Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/589428
s e p t e m b e r . o c t o b e r 2 0 1 5 c g w 2 7 realism spectrum was a cliff climb that involved dodging Pterodactyl nests in Crytek's "Back to Dinosaur Island 2." (Confession: I am afraid of heights. The realism of the im- agery in "The Walk" application played a real/not real tug-of- war match in my brain, but the stylized imagery of the dinosaur climb enabled me to perform the quest without fear.) Another fantastic experience occurred at the Grammy Muse- um even before SIGGRAPH be- gan, though it had nothing to do with music. There I met up with Epic's Kim Libreri and Weta's Alasdair Coull. The companies teamed up to explore VR and the technical issues that need to be resolved. First, I found myself in the middle of a street battle be- tween soldiers and a gigantic robotic creature running amuck in "Showdown." The action was brutal, with fire and destruction happening all around me, a lot of it occurring in slow motion. In another experience, called "Thief in the Shadows," based on The Hobbit films, I came face to face with the dragon Smaug as I walked around his hidden lair filled with gold. The demos were outstanding, mostly because the quality of the imagery was spot on. The Smaug application was created using Weta's film pipeline. Both experiences pushed the limits of what can be done with today's resolutions and frame rates, as Weta and Epic embark on a journey to more compelling VR in the future. Jon Peddie Research (JPR) also got virtual at its annual luncheon during the confer- ence. At what I consider one of its most engaging events yet (and I have attended many), JPR addressed this timely topic with a panel comprising James Knight from BluStreak Media who points out that VR is a natural step forward from virtual production; Sanjay Das from Tippett Studio, which is exploring VR, AR, and 360-de- gree storytelling; and Grant Anderson of Jaunt Studios, which is developing hardware and soware geared to VR. In addition to updating the crowd about their own experi- ences in this segment, the panel discussed the need for new tools for editorial, world building, and lighting, as well as real-time rendering and presentation. Everything is more complicat- ed now, Anderson pointed out. Imagery is far more complex: 2 k, 4k, HDR, high frame rate, stereo, 360 degrees. It all adds up to a massive amount of data, and VR needs to support all of it with specially tuned rendering, capture, and post. The tools are not there yet for VR, he said. The best solutions, he added, are those built from the ground up specifically for VR. Some attendees asked about how VR today is different from VR 20 years ago. Again, the complexity of the content was discussed. Also, there's more to this story. And that was indeed part of the answer. Developers are putting "story" into the VR experiences, creating frameless storytelling, making far more immersive experiences than those of yesteryear. Will VR and AR spawn a new genre of entertainment, or will the hype and excitement of SIGGRAPH soon dim as the industry jumps on the next big-thing bandwagon? I believe that VR and AR will continue to develop and evolve, as will the necessary technologies to propel new forms of realities. Only time will tell. ■ Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of Computer Graphics World.