Category Archives: Virtual Reality

'); if(!WVM.IS_STREAMING){ $videoEl.append('' + '' + ''); } setTimeout(function(){ $('.mute-overlay').on('touchstart click', function(e){ if(e.handled === false) return; e.stopPropagation(); e.preventDefault(); e.handled = true; player.muted(false); //console.log("volumee " + WVM.activePlayer.volume()); $(this).hide(); $(this).css('display', 'none'); var currentTime = player.currentTime(); if(currentTime 0){ if(deviceName == 'desktop'){ WVM.VIDEO_TOP = $('#media-container-' + videoId).offset().top; }else{ WVM.VIDEO_TOP = $('#media-container-' + videoId).offset().top - $('.next-dropdown-accordion').height(); } if(deviceName == 'desktop'){ WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT = $('#html5-video-' + videoId).outerHeight(); }else{ WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT = $('#html5-video-' + videoId).outerHeight(); } WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT = $('#media-container-' + videoId).height(); //console.log("container height: " + WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT); $(window).on( "resize", function() { if(deviceName == 'desktop'){ WVM.VIDEO_TOP = $('#media-container-' + videoId).offset().top; }else{ WVM.VIDEO_TOP = $('#media-container-' + videoId).offset().top - $('.next-dropdown-accordion').height(); } if(deviceName == 'desktop'){ WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT = $('#html5-video-' + videoId).outerHeight(); }else{ WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT = $('#html5-video-' + videoId).outerHeight(); } WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT = $('#media-container-' + videoId).height(); console.log("container height: " + WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT); }); //console.log("VIDEOTOP: " + WVM.VIDEO_TOP); //console.log("VIDEOHEIGHT: " + WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT); $(window).on( "scroll", function() { if(!WVM.IS_FLOATING){ if(deviceName == 'desktop'){ WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT = $('#media-container-' + videoId).height(); }else{ WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT = $('#media-container-' + videoId + " .hlsvideo-wrapper").height() + $('#media-container-' + videoId + " .now-playing-container").height(); } } //var top = $('#media-container-' + videoId).offset().top; var offset = WVM.VIDEO_TOP + (WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT / 2); var offsetBack = WVM.VIDEO_TOP; var changed = false; //console.log("VIDEOTOP: " + WVM.VIDEO_TOP); //console.log("VIDEOHEIGHT: " + WVM.VIDEO_HEIGHT); //console.log("scrolltop " + $(window).scrollTop()); //only float if playing var isPlaying = WVM['player_state' + videoId]['IS_PLAYING'] || WVM['player_state' + videoId]['AD_IS_PLAYING']; if(isPlaying){ $('.vjs-loading-spinner').hide(); } if($(window).scrollTop() > offset && isPlaying && !WVM['player_state' + videoId]['CANCEL_FLOATING']){ $('#media-placeholder-' + videoId).height(WVM.CONTAINER_HEIGHT); $('#media-placeholder-' + videoId).css('display', 'block'); if(!WVM.IS_FLOATING){ changed = true; } WVM.IS_FLOATING = true; $('#media-container-' + videoId).addClass('floating-video'); //set right var sWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth; var sHeight = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight; if(deviceName == 'desktop' || sWidth > 900){ var leftPos2 = $('aside').get(0).getBoundingClientRect().left; var leftPos = $('aside').offset().left ; $('#media-container-' + videoId).css('left', leftPos + "px"); var newWidth = Math.floor(sWidth / 3.5); $('#media-container-' + videoId).css('width', newWidth + "px"); } else{ $('#media-container-' + videoId).css('width', "100% !important"); $('#media-container-' + videoId + ' .now-playing-container').css('display', 'block'); $('#media-container-' + videoId + ' .next-dropdown-accordion').css('display', 'block'); } //floating-video $('#media-container-' + videoId + " " + '.page-carousel-wrapper').hide(); setTimeout(function(){ var hWrapper = $('.floating-video .hlsvideo-wrapper').height(); var npWidth = $('.floating-video .now-playing-container').height(); var ndWidth = $('.floating-video .next-dropdown-header').height() + 20; var scrollerHeight = sHeight - (hWrapper + npWidth + ndWidth); scrollerHeight = 180; //scrollerHeight = parseInt(scrollerHeight * 0.5); if(WVM.device_name == 'desktop'){ $('#media-container-' + videoId + " " + " .mobile-list-videos").height(scrollerHeight); } }, 100); }else if($(window).scrollTop() 0){ var container = document.querySelector('#page-carousel-' + fullVideoId); imagesLoaded( container, function() { var screenWidth = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth; if(screenWidth > 850){ WVM.IS_DESKTOP = true; $('#page-carousel-' + fullVideoId + ' .page-carousel-lg-slides').css('display', 'block'); WVM['player_settings' + fullVideoId].slider = $('#page-carousel-' + fullVideoId).bxSlider({ maxSlides: 4, minSlides: 4, slideWidth: 305, infiniteLoop: false, hideControlOnEnd: true, useCSS: true, pager: false, slideMargin: 15, moveSlides: 1, nextText: '', prevText: '' }); }else{ WVM.IS_DESKTOP = false; $('.page-carousel-wrapper').css('display', 'block'); } }); } }; WVM.setupToggleButton = function(fullVideoId, player){ if($('.nextplay-switch-' + fullVideoId).length > 0){ new DG.OnOffSwitchAuto({ cls:'.nextplay-switch-' + fullVideoId, height: 24, trackColorOn:'#F9F9F9', trackColorOff:'#222', textColorOn: '#222', textColorOff: '#222', textOn:'On', textOff:'Off', listener:function(name, checked){ var theVal = 1; if(!checked){ theVal = 0; } $.ajax({ url: '/ajax/update_autoplay_video/', data: { autoplay_on: theVal }, type: 'POST', dataType: 'json', success: function(data) { WVM['player_settings' + fullVideoId]['autoplay'] = checked; }, error : function(){ console.log("Error loading video"); } }); } }); } }; WVM.setupAccordionButton = function(fullVideoId){ var deviceName = 'desktop'; $('#next-dropdown-accordion-button-' + fullVideoId).on('click', function(){ if($(this).find('i').hasClass('fa-chevron-up')){ //hide $(this).find('i').removeClass('fa-chevron-up'); $(this).find('i').addClass('fa-chevron-down'); if(deviceName == "desktop" && !$('#media-container-' + fullVideoId).hasClass('floating-video')){ $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.page-carousel-wrapper').slideUp(); $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.mobile-list-wrapper').hide(); }else{ $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.mobile-list-wrapper').slideUp(); $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.page-carousel-wrapper').hide(); } var currVideoId = WVM['player_state' + fullVideoId]['VIDEO_ID']; var nextVideoId = WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex(currVideoId); //playerId, mediaId, fieldName var myTitle = WVM.getPlaylistData(fullVideoId, nextVideoId, 'noprefixtitle'); //alert("Getting title " + myTitle); $('#video-slider-nexttitle' + fullVideoId).css('display', 'inline'); $('#video-slider-nexttitle' + fullVideoId).html(myTitle); }else{ //expand $(this).find('i').addClass('fa-chevron-up'); $(this).find('i').removeClass('fa-chevron-down'); $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.mobile-list-wrapper').css('display', 'block'); if(deviceName == "desktop" && !$('#media-container-' + fullVideoId).hasClass('floating-video')){ $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.page-carousel-wrapper').css('display', 'block'); $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.page-carousel-wrapper').slideDown(); $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.mobile-list-wrapper').hide(); if(!WVM.player_state113908['CAROUSEL_INIT']){ WVM.setupCarousel(fullVideoId); } }else{ $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.mobile-list-wrapper').slideDown(); $('#media-container-' + fullVideoId + " " + '.page-carousel-wrapper').hide(); if(!$('#media-container-' + fullVideoId).hasClass('floating-video')){ if(!WVM.player_state113908['CAROUSEL_INIT']){ WVM.setupCarousel(fullVideoId); } } } $('#video-slider-nexttitle' + fullVideoId).css('display', 'none'); } }); var currVideoId = WVM['player_state' + fullVideoId]['VIDEO_ID']; //console.log("current Video " + currVideoId); var nextVideoId = WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex(currVideoId); var myTitle = WVM.getPlaylistData(fullVideoId, nextVideoId, 'noprefixtitle'); //console.log("setting title " + myTitle); $('#video-slider-nexttitle' + fullVideoId).css('display', 'inline'); $('#video-slider-nexttitle' + fullVideoId).html(myTitle); }; WVM.sendbeacon = function(action, nonInteraction, value, eventLabel) { var eventCategory = 'Video'; if (window.ga) { //console.log("sending action: " + action + " val: " + value + " label " + eventLabel); ga('send', 'event', { 'eventCategory': eventCategory, 'eventAction': action, 'eventLabel': eventLabel, 'eventValue': value, 'nonInteraction': nonInteraction }); } }; WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex = function(mediaId, returnArrayIndex){ var currId = null; if(mediaId == null){ return null; } for(var x =0; x 20){ if(fullDuration > 1 && ((fullDuration - fullCurrent) > 1) && !