever heard of in any industry. Let’s do this together. We’re in.’” 

Picking Up Speed

Over the next six months, as the details of the contract were being hammered out, both companies began preparing on their own: Varjo worked to boost the capabilities of its XR-1 headset, and Volvo went about formulating a way to extract all of the necessary signals from the car. They then established a schedule over the following eight months in which they would conduct their tests. “At each trial, Varjo came over to Volvo and they brought a prototype XR-1 headset, and at each drive they had enhanced a lot of things,” Wickman said.

The setup begins with a computer in the back seat running Unity, the software in which everything operates. A local area network is used to handle all of the signal and data transmission. Mounted in front of the driver is a tracking system called 5C, from German company ART, which follows a set of little spherical sensors on the driver’s headset for spatial positioning. Also running through the LAN to the computer are the signals extracted from the vehicle, which consist of the flex ray and local interconnect network (LIN). These communicate a whole host of information to the system in Unity. 

With this setup, Wickman and his team can then overlay a conceptual virtual cockpit over the actual one and interact with it. “You can read out signals like the steering wheel angle and connect that to the virtual model, so the physical steering wheel and virtual one are synchronized while driving,” Wickman said. Or, “if you press a switch in the car that’s usually used to activate the radio, we can use that signal instead to activate something else on the virtual model. So, maybe we’ve decided that in the next generation of the car to use a stalk or a switch for something else, then we can simulate that.”

Navigating Challenges

According to Wickman, the toughest challenge on Volvo’s end was getting the tracking system right. “A car is really a super complex environment,” he said. “You have magnetic fields, you have different light properties—sometimes it’s low sunshine, sometimes it’s bright, sometimes it’s dark—so it needs to be able to track in different light conditions.” On top of that, you have to deal with the vibrations and bumps from the road.

He said that Volvo and Varjo both tried out a number of tracking systems independently before arriving at the 5C system from ART, which is mounted very rigidly to the car. “That works super well,” he said. “Of course, some of the content might move a little bit, but it’s really impossible to realize that because you’re moving with the car yourself. So you will actually experience it like it’s super solid and fixed to the physical world.”

The other major challenge was latency. The earliest versions of the XR-1 headset had a latency of around 30 milliseconds—not great, but not terrible. “It was barely possible to drive a car with it, because it’s super sensitive,” Wickman said. “If you just look away to the side, then back to the road again, you might end up in the middle of the road.” Still, they managed to complete the test as scheduled, and eventually Varjo managed to shrink the response time down to just 12 milliseconds. 

Then, of course, there’s the occasional hiccup in the system. “We’ve had a number of blackouts,” he said with a chuckle. “Actually, one time on the test track, the computer stopped working, so the headset became black. But we have a procedure for that: the driver says ‘Can’t see anything, take over the steering wheel,’ and they take off the headset. There’s never been a dangerous situation at all.”

The Road Ahead

As of this writing, Volvo had just received its own production version Varjo XR-1 headset, allowing Wickman and his team to begin formulating workflows around it as a bona fide development tool for the company. “We’re setting up a plan for all the future evaluations we’re going to do throughout this year,” he said. “We have a whole stack of things we want to do.”

Before new Volvo models ever hit the road, the company will know exactly what the visual experience will be like for the driver. This starts with visibility, or “how much you see from the car to be able to maneuver it,” Wickman said. “That’s one big application: to be able to bring the new design proposal into the car and overlay that, and then you can drive with the car outside and evaluate visibility.”

Wickman also plans to use the XR-1 to evaluate active safety technologies. Currently, when Volvo wants to test, for example, an automatic braking feature, they have to drive a car toward a physical object. “And if the system fails, you will actually hit the thing you’re trying to avoid,” he said. “Although we’re using soft targets, it’s still damaging to the sensors on the car.” Instead, they can place a virtual obstacle up the road and experiment with new safety systems in the digital realm first.

The next step from there is the development of technology for automated vehicles, or AVs. Wickman said that Volvo is already working on research projects in this field with the help of funding from Swedish authorities. “We’re trying to understand things like how AV cars should behave in terms of overtaking bicycles, for example,” he said. In order to test this the traditional way, you’d need to actually put someone on a bike ahead of the car; now they can do that in Unity. “We just add a virtual object as a bicycle, and a virtual object as an approaching car,” he said. “And you can optimize the algorithms for how the AV car should move without taking any risks for other people while trying it.”

Ultimately, what makes the integration of the Varjo XR-1 into Wickman’s work so successful is that it so directly fulfils the mission of his department: understanding and improving upon the experience people have with Volvo cars. And there’s much more to come.

“We have the perspective of the human being as the starting point for everything we’re doing,” he said. “We also scout a lot of different new technologies. A lot of start-ups all over the world are doing amazing things that we might want to incorporate in our cars in the future. So, being able in a very early stage to evaluate things without the need of actually implementing them, that is a huge advantage.”

User interface is a critical component to designing a product that will exceed user expectations, achieve optimal user experience, and stand out from the competition. At the current stage of hardware maturity, augmented reality smart glasses and AR software development kits (SDKs) support a greater range of interaction methods than ever before. 

[ABI Research Releases Enterprise AR Platforms Competitive Assessment]

Now in the mix with traditional controllers and smartphones is quickly maturing voice control and novel HMD-based options like gesture recognition and eye tracking. Pairing the proper input method to a well-designed UI allows users to perform tasks more efficiently, intuitively, and swiftly, leading to enhanced user experience and ultimately more fully realized value. ABI Research, a global tech market advisory firm, examined the emerging interaction methods for AR smart glasses that maximize user flexibility and optimize UX in a market that promises value over US$100 billion by 2024.

“The decision around the most efficient input method and UI design strongly relies on the nature of the target task or content, the user’s potential environment, and the type of the AR device,” said Eleftheria Kouri, research analyst at ABI Research. For instance, traditional buttons and touchpads are not always suitable in scenarios where a user must wear safety gloves or handles tools/equipment. Hands-free voice control is considered the most optimal interaction method in these and similar scenarios. “In regard to AR device type, monocular devices, which are used in less-complex enterprise and consumer applications, can perform tasks efficiently with traditional user-friendly interaction methods via buttons or smartphones, with the option to add additional value and flexibility with more advanced input methods.”

Gaze and gesture control are considered among the most emerging interaction methods for AR smart glasses, which significantly enhances UX and immersion by allowing users to intuitively and swiftly perform hands-free tasks. While highly capable, gaze and gesture control are not suited for every user or use case because they require high accuracy and low latency to be efficient and meet user’s expectations. Advanced AR headsets such HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap 1 support a wider range of UI opportunities and input methods thanks to inclusion of things like eye tracking. While these are currently the most capable AR devices available, there is still significant value in simpler devices that maximize usability and streamline user experience with other input paradigms.

“Simple and intuitive UI and streamlined UX have mostly been ignored in the AR market thus far, but both are essential for enhancing and maximizing the value that will propel AR smart glasses growth toward the mainstream,” Kouri said. “Being able to remove the requirement for device training and keep users engaged with the device will maximize value for consumers and enterprises. At the same time, device features such as lower weight, capability for spatial mapping and sound, improved display quality, and better user feedback through UI and haptics also play an important role in maximizing this value.”  

These findings are from ABI Research’s User Interface and User Experience in AR technology analysis report. This report is part of the company’s Augmented and Virtual Reality research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Based on extensive primary interviews, Technology Analysis reports present in-depth analysis on key market trends and factors for a specific technology.

The door opened, and I ducked into the cockpit of an Airbus A350. Easing myself into the pilot’s seat, I studied the minute details in the controls and flight map. I reached for the throttle—but my hand passed through it like an apparition. 

Of course, I wasn’t at the helm of an aircraft, but rather in a hotel room in Midtown Manhattan, trying out what is perhaps the world’s most sophisticated VR/AR headset: the XR-1 Developer Edition from Finland-based Varjo Technologies. With a pixel density so high that Varjo calls it “human eye resolution,” it’s easy to get lost in virtual environments. And while you can tell that you’re looking at a digitized version of reality (a very fine graining of pixels is still perceptible), it doesn’t interfere with the sense of immersion or the ability to critically discern details like small print on virtual displays. 

[Varjo and Lenovo Partner on Advanced XR Computing for Enterprises]

All of what I’ve described so far, however, has been available since the company’s first product, the VR-1, was released early in 2019. Organizations around the world are employing it and its successors, the VR-2 and VR-2 Pro, for a variety of applications, including training for airline pilots.

What makes Varjo’s new XR-1 special is its augmented reality capabilities, which, when paired with the company’s just-launched 2D/3D immersive user interface called Varjo Workspace, open a plethora of opportunities for design-related fields. This “Dimensional Interface” is compatible with a number of Microsoft Windows applications and software tools, and enables designers to switch between real, virtual, and mixed-reality modes and modify their creations while experiencing them in 3D.

In my demonstration, the Varjo team of Urho Konttori, founder and chief product officer and Jussi Mäkinen, chief marketing officer, guided me through a few applications that are possible with the XR-1 and Varjo Workspace. At first, I was just sitting in a digitized version of the hotel room—reality captured through the XR-1’s imaging technology. Then, a giant floating screen appeared in front of the room’s actual TV, and Mäkinen played the trailer for the upcoming Star Wars movie on it, proving how smoothly the system is able to render content, even at such high resolutions. 

Next, Mäkinen—who was operating the PC that was driving my headset with a wireless keyboard and mouse—switched me into a virtual environment, an automotive showroom of one of Varjo’s customers, Volvo. At first, the room was empty except for a blue SUV. Then, he inserted a floating display above the vehicle, essentially a Windows computer screen running CAD software. Using the software, he gradually began adding different pieces of furniture to the room around a blue SUV—demonstrating the ease with which one can design an environment from within that environment. 

