- by Lesley Klassen
By Lesley Klassen, CEO & Cofounder - Flipside
I often hear how VR will enable us to fly around virtual worlds, explore vast virtual spaces, and bring a new reality into the lives of its users. This is somewhat true already, however, VR really can’t achieve all these promises without some locomotion trickery.
Locomotion is the technical term used when explaining how users move around in virtual reality. When you use desktop VR like the HTC Vive you can walk around the tracking volume that was mapped out when you setup the Vive. The blue dotted lines below represent the tracked space you can move around in.
Image source: Upload VR
For every step you take in the real world, you take one step in the virtual world. In order to fly, or explore vast worlds, you need to use locomotion techniques that make you feel like you are traveling beyond the tracking volume. For some people, like me, that can feel uncomfortable. But we haven’t explored the limits of the tracked space yet. How much can we achieve in VR without resorting to locomotion tricks?
Rather than flying around and exploring vast new virtual worlds, what happens if you think of the tracking volume as a virtual stage? If you see VR from this perspective the opportunities for creators are endless. It is possible to turn every tracking volume in the world into a performance space. This is a complete game changer.
When new technologies are introduced there are winners and losers. Blogging changed the landscape of the newspaper industry forever and virtual reality will disrupt the stage.
The stage plays a huge role in the entertainment industry. Concerts, theatrical plays, musicals, live TV shows, sitcoms, and of course dance all use a stage, on which the show occurs. It’s big business with large viewership.
Will Smith, not that Will Smith, co-founded tested.com and started Foo Show. He is creating talk shows in VR and launched the initial episode of the Foo Show in early 2016 and he making more.
If you’ve read Ready Player One you will recognize the name Gunter. The team at Gunter’s Universe have been producing a VR talk show since 2014. They have interviewed over 50 leaders in the VR industry.
Philip Rosendale, co-founder of High Fidelity, and former CEO of Second Life has brought his open world vision to VR. High Fidelity is an open source platform that allows developers to craft new worlds and places, including VR talk shows and virtual performances.
AltSpace is a social VR platform. They hold the record for the most number concurrent viewers watching a live show in virtual reality. They were also one of the first to bring celebrity entertainers into VR.
Virtual reality is still in its infancy. The only people who use it regularly are innovators and early adopters.
There are two challenges holding back mass adoption. The hardware needs to come down in price and VR needs more content. Seeing the tracking volume as a stage and empowering creators to make more content will help solve the content problem. We will have to wait on the hardware manufacturers to make the hardware more affordable, but fear not, it’s happening. Our future will be filled with amazing, captivating, and engaging VR performances on virtual stages.
- by John Luxford
Today is Demo Day for Tribe 9 at Boost VC, and we are super excited to be a part of it and proud of the work everyone has done over the past few months. The growth and polish in everyone's products, pitches, and businesses is incredible.
The past week alone has been crazy for us. We announced Flipside Studio in early access as well as the first two shows created with it, Earth From Up Here and Super Secret Science Island. We demoed like mad with Exit Reality at VRLA, and had some great coverage in Tom's Hardware, VR Status, and The VR Base.
Anyway, we better get back to rehearsing and getting our setup looking spiffy for the event. Looking forward to showing off the future of animation and interactive content creation in VR!
- by John Luxford
We’ve been hinting at big things for a while now at The Campfire Union, and we’re super excited to finally unveil the first part of those things. Flipside has been our semi-stealth mode project since early last year, and we’re now ready to start opening it up to a wider audience.
Today, we are making Flipside Studio available to a select group of content creators. We need your feedback to shape it into the best product it can be, and it’s time to see what you guys come up with. If you are a content creator and are interested in participating, please sign up here:
Flipside Studio transforms your standard PC-based VR setup into a complete virtual TV studio, where you can create live-acted animated shows in real time. Your headset and controllers are the motion capture system as you embody characters on your own virtual sets.
Shows are recorded for both 2D screens as well as VR and AR playback. 2D shows can be viewed on any of today’s screens, and can even be streamed live to Facebook, Twitch, or YouTube.
Today we’re also proud to share the first show made in Flipside Studio, created in collaboration with Winnipeg-based improv comedy duo Bucko Comedy. Super Secret Science Island is an improv comedy show about two failed science experiments, 2B and Genefur, who are stranded on a deserted island. Follow their antics as they look for a way off the island and to find their missing creator, Dr. Whoosh.
As if one show wasn’t enough, we’re also launching with a weekly alien news update about what’s happening down here on Earth. The alien newscaster, named Zeeblow Gonzoar, is written and performed by San Francisco-based comedian Jordan Cerminara.
We will be sharing lots more info about the making of Super Secret Science Island and Earth From Up Here, including advice and tips on acting in VR courtesy of Lauren and Aaron of Bucko Comedy, in the weeks to come.
If you are a content creator, streamer, writer, actor, producer, or director and would like early access to Flipside Studio for a show of your own, enter your email below to be added to our early access list:
Stay tuned for more Flipside productions in the weeks to come! We’ve only just begun to discover what’s possible in terms of finding new ways of interacting with audiences, and of bringing the impossible to life.
Sincerely,
The Campfire Union
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