Elevated XR Experiences From Groove Jones

Extended reality(XR) is one of those magical mediums that allows complete freedom of human expression. XR let’s us alter our environments best suited for our journey in life. We are already close to our devices, relying on them for everyday interactions. Elevated XR experiences will allow us to immerse our devices in our physical reality. Companies and public institutions are already diving in XR, leveraging the potential of immersive technologies. Job on-boarding and training has seen significant improvement with XR. Colleges have provided meaningful impactful immersive experiences for students. And brands are delivering unparalleled experiences encapsulating their consumers.

Who is producing elevated XR experiences

When it comes to widespread adoption of XR technology, Groove Jones is single handedly setting the standards for elevated XR experiences. The XR production studio has been producing compelling XR applications since 2015. To keep Groove Jones grooving, the studio incorporates an eclectic team of XR experts, with skillsets ranging from graphic design and content creation to project management and brand engineering. But what’s an artist without their tools. This is why they sport a high tech virtual reality development lab in Dallas, Tx. The room-scale VR workspace plus hand-picked digital tools, means Groove Jones have the capabilities to unleash high-fidelity XR experiences.

Groove Jones and Raypacks solution for learning the AVIA pool heater

One XR solution to come out of their development lab was for residential and commercial pool professionals. Raypack wanted to provide an realistic virtual training simulation for their AVIA pool heater. They believe the best way to learn is by doing and leverage VR to give individuals necessary hands on training, for proper installation of the pool heater. HTC Vive Pro system was the choice of hardware to transport people into the virtual training environment. This is a significant use case of VR. This means XR provides manufacturing companies the ability to teach people more effectively on how to use and install their products safely.

“A Flood of Reality” VR Motion Ride Experience Teaser

The Ark Encounter brings attendees right to the day of The Great Flood

Location based entertainment(LBE) venues also benefit from elevated XR experiences. Virtual Truth Experiences, a company focused on biblical experiences, partnered with Groove Jones to journey back to the moments of Noah and the Ark, named The Ark Encounter. Combining both the MX4D® Motion EFX Experience seat and HTC Vive VR headset, people are immersed in an visceral biblical journey. At the start of the adventure, people enter a time capsule which is accompanied by a bot named P.O.D.. It takes a few time jumps before P.O.D. calibrates correctly to jump to the moments of when the Ark was being built. These moments include Noah’s son’s planning and constructing, the paired animals boarding the vessel and the Great Flood. This adventure can be encountered at Truth Traveler.

Victoria’s Dia De Los Muertos AR Campaign

Elevating product packaging with elevated XR experiences

Brands of course have been investing in XR tech for increasing brand engagement and providing consumers a refreshing way to interact with their products. Groove Jones produced an fantastical and artful augmented reality application for Constellation Brands’ Victoria Dia De Los Muertos campaign. Package labels and intricately designed coasters were used to activate the webAR experience. Once activated, unique art is brought to life, representing the themes of Life and Death in celebration of the Mexican holiday. It is an experience that’s easily shareable with the pass of a bottle and entertains the consumer with mesmerizing art. An excellent adaption of branded AR.

Interactive Otter Chat for the St. Louis Aquarium

Bringing XR into locaation based venues

These are only but a few companies who’ve relied on Groove Jones XR services. They provide business solutions, branded XR content, LBE venue experiences and their proprietary Groove Tech. GrooveTech is a packaged set of hardware and software technologies for location based on-site activation and experiences. Their full size human scanner, XR Avatar Station, captures 3D data for constructing personalized holographic avatars. St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station used GrooveTech to their Otter Chat interactive talk show. Tommy the Otter, an North American River Otter engage attendees in real-time, enhancing the level of engagement to the attraction.

A beautiful future to explore

Amusement parks, industrial manufacturers and consumer brands are finding their businesses beautified with elevated XR experiences. Another level of dimension of media opens another level of dimension for the business to express itself. XR is another way to satisfy the human curiosity. To fulfill the fantastical landscape we imagine within ourselves. Groove Jones XR studio deserve much respect for leading the way in premium immersive experiences, pushing the bounds of the human imagination. Extended reality is truly extending human reach.

Thank you for reading from Around Your Screen!

@Framestore VR Team of Dedicated Developers are producing Hi-end #VR films in Partnership With Leading Brand Companies

Its always interesting to see what digital developers and films experts are doing to push forward the potential of virtual reality. I’ve written in a previous post about how Storyhunter has incorporated a community of experienced directors and developers to understand and explore the various ways VR can enhance the very experiences that two-D screens are not able to achieve. This is why Framestore deserves recognition in their feat of producing high caliber films in virtual reality.

Framestore VR is a team of highly experienced and skilled filmmakers from Framestore Pictures, who produces groundbreaking immersive experiences, as well as work with brands and enthusiasts to provide them with a deeper understanding of VR’s possibilities through workshops. They have had the pleasure of working with Marvel, Samsung, HBO, Samsung, Paramount Pictures and other hi-profile leaders in the entertainment industry.