With Varjo’s video pass-through-based mixed reality, designers can just as easily implement virtual elements into an existing physical environment, greatly enhancing their creative potential. In fact, the XR-1 is so capable that engineers at Volvo are actually driving prototype vehicles while wearing it, to evaluate interior designs and active safety technologies.

According to Mäkinen and Konttori, the company’s software is compatible with CAD and visualization tools including Autodesk VRED, Unity, and Unreal, so designers can simply upgrade their current workflows into the realm of virtual and augmented reality.

“Varjo Workspace shows how professionals will use and interact with computers in the future,” Konttori said. “Varjo is unique in being the only product maker capable of photorealistic visual fidelity in both VR and XR, with perfect color accuracy and control. This is a key enabler for the next computing paradigm.” 

Varjo Workspace is currently shipping to customers and partners as part of the software delivered with the XR-1 Developer Edition. The XR-1 Developer Edition headset is available for purchase immediately at $9,995 and is sold together with Varjo’s Software and Support service at $1,995. Varjo plans to implement customer and partner feedback in 2020 to further deepen its integration with professional design, engineering, and simulation tools.

Falcon's Creative Group has collaborated with the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. to provide six multimedia experiences for the new Becoming Jane exhibition.

Inside the exhibition—which was produced with the support of the Jane Goodall Institute—visitors will become immersed in Jane Goodall’s remarkable story of becoming the first person to live among and study wild chimpanzees, humankind’s closest living relatives.

“Our mission with this legacy exhibition is to celebrate the extraordinary life and work of Jane Goodall, exploring her early years, her fascinating studies in Gombe, and her current environmental advocacy," said Alan Parente, vice president of creative at National Geographic. "With Falcon’s Creative Group, we have created engaging multimedia and interactive, hands-on experiences that will enhance the storytelling. Jane used unorthodox approaches to study chimpanzees, yielding extraordinary results. In a way, we’ve done the same thing with this exhibition."

[High Tech Storytelling: Museums, Exhibits, and AV]

A variety of storytelling techniques and new technology are showcased throughout the exhibition. An introductory film that is part CG, part historical footage, shares Goodall’s personal journey, beginning with her childhood desire for adventure. It eventually reveals how she made it to Gombe Stream National Park, the enchanting—but danger-filled—jungle in Tanzania, where she pioneered methods for studying animals in their natural habitat and discovered many surprising behaviors that changed the way the world viewed not only chimpanzees, but humans as well.

A stunning 3D, 10K theater experience offers a unique opportunity to truly feel what it was like to be Goodall as she trekked through the forest searching for the elusive chimpanzees. The film superimposes CG chimps into footage of Gombe Stream National Park that was shot with a virtual reality 360-degree 3D camera. The floor and walls serve as additional projection surfaces, further drawing the guest into Goodall’s narrative. Gombe’s natural sounds, produced in 7.1 surround sound, round out the authentic environment.

Another portion of the exhibition features a hologram of Goodall, standing under twinkling starlight, sharing her most memorable recollections. Her image is projected onto a custom, life-size mold to make it appear as if she is just a few steps away, enhancing the intimacy of the experience. In one of two interactive experiences, guests can learn to talk like a chimpanzee, mimicking their common vocalizations to elicit a positive or negative reaction from a CG chimp.

For the other interactive experience, Falcon’s Creative Group unveiled Falcon’s Vision, an augmented reality solution that empowers guests to interact and engage with a physical space in new ways. Becoming Jane visitors will be the first members of the public to use this custom device. They will use a Falcon’s Vision headset as binoculars, locking their focus on a target to trigger important findings from Goodall’s groundbreaking research. The engaging animations are accompanied by the voice of Bill Wallauer, a filmmaker with the Jane Goodall Institute who spent many years in Gombe Stream National Park recording the daily behavior of chimpanzees.

The exhibition closes with videos of Jane sharing powerful messages of hope and asking for individuals to pledge to make a positive impact in their world.

“The entire team at Falcon’s is honored to partner with National Geographic and the Jane Goodall Institute to bring Jane’s historic, significant, and impactful discoveries to brilliant life," concluded Jason Ambler, vice president and executive producer of Falcon's Digital Media. "Our creative intent is to invoke feelings of actually traveling with Jane in Gombe Stream National Park as she made history. Though several exciting forms of technology are used, the focus is on immersing visitors in Jane’s personal experiences and leaving them with a deeper appreciation and understanding of chimpanzees and their relationship to humans."

Varjo Technologies, provider of industrial-grade VR/XR headsets, has announced a cooperation agreement for technical and business collaboration with Lenovo. The new partnership will create Certified for Varjo pairings on Lenovo desktop and mobile workstations for all Varjo head-mounted displays (HMDs). This combines world-leading professional VR/XR products with powerful, high-end computers, enabling enterprise organizations to adopt and implement VR use cases more quickly. 

[Behind Varjo's ‘Human Eye Resolution’ VR Headset]

“Our partnership with Lenovo helps drive a monumental shift in enterprise usage of immersive technologies,” said Timo Toikkanen, president and COO at Varjo. “Combining our products with Lenovo’s pioneering enterprise portfolio products into readymade bundles eases adoption hurdles and quickly gives organizations the tools they need to start taking advantage of the many benefits of virtual reality.”

Professional VR applications including research, training and simulation, industrial design, and more require the most powerful and sophisticated technologies in order to create a valuable user experience. Varjo’s human-eye resolution VR devices, matched with the processing and compute power found in Lenovo’s workstation portfolio products, push the limits of spatial computing forward and deliver the most natural visual experience for exploring and interacting with high-resolution models and simulations.

“When you’re looking for the ultimate VR and XR viewing experience, you look for the only human-eye resolution display available,” said Rob Herman, general manager, Workstation and Client AI at Lenovo. “The technology Varjo brings to the table is extremely sophisticated and requires professional workstation power to bring that clarity to life. That’s why I’m excited to see the partnership between Varjo and Lenovo come to life after months of development and collaboration—certifying several desktop and mobile workstation configurations across our ThinkStation and ThinkPad P Series portfolio. This certification ensures the highest-quality experience for professional applications—spanning across automotive, simulation, training, architectural visualization, and more.”

This global partnership announcement comes on the heels of Varjo’s recent launch of two VR headsets: the VR-2 and the VR-2 Pro.

Over the past few years, the number of augmented reality (AR) software and platform competitors has grown, and these competitors have also grown in scale and capability. With an AR market expected to surpass $100 billion in total market revenues by 2024, the need for a comprehensive, flexible, and scalable platform to support augmented reality use cases is an increasingly critical component of implementation. 

In the new Enterprise Augmented Reality Platforms competitive assessment, global tech market advisory firm ABI Research finds that PTC is leading in present-day capabilities and forward-looking preparedness.

The Enterprise AR Platforms assessment analyzed eight AR platform players operating today: PTC, Ubimax, RE’FLEKT, Atheer, Upskill, ScopeAR, Librestream, and Fieldbit. Scoring criteria were split across present day (implementation) and forward looking (innovation) criteria. Implementation criteria included customers/partnerships/footprint, platform breadth, device support, user experience options, accessibility, and pricing. Innovation criteria included use-case applicability, IoT synergy, cloud connectivity, machine vision capabilities, data visualization capabilities, and transformative technology capabilities.

“The most competitive players in augmented reality platforms today are able to serve a few key use cases, while also allowing flexibility in offering throughout the lifetime of a customer engagement,” said Eric Abbruzzese, research director at ABI Research. “Over the past few years, showcasing value to a customer was limited to the pilot phase and small-scale engagements. Today, there is still the need to show upfront ROI potential at this scale, but equally important is an ability to scale up with the customer as they grow in number of users and types of use cases. The most competitive operators are able to span these needs while adding value through differentiated portfolio offerings.”

PTC takes the top spot for a couple primary reasons: broad and deep AR capabilities are backed up with value-add offerings and impactful enabling technologies. Augmented reality has seen a strong growth in industrial markets, where PTC is already strong and can leverage their existing products like Creo and Windchill to strengthen related aspects of an AR implementation. Ubimax and RE’FLEKT take the second and third spots; Ubimax is a leader in platform breadth and device support allowing for great flexibility and capability for growth, while RE’FLEKT offers a unique approach to content creation and distribution for customers.

This assessment is not inclusive of all AR competitors. There are numerous use-case focused players that purposefully limit platform breadth in order to maximize value around a specific use case or application. At the same time, there is increasing desire for AR platforms that can perform in multiple areas. This can include supporting numerous use cases with a single platform, such as remote expertise, training, and data logging, but can also include enabling technologies like machine vision and SLAM tracking, device management, and content creation. These technologies are often differentiators in this space, with companies expanding their portfolio reach and overall value through them.

There are nearly infinite variables involved in a proper augmented reality investment and implementation, all of which can prove to be a potential barrier. With the right enabling platform, these variables and barriers can be minimized, leading to faster and more complete ROI. “Not every customer needs a complete end-to-end solution, and certain aspects of a partner will be relevant based on a customer’s KPIs, examining target use cases, environment, and workflows,” Abbruzzese said. “A proper understanding of competitive strengths and weaknesses across key areas will help make partnership opportunities clearer and more effective.”

These findings are from ABI Research’s Enterprise Augmented Reality Platforms competitive assessment report. This report is part of the company’s Augmented and Virtual Reality research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Competitive Assessment reports offer comprehensive analysis of implementation strategies and innovation to offer unparalleled insight into a company’s performance and standing in comparison to its competitors.

