VR news

How AR Technology Is Turning Truck Drivers Into Maintenance And Logistics Experts?

December 22, 2021 From affinityvr

The trucking industry is essential for many industries as it allows the transportation of essential goods and resources to and from suppliers. This is why many top companies have invested heavily in the newest technology to improve the trucking industry to make operations efficient and save costs in the long term. For example, a company can integrate a smart truck dash cam that uses AI algorithms into a truck to allow drivers to drive safely when on the route.

Similarly, augmented reality (AR) technology has paved the way to improve the maintenance and repair for truck drivers, which helps improve logistics for a company. This may seem like a sci-fi concept, but believe us, we have arrived at this unreal future. Don’t believe us? Please keep reading. This article will discuss precisely how AR technology turns truck drivers into maintenance and logistics experts.

AR Technology Can Help Drivers Locate Faults Instantly

Truck drivers spend a lot of time on the road, and their trucks will likely break down at some point. In such a situation, drivers will have to wait for a tow truck to take the truck to a local mechanic for repairs. Some drivers may fix the problem, but only experienced ones can really do this. Even if they manage to do it, it can take quite a while to locate the issue. The problem with this situation is that the shipment they are carrying will get delayed, which can result in revenue loss and upset clients.

This is where AR technology comes to save the day. AR technology can be integrated with smartphones or smart glasses and allow drivers to aim them towards the car. The technology will then display information related to the truck’s parts like engines, wheels, etc., in real-time, allowing them to detect faults and perform some basic repair that can allow them to get back on route. We have seen examples of technology like this being developed by companies like Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Caterpillar.

AR Technology Can Help Drivers Get Instant Assistance

In certain situations, drivers will have problems making repairs by themselves which is where they can get assistance from mechanics through AR technology. The mechanic can see whatever the driver sees through their device, and they can then make markings to bring drivers’ attention to specific spots. Additionally, they can guide them through the basic repair process by instructing them through the various steps required. This helps the driver get back on the road and helps him understand the repair process. This will help them become a maintenance expert and a logistics expert as well.

AR Technology Can Help Guide Drivers to Expert Assistance

In a situation where a complete breakdown or a major problem occurs, the driver will likely not be able to repair it. AR technology can guide them to a nearby local mechanic, garage, or parts dealer where they can get proper assistance. This will ensure that the repair is done as soon as possible, meaning that logistics will be a lot more streamlined. The information provided by AR technology can help, too, as it can provide the truck drivers with stats about their driving. This will help drivers understand how they are driving and improve it for more safe and efficient driving. Pairing AR technology with a smart truck dash cam can further improve this benefit as these dash cams can provide a score about their driving.

To sum up

AR technology has completely transformed the way maintenance and logistics works. Through AR technology, drivers can get real-time information that can help turn them into maintenance experts. This helps reduce the need to hire new mechanics. Additionally, this can help guide truck drivers to garages or repair shops which can save time and help from a logistics point of view. We have discussed these points in detail in this article and hope it has provided you with great insight into this remarkable technology. It is only a matter of time before we see this technology become common in the trucking industry.

The Coldest Stalk in the Steam VR World is Out Now! Bean Stalker adds a new map, the Arctic level

December 2, 2021 From affinityvr

Music in Virtual Reality – Wave paves the way for the Metaverse

November 21, 2021 From affinityvr

Virtual Reality is taking the entertainment industry by storm, becoming more and accessible for small players in the market with each passing day. This trend has been made possible, in part, by a host of new creator-focused ventures that are making it easier to produce VR-ready experiences for a variety of audiences.

One such venture is Wave (formerly TheWaveXR), a live performance production startup that is making it possible for artists big or small to launch interactive performances online. The startup has gained massive popularity since they started in 2016, having gone onto host megastars like The Weeknd, John Legend, and Justin Bieber.

Image Credits: tirachard from Adobe Stock

As music enters the metaverse, startups like Wave are overhauling the way artists and their audiences interact – but this transition is not without its pitfalls.

