M+E Connections

The annual computer graphics and interactive tech conference SIGGRAPH saw a number of new virtual reality and interactive tech debuts, including mid-air, touchable holograms and a new optical tech that promises better object focus for VR applications.

“Through our program, attendees get to be hands-on with evolving technologies in an age where those technologies change ever so quickly,” said Brittany Ransom, SIGGRAPH 2017 studio chair, in a statement. “Attendees can interact with everything from a large format printer to a magnetic levitation installation and even a live giraffe! Our workshops allow attendees to learn a new skill set — they get to make something unique or do something different with their hands that they’ve never done before.”

The SIGGRAPH studio program also featured installations, including a showcase of new superconductive levitation techniques, and nearly a dozen presentations, including for the interactive film “The Human Race” from Technicolor-owed The Mill, and a look at the game “Star Wars Battlefront VR.”

Also at SIGGRAPH:

• Boston-based start-up Neurable showed off a modified HTC Vive that includes head strap-based sensors that, when combined with eye-tracking tech, can detect brain activity and relay thought-controlled commands in a VR environment (via UploadVR).

• Multinational semiconductor company AMD announced at SIGGRAPH that it was opening a new facility in Los Angeles, dubbed AMD Studios, which will work with filmmakers and tech firms to create new processing systems for VR and TV productions (via THR).

• University of Washington researchers shared new technology at SIGGRAPH that can photorealistically place different words in a person’s mouth in videos, a technique they tested with video of President Obama. There could be future applications of the tech in entertainment (via Variety).

• Dell debuted new tower and rack workstations at SIGGRAPH, ones geared toward handling new, complex workflows, including AI and machine learning technologies (via Dell).

• Corvallis, Ore.-based tech firm OptiTrack debuted new motion tracking technology that promises a better virtual reality experience, featuring self-calibrating tracking systems and full-body motion tracking. “The lack of a full-body tracking solution has been a glaring problem for consumers, who with today’s VR experiences often see no avatar at all, or at best, a crude animation of others’ activity in the play area,” said Full-body motion tracking and self-calibrating OptiTrack systems have been at the very top of the list for all of our VR arcade customers,” said OptiTrack CSO Brian Nilles. “This market needed a high quality human tracking solution — with very little additional hardware on each participant, which makes OptiTrack Active the world’s first all-in-one tracking solution for out-of-home VR.”