As the grade school teacher explains to her class the colossal proportions of a blue whale, the students stare in awe as the world’s largest creature glides gracefully beneath their desks. In lessons about Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, they watch as civilization springs forth from the Fertile Crescent and witness the pyramids rise from the Giza Plateau.

How much more powerful would your imagination be if you had all of this imagery installed in your mind at such an impressionable age? How much more curious would the average student be if he could engage at a visceral level with the material being discussed? And how much more compassionate might we be if we could observe the world from points of view most different from our own?

As I made my way through elementary school in the 1990s, my education was abetted by largely the same tools as my parents’ generation in the 50s and 60s: textbooks, chalkboards, pull-down maps and charts, and overhead projectors. Occasionally, the teacher would wheel in a CRT TV strapped to an AV cart, and we’d all gather around to watch a video. Sure, we had computer labs—but the primitive educational games and software on these machines were hardly memorable, let alone transformative. 

The decades since have brought a deluge of innovation to instruction at all levels of education. Where I had to rely upon photographs and illustrations in text and library books to help visualize the things I read, grade school lessons can now be brought vividly to life with all manner of imagery. With digital whiteboards and short-throw projection, multimedia content is a mainstay of the learning experience from the lowest grades onward. And with interactive devices and applications, students can touch and connect with today’s classroom media, rather than just sitting passively around it. 

But things are really getting interesting as we introduce the ability for students to actually get inside their lessons, by way of augmented and virtual reality. A child goes from learning about tropical rainforests to being immersed in their flora, from hearing about foreign cultures to taking a seat at the center of their traditions. Thanks to technology, future generations will matriculate into society with far more perspective, enthusiasm, and empathy. 

In AV Technology, we take a look at the ways audiovisual technology is enhancing education now, and where it’s poised to go in the next few years. From shaping young minds with AR and VR, to elevating the value of higher education with active learning and AI-enabled lecture capture, AV is a principal force behind a building wave of pedagogical transformation. 

And as students engage with all of these novel technologies, you can be sure that some of them will emerge not only curious about what they learned, but about the tech itself—and wonder how they might one day engineer a way to make it even better.

Marie Graham’s first experience with virtual reality was with Google Cardboard. A teacher and director of the VR Lab at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, a pre-K-to-12 school in Atlanta, GA, Graham was leading a discussion on the refugee experience. But while she focused on refugees that were approximately the same age as her students, she wasn’t satisfied that the material she was presenting to her class was making the desired impact.

“I noticed a disconnect,” Graham said. “I don’t think the disconnect was because they’re not good people. They’re middle schoolers in Atlanta, GA. They don’t have the same needs.” 

Instilling the Magic

Enter Google Cardboard. Mount Vernon had recently received a batch of the virtual reality viewers. Graham had also recently watched The Displaced, a New York TimesVR documentary that explores the refugee crisis from the eyes of three children approximately the same age as her students. She put the two together, and seized the opportunity to get through to her class. 

“I am able to point to that moment, because [there was] complete silence,” she recalled. “I feel like the first time someone uses immersive technology is almost sacred, because you’ve transported them to another place, and their body, their brain, believe they’re there. Slowly but surely, the Google Cardboards came off their faces and they were silent—which, with 13-year-olds, is not really common.” After the initial speechlessness, a soft voice piped up with: “‘Oh, Ms. Graham, they’re like us.’ It changed the way they felt. They grew; it was empathy. I used to be a nurse midwife and a nurse practitioner. I’ve delivered over 1,000 babies. I know magic when I see it, and it was powerful.”

Graham and her students took that magic and ran with it. They formed partnerships with tech companies. They approached local institutions, and ultimately, established a VR lab designed with the goal of solving real-world problems and doing good in their community. Their first project was for patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the Southern United States’ largest pediatric care facilities. Its goal: to ease the burden of living through long and sometimes painful healthcare treatment by providing a virtual reality experience that enables patients to relax, escape, and feel better.

The Next Mass Medium

Graham is far from the only educator to embrace VR as a teaching tool. At the Virtual Science Center in Sunnyvale, CA, exhibit designers collaborate with tech companies, museums, science centers, and education professionals to create virtual reality experiences that will promote interest in STEM. Bill Meyer, VSC’s chief experience officer, believes that both augmented and virtual reality are positioned to become just as influential a communication medium as television was when it was first introduced. 

“This is not just a new technology; it is a new human communication medium that is going to be every bit as big and important,” he said. While AR and VR have been around for a while, now this tech is more accessible and less expensive than it was in the past, which is driving adoption. “Computers are fast, video cards are fast, and it’s possible to have something that doesn’t make you motion sick and that works. But don’t mistake that for how much farther this is going to go, the same way you might think about the early days of cell phones or even smartphones.”

The Art of Simplicity

At Tenzer Technology Center at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, Michael Boyles oversees a number of high-tech initiatives, including an AR/VR lab equipped with a number of desktop and mobile solutions, as well as a Microsoft HoloLens. He relayed that one of the university’s computer science students has been working with an art student to create an original exhibit. The project has been featured in DePauw’s Peeler Art Gallery for the past six months.

What makes AR and VR attractive is that one doesn’t need to be a coder or programmer to create a meaningful experience with this technology. Boyles pointed out that at DePauw, the Tenzer AR/VR lab is utilized by non-technical students who take advantage of existing applications to develop their projects, as well as computer science students who create more sophisticated, custom applications from scratch. “It can welcome all of them for a relatively inexpensive cost,” he said.

To simplify the creation of AR and VR experiences, Meyer counsels tech managers to select a development platform that can grow and scale with an organization over time. Unity is the platform of choice at VSC, largely because it is manufacturer-agnostic when it comes to hardware (it will support headsets from multiple developers), and it will create experiences that run easily on mobile and desktop operating systems alike. “My advice to people is to pick a platform that can grow, [so you] don’t have to worry about what happens when a new headset comes out next year,” he said.

Challenges in Management

One of the challenges Boyles and his team runs up against is that the equipment they’re currently using isn’t designed for enterprise use. “The technology that we’re using—and I think most of the universities are using for VR and AR generally—would be considered consumer technologies,” he said. This creates issues related to scalability and account management: does one establish an account per machine, or per student? How should one distribute software titles and applications? Are there any problems associated with permissions? Can permissions be centralized? At the hardware level, there is cable management to consider: “The one room we’re using now only has three virtual reality stations and each machine has two [charging cables].” Ideally, students recharge the stations when they’re finished using them, but that doesn’t always happen. “The best thing I’ve got now is manpower. The first thing we do in the morning is check [to] make sure the cables are plugged in.” A nightly reboot ensures that the system will start fresh the following day.

Boyles also noted that he endeavors to automate as much as possible. “We have user accounts, so [one of our questions was] can we script and auto-log into those accounts? We can, and we figured that out,” he said. “That’s not rocket science by any means, but it’s these subtle things that I believe make or break these experiences.” The goal, especially because this is new technology, is to make it as accessible as possible. “We want our users to come in and buy in, and have a good experience.”

Making Impressions

VR and AR receive a lot of hype these days, and in many cases, they’re solely associated with gaming. Boyles argues that it’s necessary to move beyond this in order to receive the support required to truly take advantage of what this technology has to offer. “It’s also a good learning tool—it can supplement a curriculum. It can help a business [with] training,” he said. It’s these applications that should be discussed in educational institutions and the enterprise, he argues. “I’m big on promoting the idea of having good first impressions [of this technology]. First impressions are important, particularly for administration and [business] leaders.”

It’s also necessary, Boyles adds, to recognize that there are use cases that aren’t suited for augmented and virtual reality. “VR and AR are not the solution for everything; they can supplement learning, but they’re not the end-all,” he said. “It doesn’t make every course better, it doesn’t benefit every student—it’s not the hammer for every nail.” The good news is that it’s relatively inexpensive, which means that it doesn’t need to be positioned as the go-to solution for all learning initiatives. “It can be successful and a good investment for a campus or a learning community even if it’s only doing a couple of things.” 

For Graham, creating VR projects has enriched both teaching and learning. Based on her experience, she said that the best way to enable students to achieve success with this is to get out of their way. “It is not a traditional teacher/student experience; it is more like working with peers—you’re working as colleagues, solving problems,” she said. “And what happens is—and this is true for all classes, by the way—if students are involved in real-world work, they are intrinsically motivated, [because] it’s their work and they see real-world impact. Kids don’t have to wait until they’re grown up to make a difference in the world. They can do it right now.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor.

More Information

Mount Vernon Presbyterian School

www.mountvernonschool.org 

Tenzer Technology Center, DePauw University

www.depauw.edu 

https://sites.google.com/depauw.edu/ttc-constructedvrlandscapes 

Virtual Science Center

www.virtualsciencecenter.org 

2018 was a significant year for augmented reality (AR) with new entrants in the market, new smart glasses launched, new and improved platforms and portfolios, and generally more enthusiasm and curiosity from the public to explore the technology. Despite that technical challenges and budget limitations remain an issue for near-future mass adoption, the total AR market will be worth US$116 billion by 2023, finds ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies. Technological advancements, the growth of mobile AR, more proof-of-concept use cases, and audience acceptance are the main factors that will lead to this booming growth.

“New entrances across hardware and software, along with expanding incumbents, are reshaping the AR landscape, providing more opportunities for customers and developers,” said Eleftheria Kouri, research analyst at ABI Research. “For example, Magic Leap’s initial hardware offering, as well as updated devices from Vuzix and others, are met with market conversations spanning outside of just hardware. Magic Leap is working with AT&T to trial 5G AR, connectivity players such as Huawei are pushing for cloud AR/VR, and development tools such as AWS Sumerian and Unity continue to grow in capability.”

