If you’re in the LA area or you’re willing to make the trip, VRLA will be taking place next week on April 14th and 15th. Attendees will have access to over 130 VR and AR experiences on the expo floor and get a glimpse into the future of storytelling, entertainment, social interaction, and more. Those interested can register for a pass to the show. There’s a Saturday Pass for $40 ($30 for students) and a Pro Pass for access for both days. On Saturday attendees will be able to experience the expo floor and any panels or programs for that day, but the pass for both days includes a great deal of incentives and opportunities for professionals. The showroom will have a limited amount of badges on the floor at one time and shorter lines but, more importantly, there will be developer and business centered panels and events.
There are quite a few programs scheduled and here are a few of note:
Friday
10:35 am – 10:55 am | Expanding the VR Ecosystem hosted by Rikard Steiber of HTC
VR came into living rooms less than a year ago and has already captured the public imagination in a way that’s reminiscent of other rapidly mass adopted technology such as HDTVs, smartphones and tablets. Yet VR’s potential is greater than a single device category or computing platform. The immersion of VR and its application in areas ranging from games and entertainment to education and enterprise positions it as the next mass adopted medium. The question is, when will we get there? This session looks at how Vive is accelerating the adoption of VR with both consumer and enterprise facing initiatives, and giving developers more ways to fund and monetize premium VR content.
1:00 pm – 3:30 pm | Creating Experiences for the Hololens with Unity hosted by Kat Harris and Adam Tuliper of Microsoft
This workshop is an introduction to the HoloLens. The HoloLens is a new, mixed reality device from Microsoft. This workshop explores what the HoloLens is, what makes the HoloLens unique, and how to work with its three pillars of input – Gaze, Gesture, and Voice. One of the most fascinating features is spatial mapping, one of the ways the HoloLens understands space around you. This workshop will also take you through ways to work with the spatial information to integrate with the real world. Next we’ll explore the complete workflow on how to develop applications for the HoloLens with Unity, as this allows us to integrate easily into the Windows Holographic API. You can sign into your Streampoint account here and skip to step two of registration to access the workshops.
Saturday
10:00 am – 12:30 pm | Girls Make VR hosted by Sarah Stumbo and Mark Schoennagel of Unity
Girls aged 13-18 will be introduced to the Unity game engine with hands-on learning, including the workflows and features used by top game studios. Join us to create a 3D, VR-ready experience from start to finish while touching upon new tools Unity offers. Application open for a select period of time.
11:35 am – 12:00 pm | Justin Roiland Keynote
Justin Roiland, the “Rick & Morty” creator and newly-minted founder of the VR studio Squanchtendo aims to dive into the surreally funny possibilities of the medium in his keynote, remarking “What does the future of VR hold? Will there be more wizard games? Are grandmas real? What IS a wizard really? Are there wizard grandmas? How does this factor into VR? I did all this (simple) math and then made a power point presentation that I **think** maaaayyybe has these questions (and more) all figured out. Please come to my incredible keynote address on the state of VR! You juuuust might learn something, maybe, I don’t know. I can’t make any promises on that because you may already know everything.”
