After several tests, the Metaverse creation platform has chosen NVIDIA CloudXR for its ease and reliability.

The Metaverse is changing the future of work. Thus, virtual environment creation is becoming a must-have tool for recruitment, employee training, and remote collaboration sessions, among various workplace purposes. Yet, the required skills and budget have been constant restraints… until StellarX.

StellarX, powered by OVA, is a Metaverse creation software that requires no coding knowledge. The AI-powered 3D authoring solution, available on desktop and XR, enables non-programmers to build immersive workplace scenarios through simple drag-and-drop creation.

Soon to be released on the Oculus Store, and currently available on Steam/Steam XR*****, StellarX has chosen NVIDIA CloudXR for wireless streaming. This lets business teams across various industries continue to create, collaborate, and interact in the Metaverse, but now, in a tetherless mode.

“Wireless freedom fits like a glove for immersive training that requires constant and abrupt movements. For instance, after developing high-fidelity XR simulations for Quebec City’s police officers, paramedics, and firefighter units, we realized a tetherless mode would enhance these types of training sessions. So after testing different XR streaming solutions, we have decided to use CloudXR as our streamer of choice,” explains Harold Dumur, StellarX’s CEO.

Wireless streaming testing came during the pandemic, when partners LCI LX developed an XR-education experience for ENCQOR 5G, in collaboration with StellarX. The context was fashion history, where students could learn by interacting with props inside a 3D museum. With the NVIDIA CloudXR SDK, the StellarX experience was streamed over the 5G network, thanks to powerful NVIDIA RTX GPUs.

StellarX will definitely benefit from additional CloudXR support capabilities, such as delivering high-end XR experiences on headsets, reducing local hardware requirements, and preserving a reliable network latency.

“StellarX is democratizing Metaverse creation, allowing user-generated content to revolutionize entire industries. Today, we have chosen CloudXR for its ease and reliability. And for tomorrow, we will expand into the XR universe alongside NVIDIA’s solutions,” asserts Dumur.

*****Currently on Steam/Steam XR, among StellarX’s minimum requirements is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 desktop (6GB) graphic card. Also available on desktop, StellarX supports a vast range of XR headsets, such as all Oculus models and HTC Vives. Click here for free download.

For more information about StellarX, visit stellarx.ai.

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Siri, Alexa, Cortana… sounds familiar? Virtual assistants are more and more involved in a number of areas; Virtual and Augmented Reality are no exception. But what actually are their perks and prejudices?

A virtual assistant is an entity whose purpose is to assist the user in their interaction with technology. It allows them to carry a conversation, ask questions, and even delegate different tasks, just like they would with a human being. Interacting with a conscious entity that can provide contextual responses is way more interesting than simply reading instructions, since conversation is something we all know how to do very naturally (1). Basically, a virtual assistant connects the user and the interface in the best of ways; not only does it create an even more realistic experience, but it also softens the learning curve by providing an approachable tutorial. Not to mention that VR is the best possible setting to implement it, since it usually intends to replicate the real world (or at least its own version of it).

With creating a virtual assistant usually comes gender attribution. But is that really necessary? A gendered assistant can, to a certain extent, make the experience much more human-like. However, it can also lead to a serious ethical issue (2). Notice how the majority of virtual assistants on the market are female? This is explained by ancient gender stereotypes, according to which the role of women is to be servile and obedient (3). Women are used when the role of the AI is closer to the service area, like with Alexa and Siri, while men are used in more professional or authoritative areas, such as banking and insurance (4).

Creative agency Virtue found a simple solution to this problem by creating the first ever non-gendered virtual assistant, named Q5. The assistant has no physical form, and their voice frequency has been modulated between 145 and 175 Hz, a range defined as gender-neutral by researchers. Q is neither man nor woman; they’re somewhere in between.

So why should we gender assistants, at the risk of encouraging problematic patterns? Immersive technologies and artificial intelligence are constantly growing, and we are on the brink of a technological revolution. We should take advantage of it, all while fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity!