These factors combine to spur the expected significant growth across the AR market. AR providers highlight the importance and numerous advantages of AR solutions in business strategy and employee’s efficiency while more and more focus on strong collaborations with other related technologies such as IoT data, 5G, and artificial intelligence. With 29 million AR smart glasses shipments in 2023, the ballooning install base of head-worn AR combined with hundreds of millions of AR-enabled mobile devices in the same timeframe will make these partnerships a requirement to maintain AR quality of experience while still providing the efficiency and safety increases promised with the technology.

“Allowing time for maturation, combined with ongoing audience education, is key to ensuring a successful AR business story,” said Eric Abbruzzese, principal analyst at ABI Research. “Proving value to potential customers in the enterprise with specific, targeted, and realistic metrics will win business over the next few years as the addressable market grows. While the consumer market is vastly different to the enterprise market, the basic approach of proving realistic value remains the same. After a few years in the hype cycle, a more grounded market outlook has taken hold. The fact that the potential value and usefulness of AR hasn’t changed as a result points to the revolutionary potential of AR.”

These findings are from ABI Research's Augmented Reality Market Update 2018. This report is part of the company’s AR and Mixed Reality research service, which includes research, data, and executive foresights.

Integrated Systems Europe has announced that Ambarish Mitra, the co-founder and CEO of augmented reality technology company Blippar, will present the ISE Opening Address on February 4, 2019.

Blippar’s mission is to enhance everyday life with AR and computer vision, a field of AI. Since 2011, Blippar has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible in AR. It has helped brands, retailers, and agencies use AR/AI across the consumer journey to deepen customer engagement, drive footfall, and increase sales. 

The company gives access to an AR ecosystem with products and professional services to meet specific business needs—from consultancy to AR creation tools that publish AR content within a client’s own app, or rich media banners with no app required.

Blippar’s technology has been used by leading brands such as PepsiCo, Porsche, Nestlé, L’Oréal, GSK, and Procter & Gamble to create exciting experiences.

Blippar has been ranked three years running within CNBC’s global Disruptor 50 list, alongside the likes of Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat, and Spotify in 2017. The company has also been named a Top Business Innovator by Bloomberg, Most Innovative AR/VR Company by FastCompany in February 2018, and won Best AR App at Mobile World Congress in 2017.

In the opening address at ISE 2019, Ambarish Mitra will discuss how AR and AI are disrupting key vertical sectors served by the professional AV industry, and what future developments are likely to bring.

“Augmented reality is a horizontal disruptor and will have a positive impact on every industry," Mitra said. "What we are seeing today is just a glimpse of the potential of this technology. Blippar is at the forefront of this and I look forward to sharing my vision with ISE attendees.”

Mitra is a serial entrepreneur who started his tech career in 1997 as a high school dropout, creating his first tech company around women’s empowerment in India. After moving to London a few years later, he is today an active private investor in the fields of AR, AI, food tech, and genomics.

His pioneering work in the field of AR has received wide acclaim. He was Ernst & Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year for 2016, and was appointed as an ambassador for the GREAT Britain campaign, which promotes British innovation around the world. He was also recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2017.

“We’re greatly looking forward to welcoming Ambarish Mitra to ISE 2019," said Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Europe managing director. "Augmented reality and artificial intelligence are fast-growing areas with enormous potential. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about the opportunities these technologies offer to the world of AV systems integration.” 

The opening address will take place in the forum of the RAI Amsterdam, shortly after the conclusion of the Smart Building Conference. It will be followed by the ISE opening reception. Both events are free to attend.

According to ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on transformative technologies, a reevaluation of Augmented Reality (AR) and the surrounding market is necessary to maximize influence and potential. In the most recent quantitative market database, the total AR market value is expected to reach US $116 billion by 2023, spread across devices, software, content, platforms, licensing, connectivity, and more. This growth represents an 89 percent CAGR between 2018 and 2023.

“While the potential of the technology remains significant and revolutionary—with applications from enterprise to consumer, mobile to head-worn—the trajectory the augmented reality market is following has shifted over the past year,” said Eric Abbruzzese, principal analyst at ABI Research. “What was once driven by hands-free information access and strong visualization capability, is now split between maintaining this hands-free capability or leveraging mobile devices for the AR visualization component of the story, which alters not only the primary device type being used for AR but also the content, use cases, and applications being leveraged.”

The growth rate of the overall market hints at a very important trend: growth rate is down when compared to the same window one year earlier, showcasing the beginning of a much-discussed inflection point in the market. With so many waiting to see notable AR adoption, this trend is especially important to highlight. This inflection point carries through 2019, as greater and greater adoption will be seen across markets. Healthcare, retail, education, and media and entertainment are poised for the strongest growth outside of the “traditional” AR power areas in industry and enterprise, all with over 100 percent CAGR through 2023.

While enterprise adoption has dominated the story, the consumer market sees increasing mindshare through the forecast. Apple’s recent hardware event supplied a concrete example of this, with the tech behemoth continuing their mobile AR story with increasing capability of their ARKit SDK with new and interesting applications for their immense user base. Expect the other major smartphone players to follow suit, especially Google and their parallel ARCore SDK. According to ABI Research’s latest data, mobile devices will still make up over 60 percent of total augmented reality usage across verticals and use cases in 2023, which is notably larger than previously anticipated. Revenue continues to flow through the entire value chain, however, with needs for content creation and distribution, platform support, implementation, and more whatever the end user device may be.

“The impact of increasingly capable mobile devices is beginning to be felt, and the effects of this will be realized over the next five years,” Abbruzzese said. “The traditionally strong, ROI-driven verticals will continue to adopt AR at a strong clip, with mobile devices offering another potential adoption path alongside hands-free smart glasses. Markets that may have been held back by being limited to smart glasses—due to the high price, disjointed performance needs, or general use case applicability—now have a well-understood and prolific device platform to push AR applications and experiences. The combination of these factors makes for a feasible and universal augmented reality market.”

These findings are from ABI Research’s Augmented and Mixed Reality Devices and Enterprise Verticals report. This report is part of the company’s Augmented and Mixed Reality research service, which includes research, data, and Executive Foresights.

Alcorn McBride and Birket Engineering have partnered up to introduce a unique solution for delivering Augmented Reality (AR) captions to guests with special needs who are attending parades or experiencing dark ride attractions.

The companies’ expertise in themed attractions has enabled them to develop a comprehensive system, which streams captions from RidePlayer, Alcorn McBride’s on-board synchronous audio player and show controller, to a pair of smart glasses over a WIFI network. RidePlayer captions the entire parade or attraction – not just individual pieces of video. Smart glasses worn by guests sense the nearest parade float or attraction zone and overlay text without obscuring guests’ views. The easy-to- implement solution requires no configuration by the operations staff.

“Since Alcorn McBride show control devices, like the V16Pro and RidePlayer, are aware of show timing and audio throughout the entire experience, they are the ideal systems to stream captioning data. Captions are then delivered to the guests based on their needs and location using a seamless combination of iBeacon technology, the Birket Engineering InThrall app, and smart glass devices such as the Epson Moverio or the Vuzix Blade.” explains Alcorn McBride’s Chief Innovation Officer Scott Harkless.

“Great captioning solutions allow attractions to be more inclusive. The challenge is presenting captions in a way that doesn’t interfere with the other elements of the guest’s experience or the experience of others. This is especially tricky in complex applications like dark rides where there are multiple areas and many ride vehicles with unique audio sources,” he notes.

In a dark ride each guest travels through a carefully crafted experience. They go from queue line to preshow to load platform and then to the ride experience itself. Throughout their journey audio may come from many sources besides video screens: a talking animatronic character, safety announcements in corridors, background sounds to enhance the themed environment. Guests with hearing disabilities will want to see captions that describe the audio experience. International visitors will prefer to see dialog translated into their native languages.

Implementing captioning for a dark ride attraction, for example, requires each system to be responsible for streaming its own captioning data via WIFI Multicast. When the guest steps into the preshow area, the smart glasses will sense their location and tune in to the preshow captioning stream. When the guest boards a vehicle, the glasses will tune in to the captioning stream for their vehicle.

Alcorn McBride’s RidePlayer is designed to endure the high-vibration environments of ride vehicles and to provide many features to reduce the need for auxiliary equipment aboard the vehicle. It offers 16 channels of polyphonic audio playback as well as onboard show control and GPS integration. For the dark ride application, a RidePlayer is installed on each ride vehicle. The device links with the ride control system and coordinates with the off-board show control systems. This ensures an on-board audio experience that synchronizes perfectly with all the show elements going on around the vehicle. Captioning data is added alongside the audio tracks in a show control timeline so that they are streamed in perfect time with the audio experience.

In the preshow area, Alcorn McBride’s V16X is responsible for show control. It is fully programmable using free WinScript Live software and remotely controls all the equipment in the preshow. This includes triggering AV playback in A/V Binloop Uncompressed, a multi-channel synchronous video player, and streaming captioning data that is synchronous with the preshow AV presentation.

Central to the AR captioning solution are the smart glass devices, which run Birket Engineering’s InThrall app and receive captioning data from the WIFI network. In this application, the technology displays captions within the wearer’s field of view while allowing them to see the environment around them.

iBeacons are intelligent transponders based on Bluetooth LE technology. Smart glasses can sense when iBeacon devices are near and read unique information from them. iBeacons installed in the pre-show area will share the multicast IP address for preshow captions; iBeacons installed on the ride vehicles will share the address for that vehicle.