Music in Virtual Reality – How Wave has changed Live Performances

Wave follows a tech-intensive approach to event broadcasting, providing artists with a haptics suit and a team of VR producers to help create live performances that are rendered in real time.

The start-up seeks to empower artists with small or scattered fanbases to entertain their audience without incurring the costs of live tours and concerts. Their unique avatar-based performance output speaks for itself, attracting even international stars to the platform. The result is a truly interactive event for fans and artists alike, unbound by the constraints of reality.

Image Credits: alexkoral from Adobe Stock

Wave is proof that virtual reality concerts are not a niche novelty, but a viable alternative to real-life performances. The ways in which it empowers artists are manifold:

1. Wider Audience

With music going global, the typical fame trajectory of an artist has changed – they are no longer needed to garner a significant domestic audience in order to break out to other countries. This still poses the problem of furthering engagement with an artist’s audience beyond periodic releases, a role that live performances would traditionally play. With VR performances, artists can reach audiences they may never be able to interact with otherwise.

2. Reduced Cost of Production

Live tours are a massive logistical undertaking, requiring many people with varying skillsets to come together as a single well-oiled machine. For artists, this directly translates to hiring and paying a large staff to ensure production quality is upheld. Upcoming artists either rely on (often exploitative) record labels to bear these costs, or pay from their own pockets. In either case, the huge upfront costs often prove prohibitive to new players, limiting an artist’s reach severely.

Image Credits: Elroi from Adobe Stock

Enter VR – all that an artist requires today is some equipment and expertise to put up live performances, often with a small team and a lean budget. This lets them enjoy a far larger share of the revenue as well, which is crucial given the meagre payout from streaming platforms.

3. Increased creative freedom

Art is the ultimate form of self-expression; empowering musicians with greater control over how their performances look and feel is the step in the right direction, for creators and audiences alike. With VR as another tool in their repertoire, small artists can make their performances just as spectacular as widely-known popstars.

Virtual reality frees artists of physical constraints, with the extent of their imagination being the only real limit. Artists can perform in graphically-enhanced environments – even on simulations of different planets, or an abstract liminal space. With VR reducing the resource gap between artists at different levels of career success, creating a memorable experience is finally becoming more a matter of ingenuity than economics.

Image Credits: Tierney from Adobe Stock

WaveVR takes a step back – the future of metaverse music

In 2017, Wave had launched the WaveVR on Steam and Oculus, for musicians and audiences to enjoy performances live via VR headsets. Unfortunately, the application was discontinued earlier this year. This was partly due to the discontinuation of Google Poly, on which the application’s VR rendering system was based. These technical difficulties as well as slower than anticipated adoption rates forced the company to mothball their rendering model and focus instead on increasing their reach.

While the start-up has promised to restart their VR wing upon securing the requisite resources, it is likely that this decision will cost them the position of the market leader. The app’s discontinuation is a temporary setback in the wider metaverse music scene. Ventures the world over are moving towards immersive experiences, a shift accelerated by Facebook (now Meta)’s brand overhaul. For its part, Wave has demonstrated how powerful the premise of VR-powered performances is, sowing the seed for a future where the technology and the art form will exist in perfect synergy.

Facebook Changes Its Name To ‘Meta’: The First Ever Incorporated Metaverse Company

November 8, 2021 From affinityvr

On 28th October, Mark Zuckerburg doubled down on his commitment to be the face of the oncoming metaverse era by signing off on the move to rebrand the parent company, Facebook Inc., to Meta. The hour-long keynote presentation was unveiled at the Connect 2021 conference, where Mark goes over all the fundamental changes the rebranding brings along, as well as exploring his and his company’s vision moving forward. The social media giant is bringing the limelight to their increasing investments and commitment into AR/VR technologies and the growing size of the Facebook Reality Labs. This move has multiple implications, from marketing and finance to technological, and has caused a stir amongst critics and journalists alike.

