Posted on

czech VR fest (part 1)

We were invited to biggest conference of Virtual and Augmented Reality in CEE region – Czech VR Festival in Prague.

Whole event took place in very artsy building. The hall – former slaughter – was filled with stages of different companies trying to impress visitors with cutting edge VR&AR tech. Most of them were games and visualisations of real world – this is still 90% of VR market right now.

It was great meeting so many people who are making in happen in VR. And we are also proud that octopusengine has much to offer even among such competition – our proposition is still quite unique.

We also found ourselves among speakers – Microsoft, NASA Unity and even couple of venture capitalists. In 2nd part, we will go into more detail – Czech VR Fest was really worth the effort.

Posted on

Liberland is becoming (virtual) reality (Part 2)

Some time ago, we released first info about creating Liberland in VR. Today, virtual Liberland beta was presented on Czech VR Fest by Mr. President Vit Jedlicka himself.

President proudly announced Liberland to be the very first virtual nation. We are honored that we could make it happen. Special thanks goes also to Krzysztof Juroszek – it is his 3D model of the city which placed second in the global Liberland architecture competition and which we used for VR.

However there is much more work to be done. Streets of the city are still empty, we will add content, better textures, more models…until our graphic cards will scream and beg for mercy.

The vision is huge – to create first real-Virtual City-state, with multiple users visiting it at once, with animations moving, some mini games being played. We want to add content which will tell the story of Liberland…there may be some product placement to attract sponsors. Last but not least we want to make it all multi-platform, so everyone can enjoy Virtual Liberland at least partially.

Liberland community is huge and we received lot of responses from volunteers willing to help. But…we were quite busy and did not feel like we can manage such enthusiastic and diverse group. That’s why we decided to create the beta ourselves, and once we have something solid in our hands, only then can we really expect others to share our vision and join us.

So right now, we are turning to Liberland community again.

  • If you are still interested in helping us, stay tuned. We will prepare simple landing page, where you can tell us about you and your skills and join our dev team.
  • If you like our vision you can also support us by small BTC/LTC donation.
  • Last but not least, please like and share us on Facebook, help us spread the word! Now we have chance to tell story of Liberland in new and cool way…

To live and let live!

 

Posted on

data in virtual reality (part 2)

This is second part of our VR data post. Here is the first part.
We are still looking for new ways to visualise and work with data in VR. Small or big. We believe we are on to something with VR, but we can’t verbalise it yet.
So far, even the most complex data are restrained to 2D charts, or 3D visualisations on your screen. VR space provides much bigger scale, and new dimension. But where to start?
Let’s say we have price chart of Bitcoin. We have information like time scale, highest price, lowest price, open and close price, during given time period.
2D price visualisation – candlestick chart (by tradimo.com)
How can we put this piece of information to VR space to be more easily understood by human observer? How can we utilise the added space and dimensions so it is not too overwhelming for human brain? Can we add more information to one data object, using 3rd and 4th dimension?
We have to remember: data are only as useful, as the impact they have on our decisions. So there is no need for irrelevant data pukes (term coined by Avinash Kaushik  ).
Here are two examples of inspirative data visualisations in VR:
Common “real world” data tools in VR by Nirvaniq Labs:

Data clusters crunched by Machine Learning algos by Project NEO:

VR space and it’s possibilities are still mostly terra nova – lots of unknown opportunities, but also dead-ends. We embark on a mission to discover this New World. And data visualisations are on the front lines.

Do you have an idea, how to put data into VR?

Let us know 

Posted on

hackathon vol.2.

 

When iNFINITE organised second VR hackathon , we couldn’t say no. After the experience from the first one, we wanted to shine again.

This time our team was much bigger, counting 7 people altogether – Honza, Mato, Hans, Ondrej, Brano, Lukas, Simon.

We set up couple of goals for our project:

  • Connect object zero to Android platform
  • Run octopus engine on Oculus Rift with Unity
  • Connect data from BTC exchange to VR via API
  • Create a demo for octopus engine functions
  • Have a good time 🙂
  • Don’t get sick from chips and redbull

After initial troubles with setting up the stage, our team was ready to go.
Thanks to Ondrej, we managed to run Android app, that means we can extend project to Google DayDream (Cardboard). That is important, because this way we can target much larger audience and community.

Hans and Lukas helped us with gathering data about Bitcoin price from the internet, while Brano was able to run Oculus Rift with Unity.

With Honza we also tried Tiltbrush and now we think about using it for creating hyperobjects.

Unfortunately, we did not have time to finish all our goals, but it was still another great time spent in community of like-minded VR geeks and enthusiasts.

We are definitely looking forward to next hackathon!

“VR hackathon is a friendly event with the purpose of creating together, prototyping, diving into something new or trying that project you delayed for so long. All skill levels are welcome, we help beginners out and veteran creators can benefit from sharing experience with others.”

Posted on

octopusengine HYPEROBJECTS

VR is new frontier with many possibilities. We are looking for best ways to work, cooperate and have fun inside our framework. That is why we are using new elements in our octopusengine. One of them we describe as HYPEROBJECT.

HYPEROBJECT is similar to “hypertext” (in HTML – active piece of text, leads to another information when activated). HYPEROBJECT is active object in VR space, which will expand or lead to another action when user interacts with it.

The main difference in VR is interaction – thanks to advanced VR framework, HYPEROBJECT doesn’t only have start and end state (like hypertext), but can also have dynamic properties. These dynamic properties can be used for visual effect, but also as a source of dynamic information. HYPEROBJECT can move, expand, collapse, conduct any kind of action.