Birket Engineering’s InThrall app, which can run on any Android-based device, including Epson Moverio and Vuzix Blade smart glasses, combines the functionality of the smart glasses, iBeacons, and captioning streams from Alcorn McBride devices into a seamless captioning experience for the guest. InThrall runs automatically when the glasses power up. Most of the time, a black screen is displayed so that the guest can see right through the glasses and enjoy the attraction. When an iBeacon is sensed, the app tunes into the multicast address specified by the iBeacon and begins displaying captions for that area. The location, size, and color of the captions are flexible and determined by programming the captioning data.

“As we design attractions, we strive to offer every guest an amazing experience that they can’t find at home,” Scott explains. “That’s why we’re so excited about this technology. It allows even more guests to share in these experiences in a more meaningful way.”

About Alcorn McBride:

Founded in 1986, Alcorn McBride is the leading manufacturer of show control, audio and video equipment for the themed entertainment industry, and a rapidly growing provider of audio and video systems for retail environments and transportation applications. Staffed by some of the industry’s best engineers and backed by outstanding customer support, the company has demonstrated great agility in bringing new designs to market.

A hallmark of Alcorn McBride products is their durable, zero maintenance design. The company’s products provide consistent, reliable operation for audio and video playback applications worldwide. For more information, visit www.alcorn.com.

The Audio Engineering Society will hold the second International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality on August 20–22, 2018, at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, Redmond, WA. The conference and exhibition will bring together a community of influential research scientists, engineers, VR and AR developers, and content creators.

The conference’s esteemed keynote presenters—Jean-Marc Jot, distinguished fellow, Magic Leap; Ivan Tashev, partner architect, Microsoft Research Labs Redmond; and Ravish Mehra, lead research scientist, Facebook Reality Labs—are at the forefront of innovation for VR and AR.

“Audio and video are integral components of AR/VR devices,” Tashev said. “Spatial audio is an area still under development; we need better capture, representation, and rendering technologies. To make it mainstream, we have to catch up with authoring and editing tools as well.”

The three-day conference and expo will focus on the dissemination of top-level research in the field of spatial audio for virtual and augmented reality, with demonstrations and discussions focused on technical solutions and recommended practices. Leading researchers, practitioners, and industry luminaries will offer panel discussions, tutorials, and workshops on new and forthcoming technologies.

The conference promises to be as interactive and cross-disciplinary as the field of VR and AR itself, and will include an exhibition of relevant software and product demos. The conference will bring together talented researchers and developers who are creating the next generation of audio tools for immersive content, with presentation topics including:

• The state of AR/VR audio content development tools and workflows, including personalized versus generic HRTFs
• Realistic sound propagation for immersing the user in virtual environments
• Auditory distance discrimination in cinematic virtual reality
• Spatial audio capture, rendering, and synthesis over headphones and speakers
• Binaural, ambisonics, and wave field synthesis techniques
• 3D sound field navigation
• HRTF modeling and derivation from optical and/or acoustic measurements
• Reverb and room acoustics synthesis
• 3D audio mixing and content production
• Music and sound design for VR/AR
• Higher education and immersive media
• Sound for 360 VR
• XR [extended reality] audio in diverse industries
• Dialogue for VR/AR and MPEG-H

A platoon of camouflaged soldiers steps from a Blackhawk helicopter and eases quietly through the yellow-green night-vision glow toward its target. Once the troops assemble against an exterior wall, an explosion blasts through an adjacent door. The midnight raid is on.

It’s not real for visitors to the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, IL, but a new virtual reality (VR) exhibit with vivid audiovisual elements gets them as close to the action as possible.

“The museum wanted to show the experience of a modern soldier and [what it’s like] to be in their shoes,” said Kevin Snow, creative director at Luci Creative, one of the firms behind the VR experience. “We wanted to create some sense of empathy for how hard it is, through their eyes. The natural progression was to start looking at what we might do through the VR world.”

The First Division Museum tells the history of the first permanent division of the regular U.S. Army, formed in 1917, to serve on the Western Front of World War I, through tanks, artifacts, and more from every theater of war where the division has served.

Part of a major exhibit redesign completed in August 2017, the museum’s VR experience transports 14 visitors at a time to a compound raid from the cabin of a replica Blackhawk. Video content captured from a four-camera rig, including 360-degree footage, gives visitors the soldiers’ point of view, while augmented stereo sound effects blend with human voices for a realistic immersion into a modern military campaign.

“We felt that allowing people to get on board a Blackhawk helicopter, put on a VR headset and be immediately transported to the moment of being on the helicopter with a squad—and then go with those guys through the entire operation, and really see what it would be like—was something unique,” Snow said.

Museums are moving outside the traditional exhibit space by exploring creative ways of getting visitors inside their stories and subjects. Audiovisual technologies are playing a lead role in these immersive and interactive spaces.

At the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, a 400,000-square-foot facility that welcomes more than a million visitors every year, a reimagined submarine exhibit combines video, audio, and physical media and effects to put visitors in a simulated World War II battle.

The U-505 Dive Simulator draws visitors deeper into the story of the collection’s 251-foot German U-505 submarine, captured off the coast of Africa in 1944, with an immersive, videogame-based sensory experience.

The simulation begins with a tutorial that weaves in historical context, showing how submarine crews reacted to threats from other vessels and aircraft in a combat setting. Then, the user is propelled into the heat of battle, with a challenging dive order to avoid a torpedo that leads to one of four outcomes based on the user’s skill level.

“The museum wanted to make it really difficult, actually, but approachable at the same time,” said Austin Mayer, interactive director at Leviathan, a creative agency specializing in digital media and interaction. “That [led to], ‘How do we make it fun, how do we make it immersive?’”

Each simulation station faces three HD LCD screens with a 5760x1080 composite resolution, arranged to give the user a wide-angle visual. Audio of the simulated mission—the sounds of the engines, a commanding officer barking orders—hits the user in 4.1 surround delivered by four loudspeakers in the headrest. Two ButtKickers, one under the seat and one on the steering column, take the place of subwoofers and give the sensation of movement and impact.

Creative uses of audio are also part of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, MS, which tells unvarnished stories of the civil rights movement in the state. Visitors walking through the first two of eight galleries randomly trigger flash points and hear barking dogs or harassment from disembodied voices. The effect addresses the culture of fear that African-Americans experienced in the Jim Crow era in the Southern U.S.

The museum’s centerpiece is a towering, reactive light sculpture that fills the central area connecting all seven other galleries, named “This Little Light of Mine” for one of three civil rights-era rallying songs used in the exhibit. Sensors placed in four different zones in the room detect movement, so as more people gather in the gallery, more voices are heard singing. Addressable LED strips adhered within the sculpture also react with increased intensity as the crowd grows, creating a brilliant, unifying collage of light and color.

“The initial story of civil rights is such a dark story, and it's such a strong story [that] evokes such strong emotions in people, that we needed a space for people to stop and take a breath before they continued their journey,” said Richard Woollcott, vice president of museum planning and exhibit design at Hilferty and Associates.

“The sculpture was designed to remind everybody that it was the combined forces of everyone working together, all of those lights coming together, to create the civil rights movement,” he added.

Ninety miles east in Meridian, MS., the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience incorporates RFID-triggered projection and curved LED screens to educate visitors on the state’s native creative luminaries, including William Faulkner, Oprah Winfrey, and Jim Henson.

Design firm Gallagher and Associates, which counts exhibits at the International Spy Museum and the National Archives in Washington, DC among its clients, drew from its team members’ experience in theatrical art and design for the museum project. The group’s extensive projection mapping experience was key to a series of overhead-projection pieces, including an exhibit on literary figures where 4K video animates a blank writing desk and typewriter with details on the writer’s life and writing style.

“The projection mapping technique we used really connects in a unique way a physical object [with the] cinematic storytelling environment,” said Ariel Effron, creative director at Gallagher and Associates. “That involves the very manual labor of mapping every key of the typewriter to be able to project them pixel accurate. We gain this sort of theatrical magic of the small-scale set.”

The museum’s culinary experience takes this concept a step further. When visitors place RFID-tagged plates at specific locations on a dining room table, RFID readers trigger tailored video content from the overhead projection system. Visitors learn about regional cuisine and the favorite foods of famous Mississippians, like Elvis Presley’s peanut butter and banana sandwich.

The museum also features a video experience that takes visitors on a simulated boat ride through the state’s natural history, using a series of staggered, curved LED screens that engulf viewers for a three-dimensional effect.

“I think [that arrangement of screens] creates a much more immersive environment,” said Effron. “It puts visitors in a very realistic envelope.

“When you take it from two dimensional to the third dimension, the peripheral vision of each visitor is surrounded. You are now inside this environment.”

Augmented Reality (AR) is growing in presence in industrial applications such as smart manufacturing and remote operation of industrial machinery. To serve workers that use devices in a wider range of locations or on the move, cellular connectivity is the better option. The 5G network, with extreme throughput, ultra-low latency, and uniform experience, will be the ideal solution for connected AR/VR experiences. ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on transformative technologies, forecasts that almost 10 percent of industrial smart glasses and standalone virtual reality (VR) devices will have a 5G connection by 2026.

“Wearing smart glasses, rather than using AR on handheld screens, empowers the worker to use both hands and look directly at the work that needs doing,” said Marina Lu, senior analyst at ABI Research. “AR will enable shop-floor workers to see a digital twin overlaid on a physical object with assembly or repair instructions according to customized needs. Remote applications that connect field engineers to a remote expert require high-accuracy interaction and low end-to-end latency for time-sensitive applications, and thus continuous connectivity is vital. When users in field service and maintenance are in remote locations where Wi-Fi is nonexistent, devices can leverage 4G and eventually 5G networks to keep these workers connected and safe.”

