Facebook’s developer conference, F8, gives a look at the future of technology and how Facebook “connects the world through products and innovation,” as stated on the event’s website.
The company just announced the 2017 F8 conference is open for registration, and the official website also includes a schedule of sessions and keynotes. 2017 is going to be a crucial year for Facebook’s VR efforts, so there’s no surprise there are a number of VR centered sessions scheduled. At the time of this writing, F8 will be hosting eight virtual reality-related sessions spread across the two-day event in April:
April 18th
1:00 P.M.
Crafting Compelling Narratives in VR
Description: “Sit down with best-in-class VR filmmakers to learn what it takes to create amazing VR experiences. Whether you’re working on a 360 video or real-time rendered content, these tips will help you to understand best practices from the cutting edge of VR.”
Presented by: Colum Slevin (Head of Experiences) at Oculus, Félix Lajeunesse (Co-Founder & Creative Director) at Felix & Paul Studios, Yasmin Elayat (Creative Director) at Scatter, Eliza McNitt (Filmmaker and VR Director) who created Fistful of Stars.
2:00 P.M.
WebVR: Enabling Developers to Build Engaging Cross-Platform VR Content
Description: “Web-based frameworks such as React VR are making it easier than ever to create VR content that can be distributed across VR, mobile, and web. Join us as we showcase the potential of React VR across verticals such as travel, news, commerce, and more.”
Presented by: Michael Antonov (Chief Software Architect) at Oculus, Andrew Mo (Product Manager) at Oculus
5:00 P.M.
Bringing VR Experiences to Everyone: Scripting, Producing and Planning
Description: Learn how to develop a VR experience, and take a project from creative idea to a piece ready for prime time. Gain best practices and tips and tricks for producing experiences, how to approach acting and directing in VR, and distribution.
Presented by: Megan Summers (Global Head of Production) at Facebook, Yelena Rachitsky (Executive Producer) at Oculus, Julia Sourikoff (Head of VR) Tool of North America, Christina Heller (CEO) at VR Playhouse, Ryan Horrigan (CCO) at Felix and Paul Studios
VR Together: Adding Social Components to Your VR Apps
Description: Interactive and fun social experiences foster greater consumer engagement in VR. This talk will focus on the APIs and features that Oculus provides to add a social layer to your app, including the Avatar SDK, VoIP, Invites, and Oculus Rooms.
Presented by: Mike Howard (Product Manager) at Oculus, Lauren Vegter (Product Manager) at Oculus
April 19th
12:30 P.M.
Creating Social Presence in VR
Description: Achieving social presence in VR presents a host of fascinating challenges, from designing avatars that avoid the “uncanny valley” to determining what kind of tools and spaces best facilitate interaction.
Presented by: Mike Booth (Product Manager) at Facebook
VR 201: Lessons from the Frontlines of VR Gaming
Description: We will share some of the road blocks that engineers will encounter as they ramp up in VR development with practical lessons and case studies to overcome them. Attendees can expect insights on everything from code samples to tools to design tips.
Presented by: Chris Pruett (Partner Engineering Manager) at Oculus
1:30 P.M.
Building Social VR Experiences
Description: In the new frontier of social VR development, choosing the right tools and approaches can be daunting. We’ll talk about best practices for building social VR experiences.
Presented by: Daniel James (Product Manager) at Facebook, Lucy Bradshaw (Product Manager) at Facebook
React VR: Build amazing VR experiences using React
Description: Learn how React VR builds upon React Native, and how the supporting layers and libraries interact. We will take you through a sample VR web app built with React VR, and show how easy it is to create immersive experiences across VR, mobile, and web.
Presented by: Andrew Imm (Software Engineer) at Facebook, Mike Armstrong (Software Engineer) at Oculus/Facebook
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Virtual experiences across gaming, film and social platforms are all going to be covered in these sessions and there’s an additional session on a 3D-360 camera system that takes place on the 18th at 12:30 pm. It’s not VR specific but 360-degree media is often experienced through the lenses of VR headsets.
F8 takes place in San Jose, California and, if you haven’t received a registration code, you can apply to attend. Space is very limited, but you can also register with your Facebook account so that you have access to a live stream of the event. Some events run at the same time, but you’ll be able to watch sessions and keynotes on-demand.
