SIGGRAPH is a Californian five-day event with all of the latest computer graphics and interactive techniques showcased. There will be a celebration of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) throughout the conference with VR Village, which will host a collection of VR installations next month during “The Summer of VR”.
There will be a collection of VR and AR to try out, including: Parallel Eyes, a multiplayer VR videogame of tag where players will use Nomadic VR to use their gaze to hide from others, and it will be presented by Sony Computer Science Laboratories, the University of Tokyo, and Y-CAM InterLab; MechVR, originally built for flight training, lets the player control a giant biped robot machine; and Synesthedia Suit, a full-body haptic VR suit.
Denise Quesnel, Chair of SIGGRAPH 2016, spoke about how VR and AR experiences were in demand for this year’s conference, and in order to fulfil this the VR Village was created: “Our 2016 VR Village will host a number of remarkable, top level, VR/AR installations, films, games, and presentations. The adjudicated and curated content was selected by a well-respected team of AR/VR specialists in order to fully demonstrate the versatile nature of interactive, immersive realities. Without question, SIGGRAPH 2016 will be truly celebrating the ‘Summer of VR!’”
Also featured in the VR Village is the VR Storylab, which is a new feature to be added that highlights 360-degree and VR narrative-led content. This includes: Injustice, a VR film by the Carnegie Mellon Univeristy about racially motivated police brutality; Pearl, a Google spotlight coming of age story on the HTC Vive which follows a father and his daughter; and Invasion!, a VR film directed by Eric Darnell who directed and write the four Madagascar films.
There will be a selection of presentations too: Agents of Change, which looks at health and social VR; Art & Science of Immersion, an in-depth look at the more technical side of VR; Production For VR Storytelling, a session with three high-profile presentations which are Invasion!, Kanju, and The Jungle Book.
For more on this event and all VR news and updates make sure to check back with VRFocus.