 

Right now we are starting with primitive expansion and collapsing of objects. Next step is to experiment with more complicated shapes and dynamic changes, which can provide user with different kinds of information, static or dynamic. Our end goal is to create complex HYPEROBJECTS, which we cannot imagine from “Real world”. Objects with many different properties, or even their own AI, which can recognise voice and act as artificial personas in VR.

Beauty of VR is that we are not restricted with real world mechanics, gravitation or physics in general.

 

Posted on

legal issues in Virtual Reality

 

Following is guest post from our friends from Blockchain Legal. Modern legal advisors for digital and decentralised space:

Honza Čopák introduced us to virtual reality. We could not possibly hope for better introduction! Virtual reality impressed us in many aspects and areas as well as a place for potential utilization of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Nevertheless, virtual/augmented reality comes with many legal problems, which are not addressed by present legal system – including intellectual property rights to objects used and created in virtual/augmented reality, real persons’ legal acts in virtual world and their liability and personal data protection. As the digital world is very close to us, we will gladly contribute in this area by providing our legal services.

Our first digital footprint in virtual reality is 3D model of Blockchain Legal created by Honza. Thank you, Honza!

Radim and Pavel from Blockchain Legal  > blockchainlegal.cz

 

 

Posted on

Liberland is becoming (virtual) reality (1)

Vit Jedlicka is a man with a big dream. Claiming undisputed piece of land on Croatian/Serbian border, he wants to create new country. Country for all libertarians and free-minded people from around the world. With almost zero government regulations and voluntary tax system.

Sounds like an utopia to you? Liberland  already has thousands of fans, followers and contributors around the world.

We love the idea of Liberland. It’s bold and promotes one of the most important values – freedom. Since it will take some time to build Liberland, we will create a virtual version of it.

Vit spent couple of hours playing in our VR space (tossing some balls around is fun even for Mr. President). We agreed on basic vision of Virtual Liberland and now with the help of people from Liberland all around the world, we are putting together first draft of VR presentation.

Liberland designers sent us some 3D models for country’s architecture, to make our VR demo even more realistic.
Architectual and urban competition aiming the vision of future Liberland >

If you are also fan of Liberland and want to help us, we have made an announcement in Liberland forum.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. – John F. Kennedy

Posted on

data in virtual reality (part 1)

Data are hot goods – everyone wants more of them. We want to visualise and analyse them, the more the better. And why do we need it? To make better decisions.

Our data are always only as good as our ability to make better decision thanks to them. And we believe the visualisation is the key to that.

Right now we are limited to process the data in spreadsheets, more or less complicated dashboards or using mostly 2D charts and lines. Or we can give it to a team of analysts or machine learning algorithm to crunch it for us. But there may be another way.

What if we could see data and interact with them in new way? Imagine that instead of messing around with spreadsheets, you have all the data all around you. Imagine you can move them around, connect them, make them alive in real time using just your hands… now it is possible, thanks to VR.

We in octopus engine are going to make that happen. It’s only the beginning. Frankly, we are not sure yet what the best approach is. But we are determined to figure it out. We are determined to try a lot of crazy stuff, find all the dead ends and have fun along the way.

Our vision is to create data processing tool in VR. It will be intuitive to use for analysts, managers, business owners, engineers and other professionals. It will help you make faster and better decisions and get deeper understanding of data.

– team octopus engine –

“In God we trust. All others bring data.” – W. Edwards Deming

(part 2)

Posted on

simple bitcoin terminal

Lately we were focusing mostly on our endeavours in VR. But our vision is much broader  and extends into the physical world as well.

We are particularly excited about Bitcoin. There is  something very compelling about a digital currency, fully independent from whims of nation states and central banks.

But today, we are not going to discuss cryptocurrency. If you want to learn more, watch some Andreas Antonopoulos vids.

Today we are just bragging about our Simple Bitcoin Terminal which is a payment machine allowing stores and other brick and mortar businesses to receive payments in Bitcoins (and other cryptocurrencies) quickly and easily.

First Bitcon payment only cafe

Honza engineered a prototype one year ago, and now he is giving it more polish. Last weekend we presented it to crypto-fans during  yearly crypto flea market in Paralelni polis – Prague.

Both machines are connected to the internet and update current btc exchange rate

Now, we want to advance new technologies. So we do not aim to be bogged down by manufacturing and selling this little machine commercially.

Honza introducing his prototype

However, if you are an entrepreneur, manufacturer or electronics seller and would like to introduce Simple Bitcoin Terminal to market, feel free to contact us.

– team octopus engine –

PS: If you like our work, you can reward us with a small Bitcoin donation  11r118H2Qv4oHfjFuJnuU8GZHGNqwEH9e

Posted on

who needs new reality most?

Recently we asked ourselves a question.

Who would benefit from virtual reality most?

Who is in the direst need to escape boundaries of physical reality?

Is it gamer who wants better gaming experience? Or professional who demands better visualisation for his project? Film maker, making more immersive experience?

We come up with a different answer. Those who need to escape our reality the most are the ones who are the most challenged by it – disabled people or too old and weak to go out and enjoy life to the fullest.

There is a room for many more VR applications, helping those in need. There are experiments, suggesting that VR simulations help with pain relief, psychotherapy , rehab exercises or even a next generation of social connection.

That’s why we are creating New Reality platform with these people in mind. It will empower them, allow them to experience and even control (via IoT). In our New Reality there will be no barriers…

By helping others, you will learn how to help yourselves. -Aung San Suu Kyi

– team octopus engine –