Whether you’re a content-creator or content-consumer, VRLA, the world’s largest immersive technology festival, has something for you. Situated in the Los Angeles Convention Center, the conference is an oasis for filmmakers, developers, multimedia artists, inventors, and anyone on the leading edge of immersive tech. With hundreds of experiences available, and only a few days to take it all in, we’ve hand-picked some experiences that stuck out to us between all the awesome demos. Read on to see which 5 experiences and technologies you just can’t miss at VRLA this year.
- HEAR360 & GRAYSONX — BOOTH 530
Want to sound incredible? Look no further.
Spatial audio is critical to immersive 360 video production, yet delivering true spatial audio has challenged VR creators for years. HEAR360’s 8ball, a patented omni-binaural microphone and software suite, provides a complete end-to-end solution for cinematic VR and 360 video creators, promising the easy delivery of immersive spatial audio experiences to their audience.
Hear360’s 8ball empowers creators to capture spatial audio in an omni-binaural format, and seamlessly integrate their recordings with post-production workflows using a suite of plugins available to purchasers of the microphone. Attendees of VRLA can interact with 8ball, utilize the plugins, and hear truly immersive audio for themselves.
GraysonX is a content creation company focused on music and sound experiences, and building new products and frameworks to create and distribute high-end immersive content. Adjacent to Hear360, at Booth 530, attendees can pan around a huge 70” TV screen, perceiving head-trackable audio in real-time.
If you had any doubts we were living in the future, here’s your evidence.
Read more about Hear360 here, and GraysonX here.
2. LIGHT SAIL VR — BOOTH E14
Want to immerse yourself in narrative? Light Sail VR’s Cinematic VR experience is so immersive, it’s scary.
In Light Sail VR’s Speak of the Devil, a choose-your-own-adventure horror experience, attendees have twelve ways to meet a grisly end, but only one real way out.
Filmed using a GoPro Odyssey, spatial audio capture from Hear360’s 8ball, and real actors, users will find themselves stranded in a remote campground. Users’ actions within the experience determine the ending of the film.
Matthew Celia, Light Sail VR’s co founder and Creative Director, collaborated closely with Executive Producer and fellow co-founder Robert Watts in order to create the interconnected narrative paths. It’s a total trip, and definitely worth screaming over.
Read more about Light Sail VR here.
3. RADIANT IMAGES — BOOTH 153
Like immersive content creation and filmmaking? Radiant Images sees the future.
Radiant Images, an award-winning solution provider in 2D, 360 and everything related to immersive technology from the leading companies in the industry, has an awesome camera to debut at VRLA.
Known as a “light-field 6DoF capture system”, dubbed Meridian, the camera features the ultra-compact Sony RX0. Meridian captures live-action, 6DoF footage that enables a viewer to experience a truly lifelike immersive experience — moving forward-back, side-to-side, up-down or twisting one’s head — while still maintaining the look and feel of high-quality cinematography.
VRLA attendees will be able to view sample content from each system on screen and in the headset.
Read more about Radiant Images here.
4. Google VR — BOOTH 534
Ever wanted to leap into a photograph? Google VR can get you there.
Google VR has made some amazing advancements in light field technology. When viewed through a VR headset that supports positional tracking, light fields can enable some truly amazing VR experiences based on footage captured in the real world. nearby objects seem near to you — as you move your head, they appear to shift a lot. Far-away objects shift less and light reflects off objects differently, giving the illusion that you’re occupying 3D space.
To record light fields, Google modified a GoPro Odyssey Jump camera, bending it into a vertical arc of 16 cameras mounted on a rotating platform. You can see the whole rig at Google VR’s booth, where you can also check out some of the photography for yourself.
Read more about Google’s Light Fields here.
5. MEZO — BOOTH 445
Need a break from all the headsets? Zone out with Mezo.
This main attraction of this year’s show floor is Mezo, a 20-foot tall ziggurat equipped with spatial music, synchronized LED panels, and, yes, lasers.
The interactive art installation, created in collaboration with LACMA, imagines a an alternate future where ancient Mesoamerican societies have become technologically advanced, taking attendees on a visually and sonically stunning journey through destruction, creation and rebirth.
Read more about Mezo here.
Our “Top 5” list is not an exhaustive list of everything we’re excited about this year, as each demo offers its own experience for every user. From spatial audio, choose-your-own adventure-style entertainment, lightfield experiments, 360-degree cameras and the hottest product launches across virtual and augmented reality, this year’s VRLA offers something for any attendee.
Are you at VRLA? Any demos you think we missed? Let us know below, and reach out on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram if you made it out to #VRLA this year. We’d love to talk about spatial audio with you.