Through their partnerships, they have created a impressive portfolio of immersive entertainment. One such experience was a collaboration with Samsung and Marvel to produce 360-degree video, “Battle for Avengers Tower.” Built for the Gear VR and currently viewable on YouTube 360, you get first-hand slow-motion experience as Iron-man, as he flies through hordes of sub-Ultrons and aiding his friends, to eventually run into Ultron Prime himself.

As stated by Framestore VR, “The solution was to open with an epic real-time rendering, fully interactive environment and then transition to a stunning pre-rendered 360 video.” In order to direct the gaze of viewer to next action sequence or heroes, they utilized rockets and flying weapons, such as Thor’s hammer, which smoothly shifts viewers attention.

They confess that the most time-consuming technical obstacle, was the rendering of the spherical video. The entire production time of this 360 video took them under 2-months. Once released, Battle for Avengers Tower obtained over 2million views and was talked about on CNET, VRFocus, Wired and Android Headlines.

Though this is one of the many immersive films Framestore has produced. They’ve worked with Fiat for “The Power of X,” Universal Hip Hop Museum for “Kurtix Blow,” Marriott for “The Teleporter,” HBO Game of Thrones for “Ascend the Wall,” and their multi award-winning film in partnership with Lockheed Martin, “The Field Trip to Mars.”

Overall, Framestore VR main goal is to create Oscar-winning immersive experiences that will inevitably push the VR marketplace forward. To stay up with their latest developments and plans, you can connect with them via Twitter @Framestore.

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@Vrideo is One of the First Extensive #VR Publishing Platforms for Immersive Content Creators

When Google Cardboard came along, an inexpensive way to view virtual reality content, they utilize their YouTube platform to allow content creators to take advantage of millions of users that get on YouTube everyday. Now if you own your own mobile VR headset, with exclusion to iOS users for now, you can enter the Videos that display the Google Cardboard logo. But they are not the only platform that gives people access to 360-degree videos.

This brings me to a 2014 startup by the name of Vrideo. Founded by Alex Rosenfeld and Kwangwei Hwang, Vrideo sole mission is to provide an extensive platform for 360-degree/VR video creators to publish on. To keep this endeavor powered, they have received multiple investments, coming from CEO of HuffPost, CEO of Thrillest, Vice Chair of Viacom, Co-founder of Machinima, etc.

Behind the scene, Vrideo is hauled by dedicated VR enthusiasts Sean Lawrence(Lead Web Developer), Anthony Mariani(Head of Publisher Relations), Mike Wang(Mobile Developer) and Evan Stern(Unity Developer). As quoted by them, “As a team, we believe life is the sum of your experiences. With Vrideo, we hope to make possible for people experiences at a breadth and magnitude that might otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Vrideo is now accessible to the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Gear VR and various smartphones. There are also over hundred 360/VR videos to be viewed ranging from Comedy, Educational, Films, Sports, Travel, Technology, Gaming, Experimental and so forth. On top of an extensive category of videos, they also provide a list of trending videos of the past day or all time.

In an interview at the VR Film Fest, Tony Mariani states, “Our Mission is to be the best, most fully built out, hardware agnostic immersive video platform available,” and they are doing just that. If you don’t believe me go ahead and visit their website and see for yourself. You can also connect with them via Twitter @Vrideo.

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@InnerSpaceVR Creates a Surreal VR Experience based of French Composer Paul Dukas Titled ‘Firebird: La Peri’

I’ve recently wrote a post about games originally made for two-D interfaces being redesigned for virtual reality. But how about transforming a original piece of music into a full on VR experience. This is what VR developers of InnerSpace VR, one of the first dedicated VR production studios, has done.

Innerspace studio is powered by dedicated developers who have been creating VR applications, even before Facebook’s acquirement of Oculus Rift started to materialize the reality of VR to the public.

Following the release of the HTC Vive, the studio developed a experience based of a musical piece from famous French composer, Paul Abraham Dukas ‘La Peri’, into a magical VR adventure titled ‘Firebird: La Peri.’ As you enter the surreal environment, you become Iskender, an aging king who is seeking the ‘flower of immortality.’

As you, the prince, try to find the ‘flower of immortality,’ you must steal the sacred petals from the guardians who puts on a spiritual dance protecting the flower. Once you’ve surpassed each guardian, the spirit La Peri comes out to dance, afterwards you must make a very crucial decision: Sacrifice the ‘flower of immortality,’ or sacrifice La Peri.

Firebird: La Peri has received numerous awards, including Best Interactive Experience at Kaleidoscope 2016 World Tour, the VRScout Art Show, the Golden Headset at Paris Virtual Film Festival and award at Official Selection Valves Booth.

In RoadToVr’s review, Paul James praises InnerSpace VR’s creation saying “Sharing space with the beautifully motion captured dancer, who forms the centerpiece of the experience, elicited some of the most powerful sensations of presence I’ve ever had in VR.”

Overall, if you own an HTC Vive, this is one of those experiences that’ll utilize the full capabilities of your space and touch controllers. In the relaunched title, you now gain access to a magic book, which provides more depth to the story and get to hear the story narrated in John Rhys-Davies voice. Firebird: La Peri can be purchased on SteamVR for $10, so go ahead and try it out.

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