$('.vjs-loading-spinner').hasClass('badspinner')){ console.log("hiding spinner"); $('.vjs-loading-spinner').addClass('badspinner'); } } var duration_time = Math.floor(this.duration()); //this is a hack because the end video event is not firing... var current_time = Math.floor(this.currentTime()); if ( current_time > 0 && ( fullCurrent >= (fullDuration - 10) )){ var currId = playerState.VIDEO_ID; var newMediaId = WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex(currId); //if(playerSettings.autoplay_next && newMediaId){ if(newMediaId){ if('desktop' == "iphone" && playerState.AD_ERROR){ console.log("skipped timeupdate end"); }else{ WVM.load_video(newMediaId, true, playerState.ORIGINAL_ID); } } } if(!playerState.START_SENT){ WVM.sendbeacon('start', true, playerState.VIDEO_ID, playerState.VIDEO_TITLE); playerState.START_SENT = true; } var currentTime, duration, percent, percentPlayed, _i; currentTime = Math.round(this.currentTime()); duration = Math.round(this.duration()); percentPlayed = Math.round(currentTime / duration * 100); for (percent = _i = 0; _i = percent && __indexOf.call(playerState['PERCENTS_TRACKED'], percent) 0) { playerState['PERCENTS_TRACKED'].push(percent); } } } }); //player.off('ended'); player.on('ended', function(){ console.log("ended"); playerState.IS_PLAYING = false; WVM.sendbeacon("complete", true, playerState.VIDEO_ID, playerState.VIDEO_TITLE); var currId = playerState.VIDEO_ID; var newMediaId = WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex(currId); //if(playerSettings.autoplay_next && newMediaId){ if(newMediaId){ WVM.load_video(newMediaId, true, playerState.ORIGINAL_ID); }else{ console.log("Playlist complete (no more videos)"); } }); //player.off('adserror'); player.on('adserror', function(e){ //$('#ima-ad-container').remove(); WVM.lastAdRequest = new Date().getTime() / 1000; console.log(e); console.log("ads error"); var errMessage = e['data']['AdError']['l']; playerState.AD_IS_PLAYING = false; playerState.IS_PLAYING = false; // && errMessage == 'The VAST response document is empty.' if(!playerState.AD_ERROR){ var dTime = new Date().getTime(); WVM.firstPrerollTagUrl = WVM.getFirstPrerollUrl(); console.log("calling backup ad tag url: " + WVM.firstPrerollTagUrl); WVM.activePlayer.ima.changeAdTag(WVM.firstPrerollTagUrl + "?" + dTime); WVM.activePlayer.ima.requestAds(); //WVM.activePlayer.src({ // src: masterSrc, // type: 'video/mp4' //}); //WVM.firstPrerollTagUrl = ""; } playerState.AD_ERROR = true; }); //player.off('error'); player.on('error', function(event) { if (player.error().code === 4) { player.error(null); // clear out the old error player.options().sources.shift(); // drop the highest precedence source console.log("now doing src"); console.log(player.options().sources[0]); player.src(player.options().sources[0]); // retry return; } }); //player.off('volumechange'); player.on('volumechange', function(event) { console.log(event); var theHeight = $('#media-container-' + playerState.ORIGINAL_ID + ' .vjs-volume-level').css('height'); var cssVolume = 0; if(theHeight){ cssVolume = parseInt(theHeight.replace('%', '')); } var theVolume = player.volume(); if(theVolume > 0.0 || cssVolume > 0){ $('#media-container-' + playerState.ORIGINAL_ID + ' .mute-overlay').css('display', 'none'); }else{ $('#media-container-' + playerState.ORIGINAL_ID + ' .mute-overlay').css('display', 'block'); } }); WVM.reinitRawEvents(playerState.ORIGINAL_ID); setInterval(function(){ WVM.reinitRawEvents(playerState.ORIGINAL_ID); }, 2000); } if(!WVM.rawCompleteEvent){ WVM.rawCompleteEvent = function(e){ var playerState = WVM['player_state113908']; console.log("firing raw event due to all other events failing"); var currId = playerState.VIDEO_ID; var newMediaId = WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex(currId); //if(playerSettings.autoplay_next && newMediaId){ if(newMediaId){ WVM.load_video(newMediaId, true, playerState.ORIGINAL_ID); } }; } if(!WVM.rawTimeupdateEvent){ WVM.rawTimeupdateEvent = function(e){ var playerState = WVM['player_state113908']; var rawVideoElem = document.getElementById('html5-video-' + playerState['ORIGINAL_ID'] + '_html5_api'); var fullCurrent = rawVideoElem.currentTime * 1000; var fullDuration = rawVideoElem.duration * 1000; var current_time = Math.floor(rawVideoElem.currentTime); console.log("raw timeupdate: " + fullCurrent + " out of " + fullDuration); if ( current_time > 0 && ( fullCurrent >= (fullDuration - 50) )){ var currId = playerState.VIDEO_ID; var newMediaId = WVM.getNextPlaylistIndex(currId); if(newMediaId){ console.log("loading new video from rawtimeupdate"); WVM.load_video(newMediaId, true, playerState.ORIGINAL_ID); } } if(!$('.vjs-loading-spinner').hasClass('badspinner')){ $('.vjs-loading-spinner').addClass('badspinner') } }; } WVM.reinitRawEvents = function(playerId){ var playerState = WVM['player_state' + playerId]; var rawVideoElem = document.getElementById('html5-video-' + WVM['player_state' + playerId]['ORIGINAL_ID'] + '_html5_api'); //COMPLETE EENT if( WVM['player_state' + playerId].COMPLETE_EVENT){ rawVideoElem.removeEventListener('ended', WVM.rawCompleteEvent, false); } rawVideoElem.addEventListener('ended', WVM.rawCompleteEvent, false); //TIME UPDATE EVENT if( WVM['player_state' + playerId].TIMEUPDATE_EVENT){ rawVideoElem.removeEventListener('ended', WVM.rawTimeupdateEvent, false); } rawVideoElem.addEventListener('ended', WVM.rawTimeupdateEvent, false); WVM['player_state' + playerId].COMPLETE_EVENT = true; WVM['player_state' + playerId].TIMEUPDATE_EVENT = true; };