Facebook aka Meta Company – Highlights

The biggest and clearest sign of a shift in the company’s focus was highlighted by the medium of the presentation itself. Mark Zuckerburg gave the entire presentation and walked the attendees of the conference through all the changes in a serene VR environment. After introducing the rebranding of the parent company to Meta in the first 10 minutes, the rest of the feature was about how the platforms will look, feel and behave as they incorporate VR and AR as the building blocks. The keynote went over multiple pressing concerns of how Meta’s metaverse will incorporate interactions, entertainment, art, merchandising and marketing, and gave an insight into the vision of the future by Zuckerburg and team.

Image Credits: Tegan Reyes (on behalf of Meta)

From its inception, the parent company Facebook Inc. (now Meta), had represented itself as a social media and advertising platform. With the rebranding exercise, the company now identifies itself as a social technologies and metaverse company. This rebranding has no direct implications on the portfolio of applications and platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and other subsidiaries) the company manages, as their name remains unchanged.

In Mark’s interview with the Verge, he states that Meta has become an ecosystem of applications in the last few years, and having their flagship application – Facebook, share the name has led to confusion amongst its users and investors. A similar move had been made by Google in 2015 when they rebranded the parent company as Alphabet. The re-branding is a push to separate the identities and create a clearer distinction between the platforms and the parent organisation.

Image Credits: Tegan Reyes (on behalf of Meta)

While the rebranding is a subtle way to distinguish parts of the social media conglomerate, this transition is more evident in their financial reporting, as moving forward Meta Inc. will report on their two distinct wings – ‘The Family of Apps’ and ‘Reality Labs’. As the portfolio of Meta increases the share of AR/VR tech (Oculus and Reality Labs) investments and the growing workforce in the vertical, this rebranding is a clear signal of the internal shifts in the company that have been years in the making.

After-Meta: Public Reception

The rebranding exercise has stirred a myriad spectrum of views on the matter, the majority of them are leaning on the negative side of the spectrum due to the failing reputation of Facebook, both as a platform and a parent company. With increasing scrutiny on the internal workings of the organisation’s decision making since the ‘Facebook Papers’ leak, many speculate that the rebranding might just be a gimmick to distance the company from the tanking reputation of the platform.

While these rumours were debunked by Mark earlier and were purely speculative, others point out that this move, and the bigger focus of the company to make metaverse a reality, is motivated by wanting to reduce the company’s dependency on competitors such as Google and Apple. As companies that own the app stores on which ‘The Family of Apps’ are downloaded through, Meta has to pay a large 30% commission on its in-app sales to the operating software owners, which in Mark’s words are “stifling innovation and growth”.

Image Credits: Tegan Reyes (on behalf of Meta)

Beyond the reputational issues, re-branding is also being seen with the lens of an embarrassing debacle. The name ‘Meta’ is already an incorporated organisation dealing in AR tech, which the marketing team behind this shift got to know about after their big announcement, and are now trying to salvage the situation by offering $20 million for the naming rights.

What could’ve been a large and eventful day for metaverse and AR/VR enthusiasts around the world, a beacon of the inevitable virtual future, has turned into another rainy day (in the series of rainy days) for the tech giant.

Top 5 VR headsets under $1000

October 29, 2021 From affinityvr

AR & VR in Military Training – 4 ways in which it makes a difference

October 28, 2021 From affinityvr

In the wake of World Wars 1 & 2, the last eight decades or so have appeared to most to be a time of peace. In tandem, combat readiness has increasingly become a focal point of government spending the world over. It appears counter-intuitive to maintain peace by being armed to the teeth – however, since the development of atomic bombs by multiple countries, the fear of mutual destruction has provided to be a far more effective motivator for peace than purely mutual cooperation.

With technological superiority being key to winning modern combat scenarios, military R&D and tactical training is as much a matter of innovation as it is of investment. Acquiring that edge calls for significant cross-pollination of ideas from emerging technological fields. In that vein, multiple first world nations have started tapping into AR/VR in the last couple of years.

