Agenda

Description

A focused panel discussion amongst artists and technologists working at the intersection of XR and the performing arts on opportunities, challenges and the future for integrations.

Speakers

Anne Hiatt

Executive and Artistic Director , Opera on Tap

Victoria Robertson

Co-Founder , OperaMap

Shahrohk Yadegari

Director , UC San Diego Sonic Arts Research and Development

Camille Donegan

Independent XR Producer , Virtual Reality Ireland

Kamala Sankaram

VR, AR, XR Musical Compositions , Composer

Jerre Dye

POV and storytelling in XR performing arts projects , Theatrical writer and Librettist

Description

Timoni West, Director of XR Tools at Unity, will go through some historical contexts around early pioneers and thinkers in computing, and how their particular mental models influence us even today. As we reach mass consumer computer adoption, but still consider computers far from truly human-focused, it’s a useful exercise to consider why we continue to make technology that feels so foreign to us.

Speakers

Timoni West

Director of XR Research , Unity Technologies

Description

Join David Varela and Jose M. Blanco Gomez of The Manufacturing Technology Centre's advanced visualization team to explore the influence and impact of new telexistence paradigms. Learn how technology initially planned for space exploration will help to overcome actual society and workspace challenges here on Earth, thanks to next-generation breakthroughs in mixed reality, AI, and haptic and robotic technologies.

Speakers

David Varela

Technology Manager - Advanced Visualization (AR/VR/MR) , The Manufacturing Technology Centre

Jose M Blanco Gomez

Advanced Research Engineer (VR/AR/MR) , The Manufacturing Technology Centre

Description

Near-eye displays – like those in augmented, virtual, and mixed reality devices – project virtual objects and information in close proximity to the human eye, sometimes encompassing the user’s entire field of view. This proximity not only creates immersive visual experiences, but also enhances defects like poor contrast, nonuniform brightness or color, line and pixel defects, low image clarity, and image positioning issues. To accurately test the quality of displays that are viewed so near to the eye, a display measurement solution should take into account the position, limitations, and characteristics of the human eye within the unique viewing environment of an XR headset.

In this presentation, Davis Bowling from Radiant Vision Systems will describe an innovative imaging solution for near-eye display testing that replicates human vision for the most accurate evaluation of the user’s visual experience.

Topics include:

· Challenges of near-eye display measurement

· Important optical design features that allow imaging systems to replicate human vision within headsets

· Radiant’s AR/VR display measurement system and software analysis capabilities

An audience Q&A with representatives from the Radiant team will follow the presentation.

Speakers

Davis Bowling

Manager of Sales – North America , Radiant Vision Systems, LLC

Description

See how the innovators of DreamWorks Advanced Creative Technology team use XR to bring the vast worlds and larger than life characters from the big screen to your breakfast table. We’ll explore how we use the newest technology and immersive narratives to connect with our audiences while preserving everything we love about our stories and characters. Embracing the growing capabilities of augmented reality, we work to extend the reach of Trolls World Tour into all of our worlds.

Speakers

Sarah Scialli

Mocap Engineer , DreamWorks Animation

Jubin Dave

Product Lead Strategy , DreamWorks Animation

Christina Lee Storm

Manager of Virtual Production (NLAB) , Netflix

Description

There is a new form of augmented reality in film and television production. This session will cover advancements in “in-camera visual effects” and how this technique is changing the film and TV industry. There are new software developments in real-time game engines, combining hardware developments in GPUs and on-set video equipment, so that filmmakers can now augment their sets and capture final pixel visual effects while still on set – enabling new levels of creative collaboration and efficiency during principal photography. These new developments allow changes to digital scenes, even those at final pixel quality, to be seen instantly on high-resolution LED walls – an exponential degree of time savings over a traditional CG rendering workflow. This session will include a case study on use of Unreal Engine in the making of ‘The Mandalorian.’

Speakers

David Morin

Industry Relations at Epic Games; Ex. Dir. at Academy Software Foundation , Epic Games - Unreal Engine

Description

Augmented Reality has proven to show value within many critical enterprise verticals including manufacturing, architecture, engineering, construction, energy and utilities. Given the world’s current pandemic situation where there are travel restrictions and the increased need for remote work, remote assistance, training and reskilling of a workforce, it is now more important than ever for companies to have enterprise ready, easy to deploy digital solutions. Lenovo will discuss the current global situation and how customers are deploying solutions like remote assistance, guided workflows, and remote collaboration to improve productivity, reduce errors, and decrease service resolution times. Lenovo will announce a new ThinkReality solution that makes it easier than ever for enterprises to deploy these solutions at scale.