GOSHEN, Ind.It was a moment at the Elkhart County Fair last summer that virtual reality enthusiast Damon Miles says will stay with them.

A lady came in with her mom. Her mom had just had a stroke a week prior to it. She rolled her up in a wheelchair and was asking if she could experience VR, Miles said. We put her in the headset and we asked her what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to go to the beach.

With just a touch of uncertainty about how it would go, Miles hooked her up to a virtual reality experience that transported her to a sandy beach.

She went from very subdued, kind of not there, and discombobulated to moving her hands around and excited and looking around. What really got me about that was her daughter started to cry because that was the most active she had been since she got out of the hospital, Miles said.

Miles and his wife, Crystal, werent even originally supposed to be set up at the fair but a last minute cancellation allowed the duo to bring the unique experience to fair-goers.

From relationships and contacts they made at the fair six months ago, the Miles were able to set up shop in the old Bag Factory in Goshen on N. Chicago Avenue.

Being able to go to the highest mountain peaks or go into space yet make it feel like its actually happening to you, thats virtually reality, Miles said.

They currently operate a small space on the second floor that can be used by appointment. The two also hit the road, regularly making house and business calls with their canopy and headsets for everything from birthday parties to corporate events.

Starting in March, NextReality VR Studios will open up its multi-thousand square foot gaming arena and space on the ground floor of the old Bag Factory.

We want to bring a bit of that gaming community here to Goshen and Elkhart, Miles said. We want to expand this into a place where people hangout and not just do VR but do video games, we want to do console and arcade gaming. We want to do board games and card games. We want it to kind of like a family center.

Miles, who has a background in civil engineering, said the business will incorporate e-sports as well but virtual reality will be the core of the business, offering experiences from floating through the human body's bloodstream in a capsule to exploring outer-space.

While the expansion will create a meeting spot for gamers, the Miles will still head out into the community to bring virtual reality to those who might not be able to access the old Bag Factory.

Ive always thought of virtual reality as a tool, Miles said, adding that the experience with the woman at the fair really opened their eyes to the ways in which virtual reality can serve others.

The Miles recently worked with a community services program that supports people with Alzheimers and dementia to assist with their care.

It [virtual reality] helps with recalling memories, it helps with realization, and to just give them something that they usually dont get in assisted living, Miles said.

NextReality VR worked with four patients who started off a bit afraid of the idea of entering a virtual world.

They ended up excited to head into the next environment, Miles said. It felt like we were actually doing something.

Miles said that the company will also serve people experience homelessness along with low income students.

When we found out kids werent going on field trips because they couldnt afford them, we thought, well, we could bring the field trips like museums, to them, Miles said.

NextReality VR opened its current studio three months ago and by March, they hope to be welcoming the community into their new digs downstairs, as they work to transport Michiana to far away, and sometimes made-up, worlds.

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Virtual reality arcade and gaming arena coming to Goshen - ABC 57 News

A group of teachers hold their phone in front of their faces. Using the camera theyre looking at the classroom theyre standing in...when suddenly a zombie appears. It warns they need to reach a safe house or theyll be eaten alive.

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With that they face a series of locked doors. To open them and escape the undeads grasp, they needto answer a series of vocabulary questions. Wait, what?

This is an augmented reality game about zombies, yes. But its also a language arts lesson for middle school students.

This session was part of the STEAMing It Up conference at Northern Illinois University.

If you dont know what Augmented (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) means or what the difference is, heres a breakdown: Virtual Reality is when you put on a headset or glasses that drops you into a new 3-dimensional world.

Augmented reality is when a device or app alters your perception of your world. Think of the popular mobile game Pokmon GO. The pocket monsters you want to capture pop up on your phone screen, scampering across your yard or wherever your phone camera is pointed.

Hal Brynteson is an undergraduate researcher at NIU who helped present on AR.

It's sometimes difficult to think of uses technology besides like, Oh, that's cool, said Brynteson. Especially in education, what are students actually gaining from seeing the ocean in a VR headset? What can we measure? What can we create thats new with these experiences?

That question is the crux of this conference.

Stacie ODaniell teaches business education and technology at Genoa-Kingston High School. This is her first year in the classroom after years as an education administrator in the private sector.