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Resources:

• Marvin, Rob (2017, June 19). What are virtual assistants and what can you do with them?. PC Mag. https://www.pcmag.com/article/354371/what-are-virtual-assistants-and-what-can-you-do-with-them

• Why are virtual assistants always female? Gender bias in AI must be remedied. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/pwc-partner-zone/2019/mar/26/why-are-virtual-assistants-always-female-gender-bias-in-ai-must-be-remedied

• Cawley, Conor (2019, May 29). Is Siri sexist? UN report finds gender bias in virtual assistants. Tech.co. https://tech.co/news/siri-sexist-un-gender-bias-virtual-assistants-2019-05

• Moore-Colyer, Roland (2019, March 12). Q is the ‘world’s first’ genderless voice for virtual assistants. The Inquirer. https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3072456/q-is-the-worlds-first-genderless-voice-for-virtual-assistants

• Moore-Colyer, Roland (2019, March 12). Q is the ‘world’s first’ genderless voice for virtual assistants. The Inquirer. https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3072456/q-is-the-worlds-first-genderless-voice-for-virtual-assistants

Contrary to what one might think… immersive technologies aren’t just there to entertain! Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality all have many different uses.

Education is one of the multiple fields in which XR can come in particularly handy. It can do it all: transport, simulate, show, and most of all, concretize. Used in an academic context, it has the potential to deeply enrich learning and teaching experiences.

In the Heat of the Action

Augmented Reality provides an additional layer of information on top of the real world, while Virtual Reality carries us in an entirely digital environment. It recreates sights, sounds and sensations, giving us the impression that we are in a real, tangible situation. “It feels like it is happening in front of your eyes,” says Mohamed Awaiskhan Pathan, an Electrical Technology student at Ontario’s Mohawk College. (1) Instead of reading an abstract notion in a book, the student can see it appear right in front of his eyes… and experience it! According to educational theorist John Dewey, effective learning is experiential (2) ; and that’s exactly what XR provides. A student can move, take action, solve problems, and think critically, all within a controlled environment. Inevitably, the student becomes more engaged, and their concentration as well as information retention improve.

Accessible, Forgiving… Fitted

Lecturing, the usual teaching method, requires students to all learn the same content, in the same way, at the same pace. Immersive technologies allow for adaptive learning, which counteracts this preconception by tailoring itself to one’s learning curve. Algorithms can track the evolution and achievements of the user, allowing them to progress at their own pace and start over as many times as needed. The digital nature of modules also makes them available from anywhere, at any time; an access to the classroom, without leaving the comfort of home! Furthermore, team projects are facilitated; students can be given a problem to solve, and the immersive environment provides them with the necessary tools to work together towards building original solutions, as well as validate feasibility (3).

Make the Impossible Possible

By its very nature, the simulated environment makes possible what could not be replicated in real life. For example, a student could shrink themself to the size of an ant and crawl inside a machine to observe how it works. A whole world of possibilities opens up! However, from an academic standpoint, can a simple 3D model be equivalent to a real object? James Rout, Associate Vice-President of Education Support and Innovation at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), performed a test to investigate the learning experience of a group of students who had access to a physical helicopter rotor, in contrast to another group who only had access to a virtual rotor. In the end, Rout found no major academic differences between the two groups. In fact, the subjects studying the virtual rotor preferred their virtual experience since they were able to witness phenomena that were otherwise impossible to observe on a real helicopter (4).

Another advantage of Virtual Reality is that it allows students to train in delicate situations in a stress-free environment that is forgiving enough to allow for mistakes to be made. As such, the students can get familiar with specific equipment before using it in a real-life context, and provides them with immediate feedback without real-world repercussions. “It is so real and lifelike, with faults built into the system, that if students were to improperly follow the sequence, they would see the consequences,” says Angelo Cosco, Associate Dean at Mohawk’s Marshall School of Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship. (5) It is a wonderful learning experience… without the risk of injury or the potential for disaster.

Everyone Wins

Students XR works wonders when it comes to student engagement, which is currently a major issue in education. The interactive nature of immersive technologies makes a boring lecture seem fun; learning becomes a game and, instantly, motivation soars.

Teachers XR allows educational staff to monitor their students closely, to record their performances, and to collect data. A wielding teacher could analyze his student’s travel speed, work angle, and weld angle just by looking at a screen, without having to wear full equipment and be physically next to the student in the work area. XR is not meant to replace educational staff, but rather to provide them with complementary tools to the strategies already in place.

Employers XR is especially useful for employers, with candidates coming to them more prepared, more experienced, and more confident, overall. The necessary training hours required to allow for an employee to hit the ground running is decreased, and less resources need to be mobilized; which is more than welcome considering the current labor shortage! Not to mention, the expansion of the overall pool of qualified apprentices, since some courses could be made available totally remotely.