Connectivity vendors, such as Qualcomm, Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia, as well as telcos such as Verizon, SK Telekom, and Orange, view AR and VR as one of the prime use cases for the 5G network. Ericsson has recently used augmented reality troubleshooting (ART) at its own production sites in Tallinn, Estonia, and is expanding its use to other Ericsson sites in China. By using ART, the engineers can solve tricky issues with just-in-time fault finding data and immediate information sharing, which can boost productivity by 50 percent. Xerox Israel has deployed AR in the field to improve first-time fix rates, remote resolution rates, and mean time to repair.

Cellular connectivity could expand the possible working area of AR/VR. Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) can efficiently support simple remote devices that do not communicate frequently while remaining energy efficient. The combination of IoT and AR/VR improves the entire value chain for use in manufacturing. Some manufacturers have already started to adopt LPWA, as shown by Huawei and Toshiba’s NB-IoT solution for smart factory monitoring. Flowserve, a manufacturer and aftermarket service provider of flow control products and services, uses real-time sensors with AR to predict pump failure, show the exact steps for making the fix, and share management analytics.

“Mobility is the key to enhance user AR/VR experiences and industry market penetration, which poses new requirements on operator’s network structure and services, but also create new opportunities because only operators can create value in connecting the supply chain, connecting the factory and the product, and understanding the end customers,” said Eric Abbruzzese, principal analyst at ABI Research. “Ubiquitous connectivity is necessary for users to interact with the surrounding environment and receive on-demand information anytime and anywhere. New business models that can leverage connectivity capabilities and bring value to end users wherever they are operating need to be developed.”

These findings are from ABI Research’s Augmented and Virtual Reality Device Connectivity. This report is part of the company’s AR & Mixed Reality research service, which includes research, data, and executive foresights.

When discussing VR, thoughts often conjure up images of people wearing VR headsets or perhaps, for the more knowledgeable on the subject – a VR CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment).

But hidden away in an unassuming and unremarkable looking former TV studio on the outskirts of Lille, France – VR takes a new form.

“We believe this is the most immersive example of VR ever built,” proudly proclaimed Yann Coello, director of the SCALab laboratory (Science Cognitive Et Sciences Affectives) at the University, and coordinator of the Equipex IrDIVE investment program.

Designed, built and installed by Antycip Simulation – a French integrator of virtual reality solutions and 3D immersive rooms – The Open Reality Experience (or TORE as it’s more commonly known) marks a technological leap forward to existing flat-sided, walled VR CAVEs.

Capable of housing up to 20 people, TORE – which cost €2.5 million to build – uses a half sphere shaped painted acrylic screen (creating a room within a room) to provide a 180-degree view display with no visible walls or edges, thus removing any sense of depth and height once inside.

“The opportunities are enormous and the possibilities incredibly exciting”

Measuring four metres high by eight metres wide, the screen is eight metres deep. The projection surface is made of eight 30mm thick curved acrylic elements and two flat ones. These had to be delivered on site before being assembled using liquid acrylic; once the material cooled down, the structure was sanded to obtain an even projection surface. The team at Antycip Simulation had to design specific tools in order to assemble the elements. Different coatings were then tested before opting for the one that would offer the best visual performance. The painting process took two weeks to complete.

World without boundaries

Powered by 20 Christie Tri-DLP projectors (placed out of view behind), and using custom-made mapping/warping software (called myIG), the sphere is designed to create an immersive realistic 3D environment to walk around in.

In fact, Antycip claims it’s so realistic, they’ve had to put measures in place to ensure people don’t physically walk into the walls, with the image blurring or disappearing if they get too close.

“TORE represents a major scientific breakthrough for both scientists and technologists, enabling them to benefit from a totally innovative visualisation space that goes beyond the capacities of an immersive CAVE,” gushed Coello who’s been part of TORE since funding was granted in 2012.

“It really does set itself apart from any other CAVE, annihilating the visual disruption caused by cubic shapes. A traditional VR cave would have a front, sides and sometimes a top and bottom. In these environments, the content is not always fluid because you have different sharp angles that break the feeling of immersion. With TORE there are no break in the vision and there is no other structure like this in the world.”

Seeing is believing

To get a clearer understanding, AVTE was invited to test it out for ourselves, with the firm offering three different user cases by example.

But before entering the half sphere – there were two things required by way of preparation.

Firstly, due to the importance of keeping the acrylic CAVE in tip-top shape and the VR illusion unhindered, all those that step onto its surface must wear a set of slippers.

Secondly, and most crucially, users must don a pair of 3D glasses – comparable to those you wear when viewing a 3D movie at the cinema or at home. But, as you can see from the images, these are no ordinary 3D cinema glasses. Equipped with infrared sensors (see picture), these communicate directly with TORE’s tracking system (hidden), which follows the individual’s every movement, including where they happen to be looking, adjusting the image viewed accordingly.

"The glasses decrease visual fatigue, and more readily reinforces the immersion in the virtual world being projected"

VR without the headache

The glasses, so says Yann, provide significant benefits over VR headsets, removing eyestrain, allowing for longer usage, and improving balance due to the wearer being able to see their own body.

“The glasses decrease visual fatigue, and more readily reinforces the immersion in the virtual world being projected,” Yann explained. “After 10 minutes wearing a VR helmet or goggles, it can cause you some problems.

“The main difference with TORE is that you are physically embedded into the scene. So, it’s your body in the scene. When you wear a helmet you cannot see yourself, only the visual scene. Here it all feels real. There’s no feeling of claustrophobia and no feeling that you could be about to trip over something.”

Down to a fine art

With my slippers (forcing me to shuffle around like a moody school child) and glasses on, I stepped into TORE and was immediately transported back in time to 18th century Paris.

The location was Pont Notre-Dame, the most famous formely inhabited bridge in the history of Paris.

Today, the bridge is an empty open space providing pedestrians and vehicles with scenic 360-degree views of the river Seine and surrounding areas – including Notre-Dame cathedral. Back then however, the bridge (think Florence today) was lined with 60 or more buildings and a hive of activity. One of those buildings was (is) engrained in Parisian history – a tiny art boutique called Au Grand Monarque (later A la Pagode), occupied by Parisian art trader Edmé-François Gersaint.

“Careful where you walk,” someone shouted from behind me. “They didn’t have toilets back then”

Despite being demolished by 1788, a multidisciplinary team of scientists specialised in computer and historical sciences and 3D computer graphics professionals were able to bring the boutique back to life digitally for people (such as historians) to view, walk around and experience for themselves today.

“It was rebuilt using a 3D scanner,” explained Yann. “We have taken a lot of different examples from various different pieces of art and literature. It’s exactly how it was at the time, with real images of the pictures on the wall and the size and design of the building.”

Mixed reality

Being a digital recreation, the experience of walking around the boutique was a surreal one – like being absorbed into a computer game or animated film (think Mary Poppins or Tron). But that’s not a criticism.

The objective of being truly immersed was achieved instantly – with no visual boundaries to be seen and a real sense of space and freedom.

The tracking system worked with minimal (if any) latency, ensuring that views will always remain clear and adjusted accordingly.

From there, the setting was changed by a watching technician, sending me out into the street to give me a full view of the boutique from the bridge, whilst also taking in the sights of the surrounding areas.

“Careful where you walk,” someone shouted from behind me. “They didn’t have toilets back then.” I checked, but it was all clear – perhaps something to add in the future? Perhaps not.

A room with a view

The second of the three-user case demonstrations transported me to a room inside the Château de Selles in Cambrai, which was once used as a prison and not accessible to the public.

Unlike the boutique, the visuals creating the room were put together using a 3D camera scanner. The small room provides the opportunity to walk around as if you were there; crouching down to view different carvings and marks created by prisoners during the era it was used.

“It’s all real content, so you are seeing what’s actually there,” said Yann. “For many this would be the only opportunity to experience, view and study this room.”

The third and final room, reverting back to digital again, was a garage holding a Ferrari. This scenario provides the ability to explore the car with great detail, viewing from every angle possible. The 3D effects were so real you could almost feel the car. I even repeatedly moved my head to avoid banging it on an overhead light.

Business case

All three examples are designed to demonstrate just some of the business cases the project can provide.

In total, the project has received €17m in funding as part of a ten-year plan (see box out). Antycip is aiming to have the business commercially operational (and viable) within the next couple of years and is already in discussions with prospective clients.

Its main area of focus includes academic research (computer science, historical science and social science), but the company believes there are some big opportunities for businesses and governments when it comes to design.

This is an expensive toy and needs to be monetised

“This is an expensive toy and needs to be monetised,” said Olivier Colot, CRIStAL laboratory director.

“The idea is to try and emulate some of the ideas with brands. It could be architecture, it could be automotive, oil and gas, telecoms, energy – you name it. The idea would be to bring some funding from projects.

He continued: “If you’re an architect, you can use TORE to make sure the design, the space the lighting – everything is perfect. Perhaps you’re a car manufacturer and you want to test out a new design, so you allow consumers to take a look and sit inside first. It’s basically a decision-making tool. If Audi for example wants to have a new door and they want to make sure it slams correctly, they can test it in a VR setting first.

“On a bigger scale, if you’re the mayor of a city, you could look at and test out different examples of designs – bringing in people involved with the building of cities, politicians and people within public transportation.

“The opportunities are enormous and the possibilities incredibly exciting.”

What’s next?

With audio already possible, adding to the experiences (although not demonstrated on our visit) the next phase of the project will be in the form of interaction during the VR experience. This would provide feedback and the sensation of touching something physically.

“We’re not there yet, but that’s the goal going forward,” said Yann, concluding the tour.

With more than 100 researchers and companies all occupying its head office, all focused on advancing gaming, AV, VR and AR technology, it may not be too long before VR again takes another important step forward.