Speakers

Michael Leone

Director, ThinkReality AR/VR , Lenovo

Description

Futurus partnered with United Way of Greater Atlanta, Everfi, and the NFL to create “Call the Play.” The experience is based on the Character Playbook, a digital learning platform designed to help middle school kids learn how to make tough decisions in challenging situations and develop healthy relationships.
The experience debuted at the Super Bowl Live Experience in Atlanta, Georgia in the nine-days leading up to Super Bowl LIII. Over 12,000 attendees passed through United Way of Greater Atlanta's booth. Individuals were given the opportunity to put on a headset and be transported to a 3D replica of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium where they were greeted by NFL Hall of Famer, Jerry Rice, who served as the host of the experience. From there, individuals were able to make selections and learn from how to navigate difficult situations in a safe, judgement-free zone. The children (and adults) who tried the experience learned what responses elicited the most ideal outcomes. This interactive, learning experience proved to be an effective way to communicate how best to navigate tough situations like bullying. It was presented in an engaging and memorable format with which the target audience was able to relate.
Sara Fleeman (United Way of Greater Atlanta) and Annie Eaton (Futurus) will walk audience members through the decision-making, development and deployment processes. They will share insights, challenges and solutions in a fast-paced deployment on the national stage.
Attendees of this session will learn:
• How to make tough decisions on a deadline for a national event.
• Rationale for using VR to create empathy and educate.
• Buying process for a company seeking creative thinking.
• The process behind delivering three digital mediums of characters in one experience – 2D video, 3D character modeling, and volumetric capture.
• Challenges and learnings from hardware deployment on-site.

Speakers

Annie Eaton

CEO , Futurus

Sara Fleeman

Director, B2B Marketing , United Way of Greater Atlanta

Description

3D printing has been a gamechanger in many industries and makes the most impact where customization of products is combined with rapid turnaround and volume production. The Luxexcel 3D print technology is a unique technology that offers opportunities to integrate smart technology into prescription lenses and create the lenses of the future.

Smart eyewear has been identified as a the new revolution similar to the smartphone revolution of the past. 3D printing of lenses paves the way for creating smart eyewear in a form factor comparable to traditional eyewear and bridge the gap between technology and prescription eyewear.

By making use of the Luxexcel 3D printing technology for lenses, technology partners can create smart lenses and combine functions into one single lens. Think of lenses with special optical properties or integrated smart technology like a foil, display or waveguide. This results in smart glasses that look like regular glasses.

Speakers

Guido Groet

Chief Strategy Officer , Luxexcel

Description

In this session, leading news organizations will reflect on the current state of immersive journalism. Talking points will include storytelling and the use of interactive narratives, ethical considerations, what medium (AR vs VR) is better for specific stories, and the process of choosing what projects are worth turning into immersive experiences.

Speakers

Laura Hertzfeld

Director, XR Partnership Program, Yahoo! News , Verizon Media Group

Yuliya Parshina-Kottas

Immersive Storytelling - Graphics and Multimedia Editor , The New York Times

Edwin Rogers

Founder , vrvideo.tv

Ray Soto

Director of Emerging Technology , USA Today

Description

The common conception that integrating and launching XR technologies in mobile applications is expensive and challenging is an outdated notion. Integration is easier than ever with low code and no code SDKs. In online fashion retail, 3D scanning apps will have a massive impact on the consumer experience. For traditionally sized apparel, it means a better fit which leads to higher sales and fewer returns. Mobile 3D scanning also broadens the online market of bespoke products by allowing customers to easily provide 3D scans to businesses who can extract accurate measurements on a consistent basis Through the development and demonstration of low-code solutions for implementing 3D scanning into mobile e-commerce applications, Scandy is changing the way the world views integrating and launching XR technologies.

Speakers

Cole Wiley

CEO, Co-Founder , Scandy

Description

Post CoVid-19, Location Based Entertainment and Attractions face particular challenges to help guests get comfortable with having fun together in theme parks again. Join Terry Sanderson of Dreamcraft Attractions to explore these challenges and see why 2019’s ‘Midnight Ride’ VR attraction is well positioned to handle re-opening while maintaining high levels of guest hygiene and throughput due to it’s unique design, layout and features.

Speakers

Terry Sanderson

Business and Product Development , DreamCraft Attractions

Description

The St. Jude Hall of Heroes, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between ALSAC, Facebook, Flight School, BBDO and Oculus, launched on Giving Tuesday as part of the Virtual Reality (VR) for Good initiative. Facebook and Oculus wanted to challenge the creative industry to innovate around one world-wide problem; helping to end childhood cancer on a global level. Our donations for Giving Tuesday were up 54% over the prior year.
The Hall of Heroes is set entirely in Virtual Reality and features 12 stylized hero statues of current and former St. Jude patients. They are drawn using a superhero "lens" to combine each patient's personality, likes, hopes and dreams into one, cohesive vision.