One thing is clear: immersive technologies can bring real value to our education system. It’s not all smoke and mirrors! As these technologies evolve and become more and more accessible, they will undoubtedly carve themselves a special place in the curriculum of several establishments. Many students are already familiar with this type of technology, and the necessary equipment has become more than affordable. It’s about taking a leap of faith!

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Resources:

1, 4, 5.Lewington, J. (2020). Augmented and virtual reality are helping colleges up their tech game, Macleans. URL: https://www.macleans.ca/education/college/augmented-virtual-reality-colleges-technology-learning/

2, 3. Gaulin, F. (2017). Réalité virtuelle en formation : quand les casques s’alignent, Université de Sherbrooke. URL: https://www.usherbrooke.ca/ssf/veille/perspectives-ssf/numeros-precedents/octobre-2017/le-ssf-veille/realite-virtuelle-en-formation-quand-les-casques-salignent/

Other sources:

Scanlan, C. (2017). Immersive Tech in Education: How xR Plays a Role in Education Today, EDTech Times. URL: https://edtechtimes.com/2017/09/22/xr-education-immersive-technology-in-education-today/

Julian, A. (2019). Hey XR, don’t forget about education!, Medium. URL: https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/hey-xr-dont-forget-about-education-dff497b963f8

Reynard, R. (2017). The Impact of Virtual Reality on Learning, Campus Technology. URL: https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/04/26/the-impact-of-virtual-reality-on-learning.aspx

Bates, T. (2017). Virtual Reality and education: some thoughts, Tony Bates Blog. URL: https://www.tonybates.ca/2017/07/27/virtual-reality-and-education-some-thoughts/

Fatal accidents in the workplace have become a chronic disease. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (1), a worker died approximately every 99 minutes from a work-related injury in 2019, for a total of 5,333 lethal job accidents. And, sadly, the Canadian labor market displays dangerously similar symptoms. The 2020 Report on Work Fatality and Injury Rates (2) reveals that in 2018, 1,027 Canadian workers died due to workplace accidents.

Less catastrophic, but still harmful, are repeated physical injuries linked to the workplace. Bodily reactions and exertions, incorrect use of equipment, falls, slips, and trips are among the most common labor accidents. Those wounds are painful physically, of course, but also financially; businesses spend more than $1 billion per week on serious, non-fatal workplace injuries, reports the Liberty Mutual Safety Index (3).

When analyzing this business illness, ineffective safety training emerges as a common challenge among different industries. Traditional teaching methods and learning materials, which are mostly based on theory, offer palliative solutions, but no definitive cure. Generally speaking, manuals, videos, and online tests fail to hold participants’ attention, leading to poor knowledge retention and no guarantee of successful application. It’s definitely time to make a change, especially considering the astronomical $83 billion spent in training in the U.S. over the course of 2019 (4).

The thing is: training in environments that could present real dangers isn’t the solution either. It’s expensive to replicate a mine rescue session, it’s difficult to imitate a fire rescue scenario, and it’s unproductive to stop an industrial assembly line so employees can learn procedures.

So then, what to do?

Here’s a solution: the VR treatment.

Firstly, VR simulations help build muscle memory. Just like athletes, with enough practice, the crisis response starts to come naturally. And, of course, a quick and appropriate reaction is fundamental in industries such as healthcare, where workers must develop the right reflexes to face daily emergencies.

VR also allows for relaxing experiences that help reduce stress levels, which is ideal for tense work environments. We witnessed first-hand the positive change such experiences can bring after developing immersive mindfulness scenarios for Northwell Health, New York’s largest hospital network.

Secondly, VR provides a type of training that’s simultaneous, remote, and accessible from anywhere in the world, allowing employers to implement collaborative work methods among their teams. Virtual hands-on training fosters natural collaboration among experts from a myriad of fields. An example of this would be the life-like training spaces we developed for the City of Quebec’s law enforcement and first response departments, which helped professionals work more cohesively and improved overall cross-functional collaboration.

Verizon’s VR training program (5) is another example of collaborative work methods. For the initial phase, only some store managers and retail employees were asked to face robbery scenarios through virtual modules. After identifying a consistent gain of confidence in all the participants, Verizon spread its VR safety course to its 22,000 frontline employees across the U.S.