Underscoring its commitment to expand its reach to more commercial AV resellers than ever before, ZEISS has appointed Stampede to serve as a United States distribution partner for its ZEISS line of virtual reality headsets.

“ZEISS has been committed to contributing to technological progress for 170 years, developing the most innovative solutions in the market,” ZEISS business representative Dave Hodgson said. “Our partnership with Stampede will help us to bring our unique line of virtual reality headsets to more end users in more commercial markets than ever before. Stampede’s experienced sales network and their commitment to success will help us to exceed our growth objectives for the year.”

Offered within the ZEISS line of virtual reality products are the VR ONE and VR ONE Plus headsets. Designed for comfort and simplicity of use, the newer of the two—the VR ONE Plus—is a device that combines premium optics and appealing design. Compatible with select iPhone, Android, and Samsung Galaxy smartphone models, the lightweight design and 100 percent portability make it the perfect companion for videos, games, and augmented reality, according to the company.

Stampede president and COO Kevin Kelly added: “For years, ZEISS has consistently provided solutions that feature the most innovative technology and fit the highest quality standards for performance. We’ve seen growth in virtual reality solutions over the years and with the addition of the ZEISS line of virtual reality headsets to our portfolio of vendor partners, we look forward to furthering this course by offering new and unique solutions that will exceed customer expectations.”

Advanced Education has been named the Canadian distributor for Veative’s educational virtual reality (VR) solutions.

“Veative is a VR-focused education company that creates innovative VR curriculums at an affordable price point to transform how students are learning,” said Advanced executive vice president, Mark McPherson. “Veative is the first content provider in the space to develop an affordable and practical virtual reality solution for schools. It combines immersive and interactive education modules with plug-and-play virtual reality headsets and controllers. We are proud to bring their innovative technology to more K-12 schools in Canada than ever before!”

Veative is a global provider of education technology and learning simulations for schools and industries, using immersive technologies such as 3D, virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. Curating an ever-growing STEM library—currently with over 450 modules—Veative works to engage students with concepts.

“Everyone is talking about VR right now, and many are worried that this is a fad. But we strive to show the importance of having this tool in the classroom, which allows focused attention on topics, and is a valuable part of the learning process. With learning modules mapped to the curriculum, we can deliver a powerful VR solution for K-12 schools that will engage students with concepts, closing the gap between knowledge and understanding,” Dave Dolan, Veative’s director of product management, noted. “Advanced Education is the perfect partner for us to bring our solutions, with modules in both English and French, to Canada’s classrooms. We know that our partnership will be successful based on their impressive track record in introducing new edtech solutions to K-12 classrooms across Canada.”

Epson is set to showcase its laser projector solutions at InfoComm 2018, including the its 12,000 lumen native 4K 3LCD laser projector and the LightScene accent lighting laser projector. Demonstrating the power of laser technology across multiple markets, including rental and staging, spatial design and signage, education, and corporate, Epson will highlight its lineup of laser projector technology and software solutions, as well as its Moverio smart glasses in Booth C2220.

“InfoComm is an important show for Epson with attendance from around the globe,” said Richard Miller, director, commercial projectors and smart glasses, Epson America, Inc. “It is a great venue to showcase our cutting-edge display technologies, including Epson’s robust large venue laser projectors delivering new ways to inspire audiences, LightScene offering experiential content, and Moverio smart glasses for a variety of consumer, commercial and industrial applications.”

Epson’s new laser projectors on display at InfoComm this year will include:

Pro L12000Q and Pro L20000U

The Pro L12000Q is a 12,000 lumen native 4K 3LCD laser projector, while the Pro L20000U boasts 20,000 lumens of color and white brightness and WUXGA resolution. Both models share the same compact chassis for integration into existing infrastructure; they also feature support for HDR, 360-degree installation flexibility, backward lens compatibility, swappable interface boards, tile assist, and a sealed optical and laser engine to protect from dust and smoke. These large venue laser projectors are designed for rental and staging events, lecture halls, churches, and digital signage installations.

LightScene

As a new category of accent lighting laser projectors for digital art and signage, LightScene is designed to simultaneously illuminate and project dynamic content on virtually any surface or material to engage audiences, and provide an immersive experience for commercial signage applications in markets such as retail, hospitality, showrooms, and museums.

PowerLite L-Series

The new PowerLite L615U, L610U, L510U, L400U, L610W, L500W, and L610 feature an integrated laser light source, up to 6,000 lumens of color and white brightness, resolution up to WUXGA, and enhanced wireless technology to connect to multiple devices. The PowerLite L-Series delivers quick and easy setup across devices for the education and corporate markets.

Moverio Smart Glasses

Epson will also showcase its Moverio BT-350 smart glasses and Moverio BT-300 FPV Drone Edition smart glasses at InfoComm. Designed to transform the approach to learning, the Moverio BT-350 smart glasses can help improve how industries meet demands, train employees, record data, design, and test products. Featuring a built-in camera, the smart glasses allow users to stream live or send recorded videos to anyone connected around the world for real-time analysis, completely hands-free. Epson’s Moverio BT-300 FPV Drone Edition smart glasses offer a transparent display of the live drone camera feed enabling hands-free, first-person views (FPV) for broadcast, videography, cinematography, and remote image capture.

The What: At InfoComm 2018, IHSE will demonstrate an all-new solution to extend and switch immersive reality signals over long distances using Draco KVM systems.

The What Else: Extending the distance between source computers and users, and switching between VR/AR applications are impediments to more widespread adoption of these technologies. IHSE's Draco KVM solutions allow high-performance computers for VR/AR systems, CAVEs, and large LED walls to be located at a remote distance of up to 80 kilometers via a fiber connection. This approach eliminates the need to locate expensive PC hardware equipment close to users or to purchase multiple high-performance computers. Redundancy options for mission-critical systems are also available.

The Bottom Line: The new solution addresses growing interest in virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) systems in a wide variety of pro AV market sectors: in corporate and education applications such as product design and prototyping; in situational training and advanced control environments; and in retail and leisure applications including cinemas, shops, and museums.

For Richard F. Morse, the process is as interesting—and valuable—as the final product. Currently serving as the media technical specialist at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH, Morse is encouraging students to collaborate and push the boundaries of creativity. New technologies are proving to be useful tools for educational inquiry.

INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT

Morse knows firsthand the value of interdisciplinary approaches in university classrooms: he holds a BA in literary studies from Middlebury College in Vermont and an MFA in film and media arts from Temple University in Philadelphia. In his post at Franklin Pierce University, he is enhancing pedagogy with audiovisual equipment and cutting-edge technologies. As new media tools like AR, VR, and 360 rigs hit the market, Morse sees exciting new opportunities for next-level storytelling.

As many higher education stakeholders know, every new semester ushers in different technological requirements, from projector adapters to BYOD support, to software updates. That often translates into needs assessments and refining departmental missions. A new endeavor in 2017 for The Depot—the division that provides the university with professional-grade audio and video field equipment, including six non-linear editing suites with Adobe Creative Suite software—meant splitting from the information technology’s media services function. Last year, The Depot moved into the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication (known as “the Fitz” and “Fitzwater”), a high-tech hub that houses innovative departments, vibrant academic degree programs like the communications department, social media and emergent technologies (SMET), and extracurricular programming. “The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication is all about the student experience,” said Dr. Kristen Nevious, director of The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND EMERGENT TECHNOLOGIES

An interdisciplinary team of faculty passionate about technology—professors Paul Bush, Heather Tullio, Gary Heald, Dr. Raysa Erramilli, and Dr. Kristen Nevious—worked under dean Kerry McKeever’s guidance for several years to develop and create the social media and emergent technologies major, which was among the first of its ilk in the country. While the program was going through the curriculum committee, the university supported the GoPro technology at a time when it was cutting edge.

“There were few training courses to attend,” Nevious said. “We all—students and faculty alike—learned through immersive learning experiences. Our student media have been out in the field using the technology since the summer of 2016, covering the two national political conventions and exploring its storytelling capacity on campus.”

Professor Heather Tullio has used those experiences to develop the 360 Storytelling course, and this past semester was the first in which students were eligible to enroll. “At the same time, I worked with the student media to explore augmented reality applications in the newsroom, and I developed the course, which will be offered for the first time in the fall,” Dr. Nevious said. “We look forward to graduating our first SMET students in 2020, and we have no doubt they will be leaders in the field.”

Also new to SMET is professor Christopher Previte, who is the first full-time member of the program, and he is already contributing his expertise. He and Tullio are both leaders in the campus digital literacy movement.

NEW CHALLENGES, NEW LEARNING EXPERIENCES

With the transition from IT to Fitzwater came Richard Morse. His responsibilities now include teaching new media courses, managing studio operations, and supporting student and media productions.

Morse’s first months working in Fitzwater were busy with the transition from IT and related tasks such as streamlining audiovisual equipment inventory management. On any given day, you can find him teaching in one of the studios or classrooms, or supporting student editing or the recording of podcasts in the acoustically treated Internet Radio Studio. He also leads webcasts using the NewTek TriCaster and manages campus productions for live events. One such production included an ambitious six-camera shoot of the Presidential Installation, all with a student crew.

The cutting-edge technologies that Morse uses in the field are woven into his course syllabi, including his popular new class, 360-Degree Storytelling.

“We’re using our GoPro 10-camera array and VideoStitch, the stitching software,” Morse said. “We’re editing in Adobe Premiere, in the new 360 VR interface. The students are learning how to use 360-degree film technologies, and we’re exploring techniques to tell different kinds of stories.”

One example of innovative storytelling is a music video that the students are directing, filming, and editing. The project tells a story through dance and movement, calling upon the diverse interests of the Franklin Pierce students. From student choreographers and dancers to videographers, editors, and lighting experts, this music video is a case study in collaboration.