ODaniell knows she has catching up to do, especially when it comes to new tech.

And she hopes conferences like this one can help her learn more to keep up with their students.

ODaniell attended another AR/VR workshop in the fall.

I took it back to my students and they taught me. They like to research whats out there, and they brought those applications back to me. And that's how we move forward with it. So it really was a student-led project, said ODaniell.

She started integrating the AR/VR lessons with her schools computer club first.

They really like the science ones where they can look at the human body and focus in on different parts and see how what each part does and how it relates to another part that's been a big hit, she said.

Just being introduced to the concepts and platforms is useful, especially as AR/VR becomes more mainstream.

While Genoa-Kingston students explore that, surgeons at Stanford University Medical Center use 3-D models in VR to simulate surgeries. They use images from their actual patient to map their strategy before they break any skin.

The education system has to change, and we have to meet these kids where they're at, said ODaniell. For example, the AR/VR, kids are learning through this and we're meeting them where their skill sets are, instead of trying to put them in our box.

But collaboration isnt limited to conferences, its also online. Hal Brynteson says Metaverse, the augmented reality app the teachers used, is a great example.

Another reason we chose Metaverse is it already has an existing online teacher community. So, you can look up and browse through different games, said Brynteson.

Matthew Swed is an undergraduate researcher studying applied mathematics at NIU. In another session, he gave educators the basics of Unity. Its a software engine used to build video games.

I just want to kind of go through it a bit, so that you're not completely overwhelmed.

Swed built a makeshift catapult in the softwares 3-D space. Then he dropped a weight on it and launches a ball across the screen.

You could go in and have the kids see what happens if you made the weight to be like 75, instead of 50, or you could go to the ammo and you could change the weight of the ammo and see how that affects the path of it or you could change the weight of the catapult even.

The software gives the tools to learn how to build video games with little to no prior coding experience.

Kids physics class could create simulations? asks one of the teachers. Oh, yeah. But you can also do better than this, said Swed.

Luckily, like Metaverse, theres an online ecosystem in place to help you learn. Students and teachers can find step-by-step tutorials, quick recipes for simple games.

As a high school student, if you had handed me this software, a bunch of videos and said, this is how video games are made. I wouldn't have even needed a classroom setting, I would have just taken it on my own initiative and taking time to learn all of this stuff.

Stacie ODaniell hopes to inspire that kind of curiosity when she takes the tools back to her classroom for the next generation of programmers, engineers and artists.

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Zombies, Catapults And Simulated Surgery: Virtual Reality & High Tech Education Is Going Mainstream - WNIJ and WNIU

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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Virtual reality goggles are normally used for video games. At UNC Greensboro, researchers are using the goggles to immerse people in a game, and although participating and studying the results can be fun, its being done to prevent -- or help people recover from -- serious injuries.

Were trying to figure out how we may be able to use virtual reality for physical therapy, said Christopher Rhea, associate professor of kinesiology for UNCG.

Rhea says as humans walk, we swing our feet within an inch of the ground. Therefore, were walking a fine line between staying upright and taking a tumble.

Every time you take a step, youre within an inch of falling, he said.

By using virtual reality, theyre provided with a flexible platform to they can study how people walk around the world. They can also study how they can put someone in a virtual reality environment to help retrain people on how to walk and balance once injury, aging or disease set in.

There is that delicate balance between, how do you energetically and efficiently walk throughout the environment without the potential of falling, Rhea said.

Through the program, they can build any virtual environment they want, while letting people practice in a safe space.

Its a visually challenging task that looks realistic, and you ultimately get the desired biomechanical movement of motor behavior movement, but theres no physical consequence, he said.

The team puts sensors on a participants shoes, before putting the virtual reality mask over their eyes. Inside the goggles, a pair of shoes appear in place of the participants, and the task is to avoid yellow objects along a path in the virtual reality room, as well as step on the blue objects.

The participant first has to step over what appears to be a series of raised bricks, before turning left and having to walk between poles, then turning right to walk heel-to-toe over a balance beam before stepping on a set of blue dots back to where the person began.

Its awkward at first. See the above video for proof.

Weve already started working with older adult populations that have already fallen once, Rhea said.

He adds that the greatest risk factor for a fall is a previous fall.

The team is also working with people in separate age ranges. Rhea says hes been doing the research for about 10 years.

We dont really care that someone gets better at the video game, what we care about is can we use the video game to train how you walk and then that transfers to the real world, he said.

Their hope is to identify populations that have trouble walking over things. In addition, they want to learn what type of training they can provide to minimize the risk of falls.

36.072635-79.791975

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UNCG team using virtual reality to study and improve how humans walk - WGHP FOX 8 Greensboro

Ai Weiweis first virtual reality video, which you can see here, is called Omni. It fuses together two films the artist has made focusing on the migrant crisis, immersing viewers in the upheaval of displacement and exile for both animals and humans.