Thirdly, VR can reinforce the habit of preventing accidents. Hazard recognition is an essential skill to maintain and is instrumental to safety standards. This is particularly true for the construction and manufacturing industries: fall protection protocols, fire and chemicals training, correct maintenance, and careful use of machinery are all critical skills that must be constantly rehearsed to build a safety culture. In this vein, JetBlue decided to develop VR training hubs in its New York and Boston offices (6). As more aircraft technicians rehearsed safety and maintenance drills, JetBlue saved both time and money.

Finally, using VR to improve safety also unlocks an easy way to monitor results. Biometric data from eye-tracking, head movement, and even heart rate offers unique insight into a user’s performance. Furthermore, heat maps can reveal critical interactive zones within a virtual environment. In this regard, Ford’s VR training program (7) is an iconic case. The automobile company built a VR evaluation course reviewing car assembly procedures, aimed at decreasing staff injuries. Employees’ movements were examined in a virtual workstation, using a head-mounted display and a 23 camera motion capture system. Eventually, Ford reduced musculoskeletal disorders by 70%, absent days by 75%, and assembly issues by 90%.

Ultimately, regardless of the risky nature of certain types of work, VR provides opportunities for everyone to feel safe and at ease.

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References:

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

2. Tucker, S., Keefe, S. (2020). Report on Work Fatality and Injury Rates; https://www.uregina.ca/business/faculty-staff/faculty/file_download/2020-Report-on-Workplace-Fatalities-and-Injuries.pdf.pdf

3. Liberty Mutual Safety Index; https://business.libertymutualgroup.com/business insurance/Documents/Services/Workplace%20Safety%20Index.pdf

4. Harvard Business Review, The Future of Work is Immersive; https://www.strivr.com/resources/ebooks/hbr-report-immersive/

5, 6. EHS Today, How VR can make the workplace measurably safer; https://www.ehstoday.com/safety-technology/article/21133344/how-vr-can-make-the-workplace-measurably-safer

7. Computer Weekly, Ford reduces injuries with virtual assembly programme; https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Ford-reduces-injuries-with-virtual-assembly-programme

“Danger, danger, danger!” — the production line control panel screams. During the onboarding session, a new staff member makes a mistake. Before another disaster occurs — weeks ago, the factory had to deal with a newcomer’s accident during that same onboarding procedure — the Operational Manager briskly orders a complete shutdown of the machinery, bringing the entire production line to a complete halt. Time is money, mistakes cost money, and now, the employee’s lack of confidence will translate into an extra expense.

What’s worse, this type of error is common during standard industrial training sessions. The steep learning curve results in expert workers setting their work aside to shut equipment down, and wasting consumable goods (materials and lubricants, paint, manufacturing tests…) to demonstrate a procedure to a new employee. Furthermore, most training methods also include a theoretical portion. Usually, a manual will overview industrial best-practices; for instance, safety protocols will be mentioned without being rehearsed. In some cases, the new hires undergo extensive training to earn a certification but never having to put into practice the newly acquired knowledge and skills.

Besides the training flaws, there is also a lack of knowledge transfer between the fast-aging workforce and the inexperienced new hires. A Harvard Business Review report (1) reveals that the current skills gap may leave approximately 2.4 million jobs unfilled between 2018 and 2028, and impact the economy for up to $2.5 trillion. The same report notes that in 2019, U.S. firms spent $83 billion in budget training alone, amounting to an average of $1,300 per participant. Was it worth it?

A PwC study (2) highlights significant differences between three major learning scenarios; classrooms, e-learning, and the new kid in the block, VR. Here’s a glimpse of the psychological observations: VR students were 3.75 times more emotionally connected than their classroom peers, and 2.3 times more than the e-learners. Also, students with VR headsets and controllers were 1.5 times more focused than their peers in traditional classroom settings, and 4 times more than e-learners.