The usage of AR/VR in tactical training is not entirely new. Virtual reality as we know did not come into play until NASA used the technology to train their space crews in the 1980s. Some even date the usage of the technology as early as the 1960s, when the computer screen pen was used for interacting with defence systems. However, the technology didn’t not make significant headway in industries beyond entertainment and medicine until much recently.

Image Courtesy: Özgür Güvenç from Adobe Stock

The immersive experience simulated by VR and the live graphics capabilities of AR provides militaries the world over the ability to enhance their efficacy and potency in myriad ways. Here are a few of them:

VR in military training

With the improving graphic capabilities of VR software and headsets, military forces can recreate extreme scenarios for training their soldiers without incurring actual risk. Professions like medicine have started using VR to make surgery practice less traumatizing for students; the military is following their lead in creating training modules to replace expensive drills designed to mimic high pressure situations.

Major militaries such as the UK and USA are already making VR a mainstay of training programs. With a powerful graphics engine and readily available digital assets, virtual reality modules can enable training in any location, without using up real-life resources such as ammunition, vehicles, petroleum etc.

Image Courtesy: hiv360 from Adobe Stock

The ability to conduct virtual training instead of real-life demonstrations offers value beyond cost-effectiveness and convenience. In a controlled simulation, trainees can be prepared for high-risk situations like emergency landings, crashes and ambushes. VR can help train an entire squad of soldiers in a common virtual environment, contributing to improved team coordination and specialized skill training. Due to this advantage, big defense contractors are now including VR drills as a part of military training packages.

Soft skills training with VR

The scope of military training does not stop at typical tactical drills and combat skills; the use of VR can also help impart soft skills to military personnel. Wars cause immense psychological stress, and the scars left on a soldier’s mind after years of service may irreparably damage his future prospects, even leading to suicide in extreme cases

The US Airforce is using immersive VR as part of their suicide prevention strategy. VR technology is being employed to recreate accurate simulations of stress and shock symptoms. While differing vastly in scale, the interpersonal simulations add just as much value to military training as combat scenarios do, both giving military personnel the tools they need to better support their teammates.

Image Courtesy: Rawpixel.com from Adobe Stock

AR in military operations

While VR can recreate real-life scenarios in graphic realities for infinite test runs and practise, AR can be used by soldiers live on the field. With ruggedized AR/ VR goggles, armies can equip their soldiers with highly advanced information systems that can be accessed on the move. Using AR googles, soldiers can use overlays for target identification and assistance, view and path finding, and information gathering to gain tactical advantage.

This futuristic information display capability has really captivated the attention of the US army, which has partnered with Microsoft HoloLens in 2019 to put out 60,000 pieces of VR headsets capable of AR information inlays for soldiers to use in the field. The project – which will reportedly add $20 billion to Microsoft’s treasury – is presently on pause, with the delivery deadline pushed to September 2022.

Equipment maintenance with VR

Most machinery used in the military is highly specialized and technical in nature. Their maintenance, as a result, is often costly and may call for specialized training. Any kind of lapse in diligence in taking care of these assets may not only cause massive monetary liability, but may even put the lives of soldiers at risk.

Image Courtesy: phpetrunina14 from Adobe Stock

In order to equip military engineers with the know-how needed to repair and maintain important machinery, VR technology is quickly becoming the best available option. With the help of AR/ VR, live 3D models and visual guides can be created to ease the process of learning about highly sophisticated machinery, reducing the margin of error.

GridRaster, a company that uses AI, AR and VR, is revolutionising the way military equipment maintenance is done. By creating VR models of machinery through scans, the company allows engineers to use 3D schematics to understand what they are handling, followed by an AR guide to help identify components. The company claims that US military engineers with less than a year of experience were able to outperform seasoned personnel with the help of their product.

