Does VR Have Value for Your Experience?

By Yann Caloghiris, Digital Creative Director, Detroit

Oculus, the VR hardware company (which Facebook bought for
$2 billion in 2014), seems to have accepted that VR sickness can’t yet be eliminated altogether, instead opting for “comfort ratings” that let gamers know which titles are more or less likely to make them queasy.

The Good News
The quality of VR technology is improving rapidly. Sony has a very competent consumer product available for PlayStation 4. Oculus and HTC respectively offer sub-$500 and sub-$800 PC pro-gamer systems which right now set the standard for the industry. Microsoft will soon release a mixed-reality headset which promises to merge the immersive experience of VR with the real-world holographic effect afforded by HoloLens. With big-name players bringing fresh investment and research to the field, technology will continue to improve dramatically with every iteration.

What We Learned
When Ford asked us to help visitors explore the Future of Mobility,
we believed VR could provide part of the solution. So we created a world set in 2030, where innovative Ford building blocks for the future coexisted allowing people to ‘move freely’ — from mobility services that make urban travel seamless to smart connected cars and autonomous pods that relieve the roads of congestion. VR, combined with 3D sound and moving platforms, allowed visitors to explore this vision of the future aboard an autonomous drone flying from story to story.

The VR experience became the starting point for a larger self-guided mobility exhibit, culminating with Ford’s newest autonomous vehicle. Almost 20,000 people have traveled through the experience. In Detroit and New York we surveyed auto show visitors post experience, with results showing significant improvement from the testing phase to the final version deployed on the show floor. It delivered an exhilarating and exciting experience (not surprising), and, (more surprising), a highly educational one too.

Relevant
VR should be on your list of communications channels, but is not yet your automatic go-to. Always ask ‘does your audience really need to wear a headset to connect with your story?’

Smooth
If the answer to the question above is “yes,” build software and select hardware with lowest achievable latency in mind to deliver a high-quality VR experience.

Sharp
Aim for the highest available image resolution. Smartphone VR averages 4 megapixels, while human vision is arguably closer to 576 megapixels per eye.

Interactive
Pre-rendered 360 ̊ content is a powerful medium, but the ability to roam and interact in VR is what differentiates the experience from video content.

Stereoscopic
If you decide to do 360 ̊ pre-rendered animation or video, push for stereoscopic footage. It will make the experience dramatically more immersive and less likely to cause discomfort.

Multi-sensory
Try to mirror what’s seen through the goggles with what’s felt/heard through the other senses. Try experimenting with virtual environments that mirror
the physical space, include a physical avatar. Include 4D effects where possible (rumble seat, fan, etc.).

Comfort
Prioritize seated experiences as these are the easiest way to avoid adverse side effects, increasing the likelihood your audience leaves with a positive impression.

Virtual Reality
VR places the user in another location entirely. Whether that location is computer generated or captured 360 ̊ video, it is a digital environment that shuts out the real world.

Augemented Reality
In augmented reality — like Google Glass or Pokemon Go — the real world is overlaid with digital content.

Mixed Reality
The virtual digital objects are integrated into, interact with, and are responsive to the real world. For example, real objects will be able to block the virtual objects.

Jaguar Electric Vehicle Launch:
How to be in two places at once?
Design a global, social, virtual reality experience.
33 guests in Los Angeles, and another 33 in London, interacted with each other and with Jaguar executives, who appeared live within the VR world to reveal the new Jaguar i-Pace.

In a world first, presenters were live streamed into the VR world for each member of the media to see, hear and speak to individually.

Home Safety Training
How to communicate hazardous situations, without endangering participants?
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) wanted to make Millennials aware of the need for home insurance.
Using VR and gamification, we turned a dry subject into an irresistible experience. Players had 90 seconds to identify 12 everyday hazards.
Visit our VR living room, and challenge yourself to beat the Australian best!

Ford’s AR Auto Show-stopper
How to show what’s under the surface, and make it dramatically relevant?
So much intelligent thought and work goes into the products that surround us, yet it’s easy to take it for granted.

We unpacked all the value built into Ford vehicles using AR. A global first, crowds were able to see into a real, 3D product and watch animation bring sound systems, extreme testing and astonishing technologies to life.

By Yann Caloghiris, Digital Creative Director, Detroit

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