If you’ve been immersed in a VR training experience, these results shouldn’t surprise you. VR training is built upon an immersive learning approach, which mimics life-like work scenarios to train employees in a virtual, safe, and captivating environment. The main ingredients of this educational recipe are: AI, applied learning methods, data science, spatial computing, and, of course, VR technology. Basically, VR students have an active behaviour; they are continuously interacting with 3D elements, realistic environments, and collaborating with their colleagues. Incidentally, that specific cooperative feature has been the catapult aspect of VR during the pandemic. With this hands-on learning approach, plus the level of immersion enabled by truly captivating sensory experiences, employees gain muscle memory quite quickly. In fact, according to the study Virtual memory palaces: immersion aids recall (3),”the HMD condition was found to have an 8.8% improvement in recall accuracy compared to the desktop condition.”

Besides the cognitive advantages, also the company’s pockets stay in good shape. First and foremost, there is no need for additional educational resources — forget about pausing production and interrupting skillful workers for an onboarding training session. In a virtual simulation, students acquire skills through unlimited training. Workers can learn safety protocols and handle dangerous work situations, all while avoiding harmful (and expensive) accidents. VR training has also proved to be quite time-effective. “With the VR experience, travel is not required and the training time has been cut to just 15 minutes-a 96% reduction”, as noted in a HBR article about Walmart’s VR pilot program (4). Even with the initial cost of VR headsets and equipment, at a considerable number of employees, Virtual Reality solutions have proven to be more cost-effective than classroom and e-learning scenarios. PwC’s study explains that, “at 3,000 learners, VR costs fall to 52% less than classroom, and 8% than e-learning” (5). Furthermore, this scalability attribute also adds content-consistency; you can build a VR learning library using the same educational method.

So, basically : yes, it’s now possible to hire and train employees in larger numbers, and with more efficiency.

It’s also important to note that VR offers unique and actionable data and insight. For example, it’s possible to measure physical movement: eye-tracking metrics can show exactly where a candidate looks, and heat maps allow you to visualize what movements are made and how interactions occur within the given space. With such a wealth of data, it’s also possible to analyze how the applicant performs in work-like scenarios. How do they handle risky conditions? Do they collaborate well with colleagues? What is their decision process like? While the candidate wears a VR headset, recruiters and managers can get a bird’s eye view of the employees in action as well as visualize their performance in real-time.

Most importantly, Virtual Reality empowers employees to better themselves. After multiple virtual rehearsals, workers will indeed feel very confident in their skills, as suggested by the PwC study, which stated, “VR students were 40% and 35% more confident to act than classroom and e-learners” (6). We believe this confidence will inevitably lead to a sense of pride for working in an innovative company, an attribute that is proven to attract higher, and better talent.

“Danger, danger, danger!” — the production line control panel screams, once again. Only this time, it’s not actually for real. The onboarding sessions can now take place in a VR environment, where it’s okay to make mistakes and learn at one’s own pace… what matters is having the will-power and determination to keep practicing and get better at it every time!

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References:

1, 4. Harvard Business Review, The Future of Work is Immersive. https://www.strivr.com/resources/ebooks/hbr-report-immersive/

2, 5, 6. PwC, The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Soft Skills Training in the Enterprise. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/technology/emerging-technology/assets/pwc-understanding-the-effectiveness-of-soft-skills-training-in-the-enterprise-a-study.pdf

3. Krokos, Eric & Plaisant, Catherine & Varshney, Amitabh. (2019). Virtual memory palaces: immersion aids recall. Virtual Reality. 23. 10.1007/s10055–018–0346–3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325187855_Virtual_memory_palaces_immersion_aids_recall

OVA… Who’s that?

Hello there, nice to meet you! 🙋‍♀️

We’re OVA, a friendly bunch of techies, futurist gamers, wide-eyed artists, and passionate storytellers. With the help of our awesome partners, we help individuals across various industries transform with Spatial Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and XR.

We’re on a mission: we want to make immersive experiences accessible to anybody and everybody.

These past years, we’ve worked on great projects for clients such as Bombardier, the Royal Canadian Navy, Hydro-Québec, Ville de Québec, and Tactik360, to name a few. Partnering with industry leaders such as HTC, Varjo, Alienware and ellicom / LCI LX has allowed us to make significant advances with cutting-edge technologies, and our collaborations with some of the best academic labs across Canada has led to some inspiring Research and Development projects. Such collaborative undertakings have earned us a solid place in the industry itself, along with some notable awards such as the highly coveted Brandon-Hall Excellence Award in the Technology category, an OCTAS Award for Best Startup, and more.

Throughout it all, we’ve travelled far and wide and connected with some amazing and inspiring individuals who have been instrumental in shaping our team, our product, as well as our business as a whole.

