Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Boundaries are being blurred in virtual reality
3D not just about gaming, but can be lent to more practical realities, writes CHLOE HAMILTON
I’M LOCKED in a maze being chased by human-sized PacMan ghosts. My heart is racing but my legs aren’t working. I run but don’t go anywhere, as if trapped in a nightmare. Up ahead, a pink ghost approaches. I can feel the panic rising as I work my legs, desperate to escape. Suddenly, everything goes black and I remove my headset, blinking in the artificial light of the conference hall. Back to reality.
The UK’s first Virtual Reality Festival (VRUK), organised by London-based university sector college Ravensbourne, was held earlier this month at the university’s campus on the Greenwich Peninsula in London. The first festival of its kind in Britain, VRUK brought together some of the biggest companies in virtual reality to share, discover and try out the latest technology.
Keen to get involved, I headed straight to the Immersion Zone, where queues were already forming in front of exhibits. WizDish was my first stop. The company was exhibiting its ROVR locomotion platform which claims to provide a “profound” immersive experience. Users stand on a caged platform wearing special, ceramic-studded shoes. The shoes act as controllers, in the same way a mouse on a mouse mat would.
“It’s like having diamonds on the soles of your shoes,” said chief technology officer Charles King as he helped me steady myself on the platform. The shoes were slippery, like trying to walk on an ice rink. I slid around trying to find purchase, eventually stabilising myself using the railings. The game is like PacMan but life-size. “Try and avoid the ghosts,” were Charles’s final words to me before he clamped the headset over my face. Within seconds, I was standing in the dark maze; my path lit by small, bright lights. My direction was determined by moving my head and I spun this way and that, trying to figure out which way to go. To move forward, I had to slide my feet back and forth on the slippery platform, like running on the spot but without lifting my feet. I lasted about 10 seconds before a ghost appeared to gobble me up.
It was not all fun and games, though. Charles told me once I’d removed my headset that the technology is also being used by architects to show investors virtual versions of their designs. This works particularly well with superyachts, he said. Billionaire buyers can walk around potential vessels making changes and additions before the boats are built.
The technology is also proving useful for language learning, where immersion is key. A learner could experience an entire city via a headset and a platform. “There’s a company in California that’s doing language training,” said Charles. “You might be popped in the middle of a French market and told to buy the ingredients for a meal.”
Next, I moved onto the HTC exhibit, where product specialist Shen Ye, 23, was talking visitors through the company’s latest VR headset, the Vive. When I asked if I could have a go, Shen pointed at the two hour-long waiting list. Ten minutes (and a shameful flash of my press pass) later, I was strapped into another headset.
The Vive uses two laser-emitting base stations carefully positioned in the room to create a 4.5m by 4.5m virtual reality, meaning – unlike the ROVR, where I was restricted to the platform – I could roam around the cordoned-off area, exploring a virtual environment. I was also given two hand-held motion controllers, which I could use to influence the virtual reality.
The first game was called The Blu. Lowering my virtual specs, I was plunged under water. I was standing on a shipwreck, schools of fish swimming past my ears. Tottering to the edge of the boat, I peered over at the deep blue below. Suddenly, I caught sight of a creature swimming towards me. I cowered in the corner as an enormous whale cruised past, shooting off into the depths with a majestic flip of its massive tail. I let out a little shriek of fear; it was all frighteningly real. Then, out of nowhere, a fluorescent green cage popped up in front of me. Curious, I walked through it, crashing immediately into a very real table leg. The cage, it turned out, signposted the edge of my virtual reality. A small voice in my headset warned me not to go beyond it.
The second Vive game was more interactive. Created by Google, its premise is simple: painting. One controller acted as my “palette” while the other became my “brush”. I could choose different colours and textures, drawing on the thin air in front of me. My painting was 3D, meaning I could walk through it, observing it from different angles. It was incredibly satisfying. The only downside was that because it existed only in the virtual world, no one else could appreciate my masterpiece.
Outside the headsets, the festival was buzzing with people from all walks of life. Students, gamers, and recruiters were all there to suss out what’s going on in the virtual world. One man, who refused to tell me what company he was from, said he was on site to check out the competition.
Claire Selby, who works for Ravensbourne and helped organise the festival, said the future is bright for virtual reality. “I think the really exciting thing is that it’s unwritten,” she said. “There’s no script, there’s no ‘you’ve got to do this’, there’s no visual language, there are no barriers really. It’s like film-making was in the early days.”
She told me the clunky headsets designed by companies such as Oculus Rift and HTC will become slicker. “The headsets now have the potential to become an accessory,” she said. “Even Dior has some mocked up.” While we talked, she pointed out a gaggle of students from Ravensbourne who were crammed into a workshop with app company Blippar. She said they were all competing for an internship. “Getting the students involved is perfect,” she said.
The Teslasuit was my final stop. The world’s first full-body smart feedback suit lets you “feel” virtual reality. The team behind it – who travelled all the way from Belarus – only had a jacket on display. The wetsuit-style coat needs to be in contact with a damp T-shirt for it to work. I was wearing a dress, which meant – unless I was willing to strip down to my tights – I couldn’t have a go. Instead, I satisfied myself with “tickling” the company’s co-founder Demetri Marroza while he wore the Teslasuit. Sliding my finger up and down the iPad provided, I could hit different spots on Demetri’s torso, sending mild electric pulses through his body. This technology means gamers will be able to feel when they have been hit or shot, although Demetri reassured me it’s not painful. The suit can also simulate a hug between long-distance lovers, which is a sweet thought, although – with VR pornography increasing in popularity – I can’t help but wonder what’s next. – The Independent