Thread by @iBrews

Recap thread of my @Official_GDC talk yesterday, “Up Close & Virtual: The Power of Live VR Actors” for anyone interested in #MetaHumans #VR #Theatre #LiveEvents #SocialVR #CloudXR #CloudGaming. It will also be available in the GDC vault soon.

I started w/ my 2008 London story about how watching the best performers in the world from the front row had a profound effect on me. It’s different from a film close-up or from sitting in the back seats. You can hear some of the story in my #GTC21 talk:
vimeo.com/641004744/6080…

Then I did a speed run of my work in #XR for designing real theaters before jumping right into showing Christmas Carol.

I enumerated 3 things that made this show possible:

1. Cloud computing (thanks @nvidia)

2. MetaHumans (thanks Epic)

3. Live Link Face (thanks Epic again)

Then for context I did quick dive into #AliveInPlasticland and #OnBoardXR to discuss the affordances and limitations of social VR and why it would be great to have a platform that is tailored to high-end, expressive live shows.

Which of course is what we’re building at Heavenue.

Here’s the very alpha demo I showed of the Heavenue Cloud Editor. Our first goal is to shorten the time to build & refine a show like Christmas Carol from 3 months to about 3 hrs. You can bring in assets, set up stage cues, & publish. All from a Chromebook if you like, bc cloud !

This was immediately followed by a (dangerous!) live demonstration of turning off @xractor's facial recording while leaving his body animation intact so I could take over the role of Scrooge opposite Marley. Was flattered by the spontaneous applause 🥰

Out in the hallway I then spent the next couple hours giving demos of the different setups and answering questions, which was a blast.

Conference wifi was fine for broadcasting #LiveLinkFace, but to demo @HeavenueXR cloud VMs on Chromebook, a Windows laptop, an iPhone, and a Quest, I ended up using my mobile hotspot! Scared to look at my data usage for this week 😂

Great to see @steelmanxr, who asked this great question about how a performer can 'look at' an audience member in #VR. Ideally the performer is in VR too, but we have tricks to help, like a screen for reference and snapping. Also I'll only be taking questions as a MetaHuman now.

Hal from Meta was hilarious. I like this part where she started to give acting instruction. "Bigger, dear!"

Such a blast giving such a wide range of cloud demos. Oh also thrilled the @BtweenRealities boys @Alex__VR & @skeeva stopped by for a peek. "The best VR humans I've seen yet!" I believe they said, but no video to prove it :)

If anyone wants a demo this week, DMs are open. #gdc22