Where it all began 💭

OVA was founded in February 2014 by our CEO, Harold Dumur, and our COO, Lucie Rivard. It first started as a business specialized in industrial engineering and software development, tackling challenges relevant to productivity, financing and training.

Then, one day, we began imagining how businesses could be transformed with immersive technologies. How amazing would it be to create engaging learning experiences, using Virtual and Augmented Reality?

But there was a slight issue: developing these kinds of experiences using conventional engines was extremely complicated and time-consuming.

Could there be a way to create immersive worlds intuitively, without the hustle?

The idea lit a fire and, right away, the team embarked on a Spatial Computing journey. We were onto something. In 2015, development began, and StellarX, our powerful content creation tool, was born.

Looking forward ✨

Today, StellarX empowers anyone, even non-coders, to bring their ideas to life with Extended Reality (XR) and Artificial Intelligence. Create authentic training scenarios, visualize data like never before, prototype and iterate with interactive designs, simulate life-like situations in a safe environment, learn with hands-on immersive skill-building, optimize your business workflow, collaborate with anyone, from anywhere, at any time … and so much more! With StellarX, anything is possible.

C’mon, let’s shape the future of XR together!

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Last month, we had the opportunity to present at the online technological gathering, “Au-delà du Réel 4.0 : La réalité à l’ère du virtuel”, in partnership with Desjardins.

This virtual event is one of the many activities organized by Desjardins Lab, the cooperative’s innovation laboratory. In pursuit of innovation regarding education, prototyping, design, and so on, the Lab inspires its members to think big and outside the box, while providing them with the latest technological discoveries.

Here at StellarX, we believe in democratizing 3D content creation, its applications being virtually endless — and the experience we presented, created especially for the event, demonstrates this idea. It highlights our capabilities, but above all, the capabilities of our StellarX platform: an AI-enabled immersive sandbox, where non-programmers can develop their own virtual environments from A to Z.

Some 110 participants were brought from one environment to another through virtual portals, discovering, step by step, the immense potential of spatial computing. Let’s walk through it again, together…

On-site Training

The first portal takes us to the Officier360 environment, designed in partnership with Tactik360.

Officier360 is a completely virtual collaborative experience that allows firefighter teams to train in realistic simulated environments. As it turns out, VR proves to be a safer, more accessible, and more cost-effective way to train than real-life simulations. In addition to improving the accessibility of training sessions, the implementation of this project has enabled firefighters to significantly improve their responsive efficiency and team collaboration. 🚒

Read the full Real Story to learn more about this project!

Health and Wellness

The next portal drops us off on a deserted island situated in the middle of the vast ocean, in a contemplative and utterly relaxing atmosphere.

This project, carried out in partnership with LCI LX and Northwell Health, was aimed at reducing the symptoms of stress and burnout in the healthcare sector. Three fully customizable immersive experiences, combining guided meditation and Virtual Reality, were provided to healthcare practitioners so that they could test them out in the field. 🌊

To read the full Real Story, shimmy on over this way!

We also studied the mental and physical effects of this experience on the cognitive flexibility and capacity, motivation, and well-being of participants through a collaborative study. As it turns out, the simple act of putting a headset on, and being able to escape to a whole other reality, proves to be a great way for healthcare professionals to loosen up when the pressure reaches unbearable highs…

Identification and Tracking

This leads us to a humble and cozy residence… with everything being duly labelled!

The labels featured on the building allow us to easily identify the building materials: windows, insulation, framework… This concept can be particularly useful in the insurance field, where representatives must follow a material identification training. What could be more engaging than being able to practice concretely, directly on site? This is what Virtual Reality, or even Augmented Reality, allow us to achieve! 📐

Virtual Assistance

Finally, our last stop: a quaint, outdoors, fireside gathering of friendly characters.

Here, we are tackling the integration of an AI-powered virtual assistant within any simulated environment. Machine learning can indeed be used to simplify the creation process from start to finish: co-creation, personalized suggestions, speech recognition, object identification… The user can let the assistant take care of tedious tasks, while he focuses on what’s really important: creation. 👤

That pretty much sums up our virtual event!

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg; with immersive technologies, anything is possible. Whoever you are, whatever your skill set may be, StellarX can certainly make your life easier, one way or the other.

