News
Welcome, Ziva Dynamics! | Unity Blog
Unity recently acquired Ziva Dynamics, a company that adds impressive virtual character creation to its growing portfolio of capabilities. Closely following their acquisition of Weta Digital's 3D tools last November, the company solves the uncanny valley virtual human problem they have faced for a long time and could compete with Unreal Engine's Metahuman character creator.
Google Accelerates AR Headset Development: Report // voicebot.ai
Google, a company with a large portfolio of acquisitions, has done a 180 on AR and acquired companies that bolsters its ability to release a consumer AR headset. Spurred on by the recent reassessment of AR's potential we're glad to see that Google will be re-entering the space within the next few years.
Emissive and HTC VIVE support recreation of Notre Dame in VR // VIVE Blog
Repairs from the fire damage from the 2019 fire in Notre Dame cathedral are still underway, but for those who dreamed of visiting the iconic church a first of its kind VR experience has been created to immerse you in the history and architecture of its creation. The team behind Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass (see issue 34) have opened the experience in Paris, France this year and we're hopeful that we'll be able to visit later this year.
Experiences
L’expédition immersive en réalité virtuelle
Explore Notre-Dame though time and through the stories of its builders, caretakers, and restorers in this interactive experience spanning from the Middle ages to the current day restoration site. This experience supports 50 simultaneous participants, which is impressive but not a world record (currently set by 2057 neurosurgeons). Tickets went on sale January 15th and the experience is expected to close in early March, so if you'll be in Paris you should definitely consider going while it's available.
Videos
I tried the CRAZIEST VR tech coming in 2022!! // YouTube
With restrictions on gatherings still in effect we were happy to see at least one channel we follow attending and covering CES 2022. Check out some of the new VR and XR technology being released soon.
Learning
Blog - What is eye tracking? - Pupil Labs
When using terms like "eye tracking" we assume that everyone knows what that means is not realistic, and we realized this past week we have not used the opportunity to introduce key concepts that might need some fleshing out so we are all using the same language. This issue we're starting with a key concept within Augmented Reality (AR), one that has been a very hard feature to support but is an integral part to a seamless experience to blend realities together.
One More Thing
Black Hair in Video Games Is Terrible. These 3D Artists Are Changing That.
The Open Source Afro Hair Library is an ambitious project coming from research done between 2019 and 2020 observing the lack of realistic hair textures and styles for 3D-modeled Black hairstyles within 3D marketplaces. Slated to launch Juneteenth 2023 we are excited to see this free database available and the world to have better representation and just a bit more style.
Commentary
Regardless of what you may think, Mark Zuckerberg has done good things for virtual reality. Since the acquisition of Oculus back in 2014, more focus and research dollars have been spent by his company and others seeking to compete then in the past decade. Meta is reportedly spending more than 10 billion dollars annually on Metaverse projects, with other large tech companies ramping up their acquisitions and product portfolios to compete for the future of engagement.
The amount of urgency he has added to the VR space truly does submit him, in my mind, as an agent of change. First completely altering the social media landscape with Facebook, now as the driving force behind the pivot of hundreds of companies integrating VR into their business practices. Even driving interest in "metaverse" as a search term up 100% since the announcement of their name change.
As people that thoroughly enjoy technology and are looking forward to a future even further enhanced by it we are pretty happy with all of the attention and effort going into building a more connected future. One where technology continues to lower the barriers of distance and access to information, and where communications gain an even better sense of presence.
Thank you for reading and subscribing, and we'll see you next week.
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