The first part of Omni focuses on the elephants of Myanmar. Once, they worked with their trainers, mahouts, dragging logs from the jungle. Now the government has placed severe restrictions on their jobs and the animals are redundant. Lost and confused by the destruction of their natural environment, the elephants attempt to return to the wild, sometimes coming across the refugees whose camps have been erected on their long-lost migratory routes.

I relate to the elephants, Ai says. There are lot of small ones who have lost their parents. Elephants are like humans. Without parents they cannot survive. They have to stay with them until they are seven years old.

The second part of Omni drops the viewer into the centre of a migrant camp known as Coxs Bazaar, in Bangladesh just over the border from the refugees home in Myanmars Rakhine state, where they have fled persecution, ethnic cleansing and a military crackdown. The work provides a migrants-eye view of daily activities, such as queuing for supplies, and takes the viewer through the camp, from its tents to its markets and playgrounds.

As well as the harshness of life in the camp, it shows solidarity, sharing and teaching. I feel a lot of positive things about humanity even in the worst conditions, Ai said. I dont want to show that there is just sadness. Happiness and sadness always coexist. Thats a reason to protect that happiness.

Omni was produced with Acute Art, who work with artists to make virtual and augmented reality videos. On 30 January, Ai Weiwei will show the project to an audience at a Guardian event at Conway Hall, London.

Viewers on mobile should have the YouTube app already pre-installed. You must click on the title in the embedded video, and will then be taken to the video in-app where you can actually experience the video in 360 degrees.

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Experience Ai Weiwei's first virtual reality artwork, Omni - The Guardian

Newly Launched Cross-Platform Content Management System (CMS) for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Projected as a Game Changer for Future of Content

While Virtual Reality a fully simulated experience and Augmented Reality the art of overlaying simulation onto a real-world environment are becoming increasingly utilized within the business and school setting, these technologies are still very much in their early days, and many apps that are being developed are designed exclusively for a single platform or a single usage. This introduces a problem for businesses and schools that want to engage with audiences who are using the ever-growing selection of AR and VR devices available on the market.

With revolutionary technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality becoming more widely adopted by the education and business communities across the world, the need for dedicated content management systems to facilitate content creation for AR and VR is more urgent than ever. And while many have introduced systems for either ARor VR devices, the experienced team behind Fectar Studio has become one of the first in the world to launch a full, cross-platform solution along with the accompanying app.

Trialed in the Netherlands throughout 2019, the innovative no-coding cross-platform publishing solution has been readily adopted by schools, universities and business users, with hundreds signing up in just three months.

Now available to educational institutions and other organizations worldwide, the cloud-based Fectar Studio platform enables content creators to publish interactive AR and VR presentations to Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, as well as to VR devices including Oculus GO, and Oculus Quest.

Eugne Kuipers, CEO and Founder of Fectar says, AR and VR just got easy. Within just a few weeks of our initial launch in 2019, the level of interest and adoption was astounding. Schools and business users alike have been quick to embrace the incredible potential of augmented and virtual reality and deploy Fectar Studio and our app to create and view beautiful and engaging presentations using AR and VR.

There are plans to introduce compatibility with more devices such as the HTC Vive within the coming months.

Fectar Studio also differentiates itself from other content management systems through improved features and functionality. While the recent trend has been for CMS tools to offer content only, Fectar Studio provides users with more options, such as the addition of buttons, hyperlinks, questions, navigation, audio, and more to create engaging interactive 3D AR/VR content. It also allows users to track how their creations are being used with easy to access statistical data.

Eugne added, Weve already witnessed fantastic results, especially in the education field. A number of our users reported double-digit increases in revenue and reductions in training costs while simultaneously reaching a whole new level of customer and student engagement. We really are at the start of a new era of content creation, and were confident this is a true game-changer for the industry.

A further obstacle that has shown to be standing in the way of AR and VR content success is the need for businesses and educational content creators/publishers to utilize an in-house or outsourced development team to change their content. Fectar directly addresses this concern with a CMS, Fectar Studio, which can be managed without any technical skills. Designed by a team of multiple award-winning developers, creatives, and serial entrepreneurs, the simple system can be used easily by anyone.

Fectar Studio is already being widely adopted within the B2B marketing and sales, education, media and design, manufacturing, retail, and real estate sectors, with many other industries showing interest in the unique CMS and app. The Fectar team is currently offering free weekly online courses for content creators across all industries, providing them with the knowledge they need to get started with the CMS.

Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Eugne Kuipers, Rens Lensvelt and Dennis de Laat, Fectars CMS is dedicated to implementing augmented reality built with Microsoft technologies.

Seeing the potential to incorporate more platforms, the teams first app, SpotOn.io, was launched in August 2019, offering quality augmented and virtual reality experiences for each user.

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Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Projected as a 'Game-Changer' for Future of Content - MarTech Series

[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/593060 Request Keys here: [emailprotected]

[Bonn, Germany] January 23rd, 2020 - Brainseed Factory is excited as they are all geared up for the launch of their virtual reality puzzler Squishies.