THE (VERY) BIG PICTURE

Other fascinating projects in which audiovisual technologies play a pivotal role are a new 360 video of the student-run volunteer fire department and a video of a gallery exhibit. “We’re using 360 in three different locations for the gallery video,” Morse said. “The professor, who is the artist, is recording a voiceover in studio B, and we’ll use some of his voiceover. We’ll be talking about his art, methods, inspiration, and all the other elements of his process.”

Morse explained how the students plan to cut the audio track and create a cohesive narrative using visuals from 360 to support it. “So if [the artist] is talking about what’s on the other side of the room, you can use the 360 technology to spin around and look at the painting that he’s talking about.”

ACADEMIC AND SYSTEMATIC

While the 360 rig was on campus before Morse arrived, he is a key part of the initiative to bring 360 video into the academic arena by teaching the inaugural course in 360 Storytelling. He is also slated to teach an augmented reality course next semester. A recent grant received by the school will help to upgrade the campus TV studio as well as its augmented reality and virtual reality tools. Oculus Rift virtual reality systems are one of the technologies that the Fitzwater Center received, as well as new 360-degree cameras that will allow students to shoot in and create stereoscopic content. “That is something that I’ve been a part of, as far as bringing to the school more ways to use our virtual reality in an academic context,” Morse said. The next logical step is how to use content and techniques honed in the academic setting for “telling stories in the real world.”

There is another valuable lesson to having emerging technology on campus: training students to be respectful of the equipment. “We know that we are on the forefront and technology is not easily replaced. It is expensive, and we want to get the most out of it before we move on to the next.”

ENHANCING CREATIVITY AND CAREER READINESS

While interfaces and operating systems change, the one constant is that there will be a new platform or new tool faster than you can say “hashtag.” Morse observes that his students are mostly comfortable with AV technology usage, even the latest iterations.

“They take to new technology really well,” Morse said, and shared that one of the attributes he appreciates about Franklin Pierce students is their “can-do attitude” and intrepidity in pursing goals. “In a way, they are fearless,” he said. “I tell them that they can make mistakes, so they’re willing to work, try new things, and experiment with the technology. And I think that they’re naturally inclined to some of the VR work because a lot of the students are gamers. They have headsets at home.”

Morse believes that the deployment of 360, VR, and AR technologies is happening across higher education, though some institutions are making it more systematic.

“The demand is increasing,” he said. Though many schools are just getting starting with teaching VR and augmented reality, “there is a desire to consume this kind of immediate content.” He recently attended the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Conference in New York where he met other media technical specialists and teachers. “We were exchanging ideas and sharing course materials.”

Morse’s advice for technologists and professors who want to make forays into emerging technologies, or pivot from traditional broadcasting into AR, VR, and 360, is to attend conferences with specific AR and VR tracks. He also encourages media technicians and AV departments to help faculty explore the possibilities. “I will be conducting faculty development to show someone in the science field how they could use an Oculus Rift. If they’re teaching anatomy, they could use some of the scientific programming that’s out there already and use that to enhance and augment their classroom experience. It can support the ways they teach and help reinforce core concepts.”

Ultimately, Morse believes what we now consider “new technologies” will become integral parts of our daily life. People are already interacting in their homes with smart speakers—voice commands are bridging the algorithmic and augmented reality worlds, he said. The fact that Franklin Pierce is at the nexus of emerging technology is significant.

“It’s unique at our school, being a campus of 1,200 people, that we are able to implement these technologies and have students on some of the latest equipment, so when they graduate and move into the workforce they can say, ‘Oh, I’ve used this. I know how to stitch. I was on the first version of it and I’ve watched it mature.’ I think that’s impressive that we’re able to give students these kinds of opportunities.”

Margot Douaihy is the editor-at-large of AV Technology.

Welcome to The Fitz

The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication—affectionately known as “The Fitz”—at Franklin Pierce University is dedicated to educating leaders of conscience in public communication. In addition to housing the University’s Department of Communication, the Fitz is the home for the University’s nationally recognized polling operation and the Pierce Media Group, which consists of the student-run newspaper, TV studio, Internet Radio Studio, and Raven Sports Broadcasting Network. http://www.franklinpierce.edu

Snapshot of Tech in The Fitz

• * Adobe Creative Cloud
• * Backbone Internet Radio Production Suite
• * Canon DSLR Cameras
• * GoPro Cameras and 360 Rig
• * Insta360 Pro Cameras
• * Marantz Recorders for Location Sound Recording
• * NewTek Tricaster and Tricaster Mini
• * Oculus Rift
• * Shure, Sennheiser, and Sony Professional Microphones
• * Microsoft HoloLens
• * Television Studio – FPTV

Go Figure

As reported in NewBay’s Installation, figures from analyst IDC forecast that global revenues for the AR/VR market will increase 100 percent or more over each of the next four years, with spending on AR/VR products and services expected to soar from $11.4 billion in 2017 to nearly $215 billion 2021. Take a VR Tour of Franklin Pierce University campus: https://www.youvisit.com/fpuravens/101873

Virtual reality is not new. Simulation spaces such as CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment), and other simulators have been around for nearly two decades. However, the collective technologies that have traditionally gone into such largescale environments were astronomically expensive. But times are changing, and technology that was once reserved for those with the highest of budgets is making its way into all facets of everyday life—including delivering amazing up-close-and-personal experiences to enrich the learning experiences of fertile young minds.

For most schools, integrating virtual reality into the classroom is in its infancy. “It starts with building awareness,” said Maya Georgieva, co-founder at Digital Bodies, an immersive VR/AR/MR consulting group. A small number of students might have experienced Samsung’s Gear VR or Sony’s PlayStation VR headset, but the classroom experience is different.

Georgieva recommended schools first build an awareness about VR and AR outside of the classroom in an extracurricular activity. Then, employees can “think of ways these emerging technologies can connect to what are taking in place in the classroom. Often it is during these events that faculty see the potential of how the technology may connect to their areas of study, research, or classroom.”

Most places only have a small number of high-end VR headsets Georgieva noted. In these cases, other students in the class will see what the headset wearer is viewing on a video wall. “For me it’s not really about wiring every student in the classroom to have a headset on their face,” she said. “Where it is useful now is to enhance the learning experience by having students step into faraway places or witness something up close, and in some cases, being able to walk or interact with objects within the space. Then use these new experiences as an opportunity to enhance the classroom discussion bringing a unique perspective from having been there or stepped into somebody else’s shoes.”

Mixed reality (MR) is taking augmented reality to the next level. “When we talk about mixed reality, it is not only a digital overlay of contextual information, but one where digital objects are integrated into—and responsive to—the natural world and you can actively interact with them,” Georgieva said. This is where products such as Microsoft’s HoloLens and Magic Leap come into play.

Visualization technology, encompassing VR and MR, was cited in EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research’s Higher Education’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2017 report. “What they have in common is that they tap the brain’s inherent ability to rapidly process visual information, identify patterns, and sense order in complex situations,” the report noted.

AR/VR/MR have the ability to enable educators to create a personalized learning experience. “At its core that means that with these new immersive technologies, we are able to give students the opportunity to practice and fail safely,” Georgieva said. “Nothing really breaks in the virtual world the way it does in the physical world. We can respond to students individually and provide feedback to them contextually. This is where I think virtual and immersive technologies will play a huge role in the future of education.”

The Audio Engineering Society will hold the second International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality on August 20-22, 2018, at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, Redmond, WA. The conference and exhibition will bring together a community of influential research scientists, engineers, VR and AR developers, and content creators to explore such topics as: spatial audio capture, rendering, and synthesis over headphones and speakers; binaural, ambisonics, and wave field synthesis techniques; 3D sound field navigation; HRTF modeling and derivation from optical and/or acoustic measurements; reverb and room acoustics synthesis; 3D audio mixing and content production; and sound design for VR/AR.

The conference’s keynote presenters—Jean-Marc Jot, Ivan Tashev, and Ravish Mehra—are at the forefront of innovation for VR and AR.

According to Tashev, “Audio and video are integral components of AR/VR devices. Spatial audio is an area still under development; we need better capture, representation, and rendering technologies. To make it mainstream, we have to catch up with authoring and editing tools as well.”

The three-day conference and expo will focus on the dissemination of top-level research in the field of spatial audio for virtual and augmented reality, with demonstrations and discussions focused on technical solutions and recommended practices. Leading researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders will offer panel discussions, tutorials, and workshops on new and forthcoming technologies.

The deadline for submission of papers and workshops is May 1, 2018. For more information content submissions, click here.

The conference aims to be as interactive and cross-disciplinary as the field of VR and AR itself, and will include an exhibition of relevant software and product demos. Organizers expect to attract talented researchers and developers who are creating the next generation of audio tools for immersive content.

22 Miles has released AR Plug-in, its feature release for mobile wayfinding applications, which it will demonstrate at DSE 2018 in booth 1543.

Visitors can now find any destination with a superimposed pathway app from their phone camera. 22 Miles designed this to make mobile wayfinding more intuitive and match the standards set out by the likes of Google Maps.

The 22 Miles mobile app capabilities support features such as 3D wayfinding for outdoor campus and interior floor maps; menus, product browsing, and search; smart search directory; meeting and event booking; emergency notifications; social media, surveys, forms and Google Maps for local amenities and offsite locations; indoor positioning support via Bluetooth beacons (BLE) and Wi-Fi access points; and of course, augmented reality route visualization (AR) plug-in.

To expand further on the AR Plug-in, users can get promotions in real time throughout their navigational experience, as notifications alert them of deals within their proximity. The plug-in can integrate with existing organizational apps, and 22 Miles offers app design services for end users.