Even as the world inches towards peace, militaries around the world continue to stay prepared for any bad situation. Unlike most military tech that focuses on enhancing the lethality of soldiers, AR/VR focuses on increasing operational efficiency, making its application versatile yet cost effective. As tactical edge, and not raw firepower, become the new yardstick for measuring a military’s strength, AR/VR tech has found a permanent foothold in the art of war.

AR & VR in Military Training – 4 Ways in Which it Will Revolutionize Warfare

October 28, 2021 From affinityvr

Image Courtesy: Özgür Güvenç from Adobe Stock

VR in Military Training

Image Courtesy: hiv360 from Adobe Stock

VR for Training Soft Skills

Image Courtesy: Rawpixel.com from Adobe Stock

AR in Military Operations

Equipment Maintenance with VR

Image Courtesy: phpetrunina14 from Adobe Stock

4 Augmented Reality Key Trends 2021: Future-Oriented Technology

October 13, 2021 From affinityvr

In the words of Dave Di Veroli, head of strategy and innovation at VMLY&R,

“AR is no longer a niche. It’s mainstream, and it’s something that every single brand will need to figure out how they’re going to use it.”

Given the recent global scenario where the whole world has come to a halt, digital tech has proven to be a powerful force both to survive and thrive amidst the chaos and changing conditions, no matter the nature of disruption.

The year 2020 witnessed unprecedented growth in augmented reality. The immersive tech’s valued at over $15 billion and the number of AR users is estimated to grow up to 2 billion by 2024.

Introduction:

Augmented reality is a future-oriented technology that provides an interactive, immersive, and highly visual experience to the viewer by superimposing digital world information upon the real world of the viewer. AR has wide-scale applications, and in the right hands, ensures the fastest and enhanced ROI.

AR blurs the line between the real and the virtual by blending interactive visuals into the real-world environment. Although, the whole AR journey isn’t as smooth as it looks. It has its own challenges and problems. AR content needs to be adaptable and flexible to look natural in any kind of unpredictable real-world environment generated by the user’s smartphone camera, unlike virtual reality where the 3D content remains consistent. In movies and TV shows, you get to spend hours generating each frame, but with real-time AR experience, you have only 16 milliseconds to render the 3D content.

Despite the challenges, AR is firmly finding its feet and by having a look at the current trends in augmented reality, one can get a pretty clear idea about its wide-scale applications.

Trend #1: AR In Retail & E-commerce

Retail & E-commerce has benefitted first-hand from augmented reality and has become a battleground for AR as brands and companies are sweating it out to compete with each other based on this lifelike technology’s application. Let’s take a look at some of the successful implementations of AR in Retail & E-commerce:

1. Amazon:

There’s a reason why everyone knows the name Amazon. The reason being their ability to fast-recognize the trends and working on its implementation. With AR, Amazon provides a viewer with an enhanced shopping experience. Using one’s smartphone device camera, a customer can easily view the products in 3D, in hyper-reality. This improved product visualization and ‘try-before-you-buy’ feature, has already shown an 11% increase in the conversion rate, with customers spending almost 3 times more than they did earlier.
Apart from this, virtual fitting rooms have also made the whole shopping experience much more convenient for the customer. A customer can buy products right from the comfort of their homes without having to sacrifice the hands-on feel.

2. Nike:

Nike has constantly been harnessing the power of AR and the newest way of incorporating this immersive tech into their footwear has come in the form of “Nike Fit.” This is a foot measuring feature which allows a customer to measure the size of their feet as accurately as possible. This feature has been successfully implemented both on the app as well as in-store. Using this feature, a customer needs to scan for the right shoe size just once.

This information is then stored in the customer’s ‘NikePlus’ profile and can be accessed anytime for future shopping.

This feature has not only made the shopping experience convenient but also, provides the customers with higher product satisfaction. By getting an accurate measure of one’s feet, a customer gets the right pair of footwear which shall ensure that there will be fewer returns.

