Although virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs), input solutions and more have come a long way over the past few years, there’s still much work to be done when it comes to interaction with characters within VR. When done right, users can feel like they’re interacting with a real person, although the limitations of the current technology and software can make this hard to pull off. Limitless is a new VR startup company that’s aiming to help developers bring believable characters into VR environments, realistically engaging with the user.

Announced today, Limitless was formed by Tom Sanocki, formerly of celebrated movie studio, Pixar, and Halo and Destiny developer, Bungie. The company has a patent-pending solution titled the Limitless Creative VR Environment that looks to offer others an easier, cheaper solution to building characters with believable interactions in VR. These characters will respond to voice recognition, gestures, gaze and other types of input, just as a real person would.

The company is already working with Motional LLC to produce an interactive animated short film titled Gary the Gull, which will be on display at the 2016 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, from 14th – 18th March. The first trailer for the project can be seen below in which a player can be seen talking to Gary. Limitless will primarily be targeting VR videogames and films at first.

“Engaging with characters changes the emotional aspect of a story and increases viewer immersion- whether it’s a film, a game, a promotional video or an advertisement,” Sanocki said of the new studio. “We have assembled a team from high-end film and game companies who are dedicated to creating characters that are just as much a part of our world as we are a part of theirs.”

Stay tuned to VRFocus for the latest on Limitless.

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The post Limitless to Bring VR Characters to Life with Voice, Gesture Recognition & More appeared first on VRFocus.

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