#vrla2017

[bellzebob]

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Justin Roiland doing a hilarious keynote at VRLA! #VRLA2017 #vrlosangeles #justinroiland #rickandmorty #adultswim (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[kaffeinebuzz]

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Woo! Time to check out all the crazy #VR companies and their toys. #vrla #vrla2017

[tableflipemoji]

VRLA 2017 Recap

A Night Sky Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus

The controller for the Samsung Gear VR just debuted the day before, so I got to try it with a game called ‘A Night Sky.’ The game opens to a campsite setting with stacked boulders, a tent, a flickering campfire and the titular sparkling night sky. You use the controller to point and connect the stars to make a constellation, with the constellation coming to life and flying around the scene. I made an owl, a ship and even a dragon! It was a simple game that gave you a lot of help when connecting the stars so that whatever you were pointing at with the controller was more suggestive than precise. Young children would enjoy this free game as it inspires imagination in a peaceful scene.

I found the Gear VR headset cushy but still bulky. Images were very pixelated. I waited 1-1.5 hours in line for a 10 minute demo as they had 7 working headsets at a time.

Virtual Virtual Reality on Google Daydream

For this one they gave out appointment cards so I didn’t have to wait in line and simply came back at my appointed time. I chose the game ‘Virtual Virtual Reality,’ which the staff member described as Inception with VR. When the game starts, you meet a robot named Activitude, who explains that you can keep stepping into virtual realities inside virtual realities by putting on VR headsets. You flick the controller with your wrist to let out a line that looks like a fishing rod with a suction cup at the end to grab a virtual headset, and then run your thumb along the touch pad to reel in the headset onto your face.

The controller wasn’t working for me, something the staff member attributed to a low battery, so my experience with it was worse than the Gear VR’s controller. The robot gave me a demo on how to grab a virtual headset but after some time flailing around and failing at using the controller, I felt that it got a bit impatient with me and just made the headset fly onto my face, transporting me into another virtual reality. I also failed at grabbing all the flying pieces of toast, but it was still highly entertaining going into all the different virtual worlds. Would definitely recommend for $9 in the Play Store.

I liked the Daydream headset better than the Gear VR as it was made of fabric and was lighter and more comfortable. Instead of a foam cushion, the thinner padding between the headset seemed to be made of breathable mesh. In contrast, the foam cushion on the Gear VR made it look even bulkier. Although the Daydream seemed thicker than the Gear VR, its design was more sleek and aesthetically pleasing overall. Image quality was better.

Hado by Meleap

I saw this 2 vs 2 player game and definitely had to try it! Basically you get to shoot energy balls that look like fireballs from your fist like the famous hadouken move from Dragon Ball Z. Hado is not VR but AR. When you put the headset on, you can see that the players are wearing 4 “wings.” The goal is to use the armband sensor on your wrist to aim at the wings of the player on the opposing team. You can also put up shields, which I never figured out how to do. My team won, probably because I stopped caring about shields and kept continually shooting at both the opposing players (yeah, I’m highly competitive). 

The wait was shorter since 4 people at a time can play but was still about 40 minutes. I believe this was an 80 second game. Hado was produced by Meleap, a Japanese company all the way from Tokyo. There was a surprising number of Japanese people, both exhibitors and attendees.

Things I wished I got to try

There was so much more! I wanted to try the Vive, the Google Tilt Brush and something that looks like putting on a headset and getting inside a bubble ball. Not sure what was going on with the latter, but I saw a guy put on a headset, get inside the bubble ball, and then freak out and get back out. Wish I was able to attend the 360 film making session with Unity.

Ah, I forgot to mention that I also tried out Facebook 360. They had a 360 camera the slightly larger than the size of a Square Reader that you plug into your phone’s charge port called the Giroptic iO 360 camera. Wasn’t too impressed by the image quality. But I saw cameras of all sizes, from the small handheld Ricoh Theta to giant motion sensor cages to this other thing that looked like a Mars rover.

A wide variety of industries which applied VR for practical use was represented too, from VR marketing to live streaming games and events to real estate. I passed by G’Audio, which did 3D audio, and can’t even imagine what that’s like.