3. Ikea:

With its highly immersive visual experience, AR has massively reduced the guesswork and unsurety involved in the shopping-decision making, especially in the case of online shopping. This doesn’t just apply to apparel. IKEA, a multinational furniture company has come up with its innovative AR implementation that has changed the whole furniture and appliance shopping experience.

IKEA’s app allows customers to view furniture and other products in their own surroundings using AR. This allows a comprehensive look at the products, from all angles and a customer can make sure that it’s the right fit for them before buying.

AR-application is not only limited to the online experience. For the in-store AR experience, smart mirrors and RFID tags make sure that a customer leaves with a memorable experience.

With its highly accurate and precise ability to approximate the real world, AR has ensured a firm grip over the customer’s mind. AR is an ever-developing technology and it won’t be wrong to say that as AR matures, the comfort and convenience of the users will only increase.

Trend #2: AR in Navigation

Augmented Reality has immense scope when it comes to navigation. AR can be used to solve several long-standing problems with traditional navigation.
Apple recently introduced a powerful tool for outdoor AR navigation called Geo Tracking, which utilizes street view to ensure the best positioning.
Google’s AR Live View walking directions for Google Maps is another example of AR enabling precise and accurate navigation. With its ability to overlay landmarks and an expansion of Live View to more cities, AR has changed the whole perception of navigation.

Apart from this, AR also enhances In-store navigation, which stands to improve greatly from advances in this immersive tech. This allows a customer to find exactly what they need.
To enhance this experience, several tools can be used like QR codes, bluetooth beacons, ceiling antennas, etc.

Trend #3: AR in Events & Tradeshows

AR in Events & Tradeshows creates highly interactive and engaging experiences. With its 3D visualization, AR comprehends the whole idea of the brands and companies in a much ideal way, which allows for better bonding and connection with the viewers. This can be done via WebAR or dedicated apps.

Expodle × XS Worldwide × BEML:

Expoodle and XS WORLDWIDE joined hands for the 7th International Military-Technical Forum “ARMY 2021” organized at the Patriot Expo(Moscow Region) to deliver an AR experience for BEML. The AR experience created for BEML’s Arjun ARRV tank proved to be a resounding success at the Indian Pavilion and the two together paved the way for a new-age immersive experience resulting in enhanced engagement and multifold visitor interaction.

Here’s a look at the user experience on the show floor:

Trend #4: AR IN SPORTS

Augmented reality has entered the sports arena too, and with its 3D rendition and immersive visual experience, it has already shown fruitful results. AR can be used to create avatars of sports players and the viewers can interact with these avatars to get a feeling of actually getting to talk to their favorite players and idols. One of the best parts about an AR experience is that it is easily accessible and can be experienced using a simple smartphone device.

One of the best and latest examples of AR in sports events is Volkswagen’s new ID.4. Volkswagen of America partnered with U.S Soccer to provide an exciting fan experience to all the soccer fans, while at the same time promoting their newly launched car.
This WebAR experience allowed the fans to check out the new ID.4 electric car and experience the U.S Soccer event via the car. All a user needed to do was to scan a QR code placed on the car and just sit back and witness the magical WebAR experience.
The animation features the players from the U.S National Soccer Team, both men and women, and the animation depicts them celebrating after scoring a goal.

Future of Augmented Reality

The future of augmented reality can be viewed with a perspective that AR in itself is the future of all tech, marketing, and advertising. Its value is expected to rise to $25 billion by 2025, and the more people become aware of it, the more the number of AR users will rise.

AR-application allows your company/brand to enter the market early and stay at the forefront of the competition.

Where Does Expoodle Come In?

AR was considered to be the wine in Eiffel Tower, but we are planning to make it simple, affordable, and accessible to all the brands and companies who can in turn provide this to the end customers.

Augment towards the limitless ’blurring the lines’ of virtual and real. To improve your business outcomes and stand out among your competitors, now’s the time to get your hands on AR.

