I got an email from Akos Hamori of the Shared Virtual Reality Research Group at the Institute for Computer Science and Control at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, telling me about Apertus VR. It’s a little different from the other products that I’ve covered in this blog, because it’s a free, open-source software engine which allows you to build your own VR/AR applications for science, education, and industry.
Their website offers numerous examples of how to use Apertus VR engine:
Here’s a 2-1/2-minute YouTube video showing some of the applications you can build using the software, a sort of three-dimensional mindmap:
And here’s a half-hour presentation on the project:
Bigscreen is, as the name suggests, primarily an app for watching movies in VR. But it is also a social VR app, because you can share the experience with your friends:
Bigscreen is your VR movie theater.
WATCH movies with friends in a virtual theater.
PLAY your favorite PC video games on a huge screen.
HANGOUT in social VR chat rooms.
We also host events like weekly 3D movie nights and VR LAN parties!
— Features —
Your DESKTOP IN VR: see your PC’s desktop screen on huge virtual monitors that can be customized to any size or shape. Multi-monitor support for up to 3 virtual monitors.
DESKTOP STREAMING: screensharing in VR chat rooms enables you to watch movies with friends, play games together, and more.
Supports 3D MOVIES in Side-by-Side 3D or Over-Under 3D.
CROSS PLATFORM VR headset support
Public and Private social VR CHAT ROOMS with up to 12 people per room
Choose from a variety of environments like campfires and movie theaters.
Bigscreen is a free app available via both Steam and the Oculus store, for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets. They are also currently doing alpha testing on Samsung Gear VR headsets:
And, according to the chatter on their official Discord server, they are also doing alpha testing for the Oculus Go VR headset.
So I downloaded and installed the client software to try it out. You can create public or private, invite-only rooms. The avatars reminded me of those in Rec Room, with only a head, torso, and hands. I found that I had a little bit of trouble getting all the avatar customization features to work properly. You cannot freely move your avatar around, but you can teleport from one unoccupied seat to another.
The first place I visited was a movie theatre where two other avatars were watching a bootleg copy of the Steven Spielberg movie Ready Player One, complete with Korean subtitles (which, ironically, seemed rather appropriate: why not watch a movie about VR in VR?).
Now, I’m sure that the makers of Bigscreen are not terribly thrilled that people are breaking copyright and misusing the platform in this way, but I can also see a lot of legitimate uses for the software. For example, you could invite your far-flung relatives into a private room in Bigscreen to watch that video you shot of your five-year-old’s birthday party, for example.
Bigscreen also allows you to see your computer desktop in VR:
Instead of that tiny 13″ laptop, play any game on massive, customizable screens. Wrap the virtual screen around you for a more immersive experience.
Jason Gholston, the Product Director for Sansar at Linden Lab, gave a presentation at the recent Augmented World Expo held in Santa Clara, California from May 30th to June 1st, 2018.
One of the very surprising facts that came out of Jason’s talk was that Sansar users have already created over 16,000 experiences to date! That’s much higher than I expected. If you check the Sansar Atlas, there are only about 1,000 published experiences. This means that only 1 out of every 16 Sansar experiences are published and accessible via the Atlas! A lot of people must have created test experiences which they did not wish to share with the public.
He said that Linden Lab was really excited about esports applications of Sansar, and then he stumbled and said “High Fidelity” when he meant to say “high quality” (Freudian slip?).
When asked if he was surprised by anything that the Sansar community has created so far, he mentioned the very popular Atlas Hopping series hosted by Draxtor Despres and Strawberry Singh (now up to Episode 46!). I agree that a really strong community has developed among the Atlas Hoppers!
Jason talked about how there is no “magic bullet” for dealing with trolls and griefers in virtual worlds. He said that Linden Lab is still building out the moderation toolset in Sansar, but that this work is a high priority.
When asked if he has any favourite memories or stories about Sansar, he mentioned people who met through the platform and even got married (congratulations to Ria and Loz!).
When asked what people could do to help promote social VR, he suggested people inviting their friends into Sansar and other social VR platforms:
Use it like you would use a hangout or a video chat or a phone call. Next time you want to play a game, go exploring place to place, invite friends.
I know, I know, this is completely off-topic for this blog, but I could not resist sharing this absolutely GENIUS picture which I saw being shared on Google+:
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
And, since we’re already off on a tangent here, let’s appreciate this wonderful protester’s sign from Donald Trump’s recent U.K. visit:
