October insanity might be over, but there’s no rest for the VR industry this week. The inaugural Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC) is kicking off tomorrow at the Park Central Hotel in San Francisco. The two-day event is essentially a mini-GDC, focused exclusively on VR headsets and related technologies.
We’re going to be at the show and will have plenty to report on, but in the meantime there’s a busy schedule of talks and workshops for you to study. There’s too much going on for any one person to see everything, so we’ve gone through and highlighted the five don’t miss talks that are sure to be filled with juicy news and insights for anyone attending.
Making Daydream Real – Building for Google’s New VR platform
When?: November 2nd, 3:30pm
Where?: Standford, Level 3
Who?: Nathan Martz, Product Manager, Google
What?: We’re just days away from Google Daydream delivering a brand new ecosystem to what will hopefully one day be millions of smartphone owners. Get in on the ground floor with this talk from Martz, who will tell you how to get to grips with the new platform including working with Google VR SDKs for Android, Unity, and Unreal.
Applications of Eye Tracking in Virtual Reality
When?: November 3rd, 10:15am
Where?: Franciscan Ballroom, Level 3
Who?: Tom Sengelaub, Manger Solution Delivery, SMI
What?: Eye-tracking is a hot topic in VR right now, as it’s essential to the future of the technology. We need it for foveated rendering and realistic avatars, but there are more uses beyond that. SMI has been working with the tech for a while now, and will be discussing some of these applications in this session. It’s the only one at VRDC to specifically focus on eye-tracking, so make sure not to miss out if you’re interested in the future of VR.
Smartphone AR, Tango, and You
When?: November 3rd, 10:15am
Where?: Standford, Level 3
Who?: Jason Finder, Software Engineer, Google
What?: Google Tango had an info blowout today with the launch of its first compatible smartphone, the Lenovo Phab Pro 2. Here, you’ll learn to make your own apps for the 3D scanning device, which may one day be delivering some important innovations in the VR space. This is an important area to come to understand as mobile VR grows in popularity.
Beyond Games: VR as the Next Mass Medium
When?: November 3rd, 1:45pm
Where?: Standford, Level 3
Who?: Rikard Steiber, SVP of Virtual Reality at HTC Vive and President of Viveport, HTC, Thor Gunnarsson, Co-founder, Solfar, and Chip Sineni, Director, Phosphor Games
What?: As with most other VR headsets, the HTC Vive is primarily considered as a gaming peripheral right now, but the rise of experiential pieces is quickly changing that perception. Here, HTC’s President of Viveport, the company’s non-gaming app store, discusses the future of these types of experiences with Thor Gunnarsson of Solfar, the developer of EVEREST VR. They’re also joined by Chip Sineni of Phosphor Games, the creator of one of Vive’s best games, The Brookhaven Experiment.
Hand Tracked Controls: Design and Implementation for Serious VR
When?: November 3rd, 2:30pm
Where?: Metropolitan III, Level 2
Who?: Matt Newport, CTO, Osso VR
What?: Just as with eye-tracking, hand-tracking is an important part of VR’s future, though the role that it will play is yet to really be determined. With so many issues facing the tech right now, we’ll need some big breakthroughs before implementation can be seriously considered. Still, in this session you can get an idea of some of the uses cases for the tech.