Expoodle applies digital innovations to the physical world to make the whole immersive experience unforgettable. With our innovative marketing solutions, we turn possibility into reality.

Expoodle focuses on democratizing the AR space with its experiential marketing solutions.

Start Your AR-Journey Now!

Want to start your AR journey? Get in touch with our AR experts and leave the rest to us.

We are one of the top ar companies in India and we offer customized end-to-end solutions for creating, testing, and deploying AR-based marketing solutions based on the client’s needs. For more information or to get in touch with us, Contact us now.

PS5 VR Headset fails to make an appearance at the Sony PlayStation Showcase

September 30, 2021 From affinityvr

Entertainment & Empathy | How VR Is Set To Transform Cinema

September 19, 2021 From affinityvr

With the invention of the video camera, an entire industry has been created around the trade of telling stories. Visualized on a screen and recorded for posterity, movies remain one of the most far-reaching and engaging channels for cultivating an audience. With the advent of VR, the medium of movies is set to experience a paradigm shift, propelled by the increasing availability and affordability of Virtual Reality software and headsets across the world.

Image Courtesy: Brilliant Eye from Adobe Stock

For cinematographers, being able to modulate sensory input for viewers is of paramount importance. In order to portray immersive and empathy-inducing experiences, cinema halls have been perfected over the last century as the ideal place to catch a movie. Even then, the best cinema hall in the world cannot compete with a VR headset. Given their ability to isolate viewers’ senses, headsets provide seamless (and screen-less) visuals. Combined with spatial audio, the immersive experience provided by VR is unparalleled.

The technological edge of VR lends itself best to two disparate movie genres – horror, and documentaries. Here’s how:

VR in Horror

Since Alfred Hitchcock elevated the genre to the limelight, horror movies have been an important part of pop culture. Yet, despite a marked improvement in graphics and cinematic tech, horror movies are not as fear-inducing as they used to be – especially since audiences have grown wise to repetitive plotlines and jump scares.

With VR, horror can be reimagined entirely. When viewers see a story unfold around them through a 360-degree interface, the veil of separation becomes virtually non-existent. Isolated by the headset, the viewers of a horror flick will be truly transported within the story’s setting. The reactions generated in this setting will not simply be sympathetic to the protagonist, but a real reaction to the horror atmosphere.

Image Courtesy: aijiro from Adobe Stock

The internationally acclaimed ‘The Ring’ franchise has taken the lead in this direction, with the launch of “The Ring VR”. Shot from the PoV of the antagonist, the film provides a promising glimpse into how the genre is set to change and adapt with new technology.

VR in Documentaries

While horror deals with the realm of nightmares, documentaries delve into the details of our world as it exists. Commemorative and educational in nature, documentaries are considered dull and slow by most viewers – to the point of being considered “cinematic lectures”.

Yet, the genre plays the critical role of spreading awareness and starting conversations on a host of topics – cultural, political, and economic. Given the surge in VR usage in recent years, documentary makers across the world have started exploring the genre through the lens of a headset.

With the newfound ability to make the viewer the protagonist, the avenues available to tell stories have multiplied manifold. Culturally significant narratives – such as Anne Frank’s experience of living in the Secret Annex during WW 2 – are being rejuvenated with the help of VR, where a viewer can walk and interact with the living space she shared with her family.

Image Courtesy: hiv360 from Adobe Stock

Using the same principle, viewers can be transported back in time in order to experience narratives attached to their geography. A viewer can explore the ruins of Pompeii, the Roman city wrecked by volcanic debris, as a pedestrian amongst the preserved structures. Using VR, viewers can also witness first-hand the effects of climate change on coral reefs, an experience that most people cannot access in-person.

As the viability and fidelity of VR tech rises, the entertainment industry is set to keep pace with each development. The foundation of this increasingly immersive and interactive storytelling is empathy; with the advent of narratives we live through and not merely witness, the new age of cinematic experiences has begun.