Speakers

Brandon Ellis

Experience Developer , ST. Jude Children's Research Hospital Inc

Description

Unfortunately, the days of delivering sizzle videos & corporate logos to starry eyed investors and corporate boards is over. Like any mature solution, we need to show true ROI, both internally and to end customers. Eric will review the hurdles of moving beyond the innovation lab to deployment, detailing how Lenovo is accelerating XR adoption by bridging partnerships between XR solution providers and their sizable enterprise customer base. We’ll present a deep dive case study on our solution partner Holo One

Speakers

Eric Mizufuka

Partner Manager, Commercial AR/VR , Lenovo

Description

An enterprise-grade high-quality Mixed Reality (MR) requires both performance and scale. However, existing MR systems are severely limited in both aspects, thus severely restricting adoption and effectiveness of the medium. Enterprises are facing difficulty in computation with large 3D data sets at ultra-low latency; real-time collaboration and sharing across platforms; and complex 3D scene understanding in real-world environments. In this session you will learn how GridRaster uses its cloud-based (remote server based ) MR platform powered by distributed cloud architecture, ultra-low latency remote rendering and 3D vision-based AI to overcome these challenges and deliver high-performance MR at scale, specifically for aerospace & defense, automotive and telecommunication industry.

Speakers

Rishi Ranjan

CEO/Founder , Gridraster Inc.

Description

Timoni West, Director of Product, XR at Unity will unveil the latest advancements in Unity's augmented reality (AR) technology that is enabling brands across gaming, entertainment and manufacturing to unlock the next generation of intelligent AR experiences. Included will be new product introductions from storied brand Wallace & Gromit and how they are using Unity's AR technology to reach audiences.

Speakers

Phil Chacko

Senior Manager, Technical Product Management , Unity Technologies

Timoni West

Director of XR Research , Unity Technologies

Lewey Geselowitz

Data Lead , Unity Technologies

Jamie Innes

Creative Product Lead , Fictioneers

Description

Augmented Reality is emerging as the key medium for two-way remote collaboration applications to guide participants more effectively and efficiently via visual instructions. In technology support settings, such “Remote Assist” applications are increasingly used by remote support experts to guide field technicians through hardware installations and repairs to save cost, reduce repair time and eliminate errors. “Self-Assist” is the natural next step of AR-driven technology support, in which the field technician receives instructions directly from the AR system through virtual procedures. Needless to say, “Self-Assist” is more desirable as it eliminates dependency on remote experts thereby saving cost, and further reduces support timelines by providing instant access to the relevant information rather than having to wait for an expert to guide the repair. In this talk, we explore the “Remote Assist” to “Self-Assist” journey for technology support, and demonstrate how we leverage AI capabilities to enable “Self-Assist”.

Speakers

Sinem Guven

AR/VR Research Manager , IBM Watson

Description

With XR headset sales moving closer towards mainstream adoption and the accessibility of attractive content on the rise, so are the performance demands of current and next generation headsets. Eye tracking already offers a myriad of benefits for immersive user experiences and more natural interaction but, what does it have to offer to improve the capabilities and performance of headsets?
Join Doug Eggert as he explains the value of Tobii Spotlight Technology and how this advanced eye tracking specialized for foveation can help overcome two of the biggest challenges facing headset manufacturers today. As the XR market continues to press for wider field of view and higher resolution displays, Tobii Eye Tracking brings a clever solution inspired by nature but designed for XR.

Speakers

Doug Eggert

Director of Product Management – XR OEM , Tobii

Description

In this session, leading experts will discuss the state of the volumetric capture ecosystem. What are some of the challenges of volumetric capture, from talent sourcing/scheduling to output/post-processing? Non-standard formats have been a big challenge from playback to the distribution of content on viewing hardware. What would 5G help with, in terms of distribution?

Speakers

Paul T Kim

Sr. Director, XR Content & Services , Samsung

Christina Heller

CEO , Metastage

Jalina Stewart

Head of Production , VRAccelerator

Steve Sullivan

Partner, General Manager : Mixed Reality Capture Studios , Microsoft

Cole Wiley

CEO, Co-Founder , Scandy

Description

To enable ubiquitous spatial AR (AR Cloud) a refreshing and accurately localizing Digital Twin is needed. It is not an easy task to create a localizing Digital Twin let alone to use your standard mobile phone(s) to do it. This talk is elaborating the process of creating a City Scale Digital Twin in Helsinki, Finland. Also covered is the tools available, skills needed and how to move the next level.

Speakers

Anttoni Vesterinen

CEO , Immersal