VR World News: You Hear It First

Matthew Edwards, AR/VR Instructor @ Portland Community College, Cascade Campus

Dec 5, 2020

CULTURAL XR

3D Models Help Preserve Landmarks Like Notre Dame, Skara Brae Neolithic Site, and Easter Island, NOVA, Nov 25, 2020: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/3d-model-point-cloud-notre-dame/

TECH ANTITRUST

This episode of VoicesOfVR really struck me: Allegations of Facebook Blocking and Cloning Fitness Tracker YUR Fit, Dec 3, 2020: https://voicesofvr.com/964-allegations-of-facebook-blocking-cloning-fitness-tracker-yur-fit-by-a-former-co-founder-cix-liv/

Facebook Accused of Squeezing Rival Startups in Virtual Reality, Bloomberg, Dec 3, 2020: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-03/facebook-accused-of-squeezing-rival-startups-in-virtual-reality

Chase that down with this: Congress Releases Blockbuster Tech Antitrust Report, The Verge, Oct 6, 2020: https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/6/21504814/congress-antitrust-report-house-judiciary-committee-apple-google-amazon-facebook

BCI (BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE)

OpenBCI Brain Computer Interface Designed Specifically for VR/AR Headsets, RoadToVR, Nov 25, 2020: https://www.roadtovr.com/openbci-brain-computer-interface-ar-vr-galea/

Brain Computer Interface Insights from Valve Co-Founder, RoadToVR, March 19, 2020: https://www.roadtovr.com/gabe-newell-brain-computer-interfaces-way-closer-matrix-people-realize/

HARDWARE INNOVATION

History of Apples New M1 Chip, Cold Fusion, Nov 23, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuF9weSkS68

Why Next-Gen Graphics Seem to Have Stagnated, Knowledge Hub, Nov 2, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuF9weSkS68

Portland’s Teensy Used In Production of Mandalorian, Paul Stoffregon, Sept 28, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuF9weSkS68

Varjo Virtual Reality Headset Claims to Be Best-In-Class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuF9weSkS68

PRIVACY & SECURITY

Facebook Struggles to Balance Civility and Growth, New York Times, Nov 24, 2020: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing

EDUCATION / TRAINING

Painting with Mathematics, Inigo Quilez, Nov 27, 2020: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing

Building a 3D Game Live, Start to Finish, Jason Weimann, Nov 21, 2020 https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing

VIRTUAL WORLDS

“Talking without a Voice”: Understanding Non-verbal Communication In Social Virtual Reality, Clemson University, Oct 20, 2020: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing

MISCELLANY

Hand Physics Lab: “I Made a VR Cat": https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing

Used HTC Vive for $475 in Salem: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS

(Here’s where I’ll share some insights as someone who is actively developing / teaching VR, Desktop, and Web related workflows in Unity.)

I’ve continued exploring Unity's XR Interaction Toolkit and can confirm useful features like Teleport, Grabbable Objects, Throwable Objects, Raycast Interactor (to draw objects toward you), Snap Rotation (to turn yourself in increments), Continuous Motion (smooth locomotion), Animated Hands, Secondary Object Interactions (once holding an object, do something else with it) and UI Interactions via Raycast.

Here are my notes for setup: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10H0Fc6z_-SbrH_1pvGZqIeXP0zlkHuZVDkuMRAyaiEs/edit?usp=sharing