Roll Them Home

Squishies is a head-scratching, single player, puzzle focused VR platformer where you guide cute and courageous creatures through hazardous and challenging mazes.

Use unique motion controls to push and pull the Squishies through their adventures in a colorful universe full of strange flora and fauna. Keep those little rascals safe while they climb, jump, fly and teleport-by-fish through 100 levels in five alien worlds.

Level Editor

Squishies really comes into its own with its innovative, fully featured community creation tools. The same tools that we have used to build the game have been made available to everyone, enabling you to create levels of your own. These levels can be shared with your friends and the rest of the world via integrated cross-platform sharing!

Were super happy to finally bring our beloved Squishies to PC players! And the best thing is that community levels can be shared between PCVR & PSVR players! - Bilal Chbib, Game Producer & Founder of Brainseed Factory

Solve puzzles and save the Squishies or be creative and build your own levels - then share them with the community!

Development

Squishies released back in November 2018 as a PlayStationVR game. To bring the game to Steam VR and Oculus Rift gamers the studio decided to partner up with Massive Miniteam, an indie game studio based in Cologne, Germany.

Before Massive Miniteam, our founders created the prototype for Squishies while working at Brainseed Factory and weve always felt a strong connection to this title that's why we're overjoyed about this opportunity to rejoin the game and its community! We cant wait to see players all over the world roll the little critters around and build their own levels for us to try! - Milan Pingel, creative producer and co-founder of Massive Miniteam

Due to popular demand all level editor features are unlocked from the get go with the launch of the Steam edition. Along with this, the developers put in a great deal of effort to make sure that the game performance and graphics could witness improvements too.

The Oculus Store release is underway and will be announced soon.

About Brainseed Factory

Founded back in 2013 and based in Bonn (Germany) Brainseed Factory is renowned for their unique and popular debut title Typoman, a wordy puzzle platformer which is now available on all major gaming platforms worldwide.

About Massive Miniteam

Massive Miniteam is a small, award winning Indie Game Studio in Cologne. The company was founded in 2017 and is currently prepping their first own release: Their Arcade Action Platformer Spitlings is coming to Stadia, PC and all major consoles in 2020. Before Massive Miniteam, the four founders created the prototype for Squishies while working at Brainseed Factory - you could say they have a thing for games with cute and weird creatures.

Contact Information Brainseed Factory Email: [emailprotected] Website: http://www.brainseed-factory.com

Massive Miniteam Website: http://www.massiveminiteam.com

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Virtual Reality Puzzler Squishies heading to Steam on January 24 th - Gamasutra

My eyes were opened literally.

At Christmas, my nephew received a wireless virtual reality set called Oculus. I tried it. My mind went boom and was instantly filled with possibilities especially when my mother tried it on and her jaw dropped. Her words, My god, so much space, made me think.

In my business of downsizing families, especially seniors, I often move them from a spacious multi-room family home with many memories, to a few manageable rooms where for the most part they dont stray too far save for meals and light social activities. But where is the exploration of life and travel? Life is experience.

At one point my nephew tapped into the Wi-Fi and YouTube to access 3-D virtual reality videos of various locations around the planet. I called out, CN Tower! He voice commanded it to send him there; it did. Suddenly, he looked straight up in his VR world and gasped. Wow, this thing is massive!

So my connecting the two made me ask, what if? What if someone set up regular visits to local seniors residences and plunked an adventurous, but physically restricted senior in a chair and supplied them with VR technology? Seniors could be treated to the experience of sitting on a calm beach for an hour with waves rolling in, the breeze simulated by a small fan Id position nearby maybe the odd flick of water to make it feel like sea spray, and a tub of warm sand to wiggle their toes in.

When combined with head phones for sound, these 360 degree VR vistas could make a senior's day.

Why not? Talk about therapy. Heck, if someone funded me Id set it up in a heartbeat. With what is already available: walkabouts in Paris, museums, a spacewalk and an ocean cruise the world can be their oyster again, at least for a little while. Think of the kick; the social potential for experiencing life again.

Forget fighting off Zombies. Give me flying a glider or bicycling in the Tour de France or walking with elephants on an African plain or perched atop a mountain with unimaginable views all around.

Come on mom, let me sit you down. Hold your breath. This one will make you say, Wow again.

Try it. Itll bring a little therapy to your favourite senior.

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Opinion | Let's free seniors with the wonders of virtual reality - InsideHalton.com

On Feb. 3, Cleveland-based indie game developers Dr. Bloc will release their new virtual reality (VR) game, Straylight, on Steam as early access.

Straylightis a new VR platform that allows viewers to be immersed in "cosmic, abstract worlds" and then propel themselves and fly in a virtual universe.

"It's really an incredible experience as you actually feel like you're flying through space," says Rob Kovacs, the local musician whos the composer and sound designer of the game, in a statement. "We've been play-testing it for several months and the responses have been just been off-the-charts positive."