I didn’t have time for everything as most of the demos and experiences had a long wait time. It never got crowded and there might be only 8 people in front of you, but if each person took about 10 minutes and there was only one headset then you could be waiting for a very long time. Almost a Disneyland-like feel. The AR Easter Egg Hunt with Microsoft’s HoloLens was 1.5-2 hours wait for an 8 minute demo. Worse still was the Oculus Rift with up to a 3 hour wait for a 45 minute game. They said they decided on a longer demo as that particular game just won an award for best VR content.

My friend and I were at VRLA since 10am for the keynote and presentations (which we should have skipped), got into the exhibits when they opened at noon and were pretty pooped by 4pm. We didn’t even get to go to any of the workshops. We were expecting food trucks or at least some food vendors but all they had was the venue cafeteria. Some companies were handing out VR headset hygiene masks but most weren’t. If you ever go to VRLA, I’d recommend bringing comfy shoes, water, a packed lunch (or eating before) and your own VR hygiene mask.

[thevirtualrealitygirl]

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#microdosevr #vrla2017 #vrara

[nataliemermaid]

Had a really cool John Wick experience with @starvr at @vrlosangeles Awesome jacket by @udreplicas_universaldesigns • • • • • • #vrla #vrla2017 #vrlaexpo #vrla2017expo (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[domaenltd]

Bubbles blobs and skulls. @vrlosangeles @superarchitects @pufferfish6 VRLA #vrla2017 (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[domaen]

@kckilograph #kilographstudio #vrla2017 in sction. (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[crazyunclejoe]

@sataniszpup and @audreylesser are getting immersive in the #GirlsMakeVR workshop @vrlosangeles #omgwtfvrla #VRLA2017 #stemgirlsrock (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[brokencinema]

#Repost @highcouncil360 with @repostapp ・・・ We're here @vrlosangeles ready to see what new and exciting things are happening in the industry! Hope to see you all on the #VRLA2017 show floor! #HighCouncil360 #360video #360 #VR #Youtube #Google #DayDream #Cardboard #Oculus #Rift #PSVR #HTC #vive #concert #losangeles #conventioncenter #california #company #goals #business #artist #musician #vrla2017 (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[yutanews]

14日、15日とロサンゼルスのコンベンションセンターで開催されたVirtual Reality Los Angeles(VRLA)は今年で3回目ながら、170を超える多数の出展者が集まりました。既に幾つか紹介してきましたが、本記事では取り上げきれなかった via Pocket

[plusticnews]

2017年04月18日（Tue）

■「魔法少女まどか☆マギカ」キャンペーンがローソンで 花と魔法少女のかわいい組み合わせ

■【VRLA2017】スミソニアン美術館をVRで再現したら? 世界の知を進化させるインテルとの取り組み

■10代のスマホ依存症をどうする–専門家が指摘する脳への影響

■Tooterでトゥート、トゥートしまシェリー

■「浮遊球体ドローンディスプレイ」、NTTドコモ開発 光の残像で全方位に映像

■「自律走行車レース」でトップを走るのは、グーグルでもテスラでもなかった：調査結果

■最近よく聞く「データサイエンティスト」って一体何をしている人？

■【使ってみた】Googleの「WebVR」がGoogleCardboardにも対応、Webブラウザ上で簡易VR体験できる

■ヒノキを鉄骨並みの強度に 高知・室戸市のドーム、森林活用で画期的技術

■ロキソニンがAmazonで買える！…

[riggingdojo]

riggingdojo

RT @NimbleCollectiv: The women of Nimble Collective are hitting LA for the #VRLA2017 Expo! They're checking out the latest technology an… https://t.co/NHLjZEX8rM

[tuangstudio]

#vrla #vrla2017 @vrlosangeles #arttech #tech (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[nataliemermaid]

#vrla2017 @vrlosangeles hanging out at VRLA today! (at Los Angeles Convention Center)

[debuffedhero-blog]

What an awesome conference! But like all good things, #VRLA2017 has come to an end. I'll be uploading all of my photos and videos to my blog tonight. Check out everything I saw at the world's largest immersive technology conference- https://www.debuffedhero.com/blog/2017/4/15/vrla-2017

[thevisualist]

Hayden preparing team breakfast at @VRcompany Getting pumped up for our day trip at #VRLA #VRLA2017 cc… https://t.co/jKVI7EZTKQ

http://twitter.com/laurentm