The game features eye-catching visuals that take inspiration from the glowing digital graphics of the 80s but powered through technology of today. The original soundtrack that fuses classic synthwave with electronica.

Straylightis the first game from Dr. Bloc, a small team devoted to bringing the joy and challenge of classic games into the future.

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, Forest City Brewery will host a free launch party for the game. Guests will be able to meet and talk with the developers. They can also play the game before its release.

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Forest City Brewery to Host a Launch Party for the New Virtual Reality Game 'Straylight' - Cleveland Scene

Students in Vance County have held a beating human heart in their hands and taken an undersea adventure in the Arctic Ocean without ever leaving their classrooms. With the help of a team of faculty and graduate students from the NC State College of Education and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, these students have had the opportunity to conduct scientific investigations in ways that were never possible before withzSpace, an innovative virtual reality technology found in three schools in the district.

Vance County Schoolsbrought this NC State team to their schools to help them integrate this technology into their science curricula. This year, the Friday Institute team has developed and implemented a variety of science lesson plans using zSpace for all 8th graders, about 230 students, at two Vance County schools:Vance County Middle SchoolandSTEM Early High School. Lessons focused on the heart and circulatory system, the ecology of the Arctic and the evolution of peppered moths in post-industrial England.

zSpace provides an immersive, interactive, hands-on learning experience with applications in K-12 education and career and technical education in areas from health and medicine to automotive training. The zSpace laptop, stylus and lightweight glasses allow students to view virtual 3-D models and fully immerse themselves in the content theyre studying.

zSpace allows students to conceptualize objects in a 3D environment that you cant fully understand in a 2D environment, said Project LeadM. Gail Jones, Ph.D., an NC State College of Education professor of science education, and Friday Institute faculty fellow. You can explore the valves of a heart and watch them open and close or view the size and scale of bacteria. Its motivating and allows students to do their own investigations.

Research shows that simulation-based learning has been successful in providing self-determined motivation as well as improve learning in general, according to an article in theJournal of Engineering Education, Investigating the Effect of 3D Simulation Based Learning on the Motivation and Performance of Engineering Students. Immersive technologies also keep students engaged and in control of their learning, allow for collaboration and give room to make mistakes and experiment without costly or dangerous results.

Immersive technologies encourage mistakes and empower students, Jones said. It allows students the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them and recover quickly without the expense or stress of restarting an actual experience.

Collaborations such as this one that use virtual reality technology advance the field of science while also providing opportunities to engage underrepresented populations in experiencing the wonder of science in ways that extend beyond the limitations of a classroom setting.

A recent zSpace whitepaper, Learning in the Digital Age: A Review of the Research on Innovative Technologies, found that this technology could be especially vital for students from historically underserved or under-performing groups in science such as English language learners who benefit from visual learning, students from diverse cultural backgrounds whose religion or values may prevent them from full participation in science experiences, and students with attention-based disorders or special needs.

Not only did Vance County Schools students benefit from this learning experience, but so did NC State College of Education graduate students. Working with Jones, graduate students had the opportunity to think about how to use technology to enhance science education in the classroom while building their instructional skills teaching in a rural area.

Seeing how rural counties integrated technology is exciting, said Kathryn Rende, an Ph.D. student in science education and one of Jones graduate research assistants. This project has helped me think about teaching in diverse populations and integrating technology in classrooms and in rural counties.

The graduate students, aided by Jones, gave teachers intensive demonstrations of the technology, one-on-one support and ideas for integrating zSpace into standards-based science lessons. Vance County teachers were able to grow with this project, too, expanding their science instruction, integrating technology into their lesson plans and becoming experts in the technology. Now, 16 Vance County Schools teachers are credentialed in zSpace. In November 2019, a group of these teachers presented their lessons at the North Carolina Science Teacher Association conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They shared with other teachers around the state about how they used zSpace to enhance middle school science instruction in their classrooms.

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Friday Institute Partners with Vance County Schools to Bring Immersive Virtual Reality Technology Into Science Classrooms - NC State College of...

Although modern cancer treatments have partially reduced the side effects on health and quality of life, these therapies are experienced with considerable suffering by women and these can sometimes develop conditioned responses to treatments, Andrea Chirico, a psycho-oncologist at the Sapienza University of Rome, and colleagues said. They pointed specifically to anticipatory anxiety before chemo, frequent requests to reduce dosages and, by result, impact on the drugs effectiveness.

The researchers asked 94 women to take a psychological test analyzing their stress and mood before and after chemotherapy for breast cancer. During treatment, 30 patients put on a virtual reality headset where they could explore a deserted island, walk through a forest, complete yoga and go swimming, among other activities.

Another 30 were exposed to music therapy while 34 women were placed in a control group without any intervention. The latter is standard of care at the Pascale Institutes oncology department in Naples, Italy.

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Virtual reality can take the stress out of breast cancer treatment - Health Imaging