Curious? Contact us, or schedule a meeting so that we can discuss your needs! We are overflowing with innovation… and we want to pass some of it forward. ✨

Interested in watching the full “Au-delà du Réel 4.0” experience? Well, you’re in luck: it’s available right here!

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Preliminary Results Broken Down

Healthcare can be a stressful field to work in, especially in these times. Many care providers have been (and are still) pushed to their limits in this demanding industry. 👩‍⚕️

This makes us look back to the immersive stress-reducing program we worked on some time ago, in collaboration with LCI LX (previously ellicom) and Northwell Health, through which we studied the mental and physical effects of immersive experiences on the cognitive ability, motivation, and general well-being of health practitioners. The goal of this study was mainly to combat symptoms of burnout in a clinical environment using our intuitive XR software, StellarX.

As it turns out, the simple act of putting a headset on, and being able to escape to a whole other reality, proves to be a great way for workers to loosen up when the pressure reaches unbearable highs. Indeed, the mindful VR meditation program — which, might we add, won us a LTEN Excellence Award in the Innovation category, as well as a Brandon Hall Group Silver Award for Best Advance in Corporate Wellbeing Technology — generated very encouraging results in a short amount of time.

First, a bit about the parameters of the study:

For the experience to take place, Virtual Reality headsets were made available to North Shore University Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit staff, and Palliative Care Unit staff. The participants were asked to partake in five short immersive meditation sessions, taking place in the clinic, and were instructed to take up to one month to complete them.

Long-term effects of this experiment are still to be determined; but we have here broken down what was found out after a 1-month follow-up with the participants.

Results

Overall, the participants most frequently picked the 10-minute meditation session, followed by the 15 minute, and 5 minute sessions.

The participants were given access to three different VR sceneries: The Mountain Marvels, set in a northern forest landscape, The Tropical Island, a small white-sand beach in the middle of nowhere, and The Lakeside Shores, featuring a friendly dock and a small lake. The immersive environment selected most often was the beach, followed by the forest, and the lake landscape.

Furthermore, the participants had the option to accompany their meditation with a combination of music and narration (in the form of a calming, guided meditation), or with music only. The most selected option of the two was the latter.

Other parameters of the virtual environments, such as the visual scenery in itself, could be modified at will by the participants to ensure a completely optimal — and tailored — experience. To read more about this project from a design and user-experience standpoint, check out our Real Story: Burnout prevention in healthcare.

Now delving into the heart (ha! 🤓) of the matter:

Compared to baseline results, a decrease in the participant’s blood pressure was observed as soon as the first regular session. Talk about quick! ⚡️ After the one-month period, the study also showed a decrease in average heart rate (at an average of -2.5 BPM), as well as a decrease in average blood pressure (at an average of -6.5 mmHg).

Participants reported “feeling good after the session”, “feeling more relaxed” and “overall pleased” with the experience. Some also commented that they “liked the sunset”, “almost fell asleep”, “felt like they were about to doze off, very relaxed”, and found it “nice to see the waves” to the point of wanting “to jump in the water”.

COVID-19 has forced rapid change across much of society; many industries will never be the same, which is why there are several interesting experiments taking place — and opportunities being created — in these areas. The observations from this study make us wonder about all the possibilities unlocked by the immersive qualities of Virtual Reality. It can truly transport the user into another dimension, tricking the brain into thinking it’s really there; which we believe wouldn’t be possible (or at least, as convincing) with other alternatives such as video, 360 video, or even mobile VR. If we could gather such promising results after only a month of relatively regular StellarX sessions, imagine what could be done in the long-term! Immersive technologies truly hold the power to solve many concerns — starting with burnout in the healthcare industry, and stopping… who knows where?

To finish up, here’s the full infographic summarizing everything you just read. Feel free to share if it captivated your interest (and don’t forget to tag us)! 🥳

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OVA Awarded $1.2M for Creating Interactive Digital Twin of Marine Systems within their Metaverse Builder, StellarX

Montreal, QUEBEC, January 25, 2022

OVA is pleased to announce that they have been awarded $1.2 Million for a contract from the Royal Canadian Navy’s Naval Training and Development Centre (Pacific) through the Innovative Solutions Canada program. Following on the heels of their previous $1.1 Million contract with RCN (2020), this project was initiated in Q2 2021 and will be completed by Q4 2022. OVA’s Virtual and Augmented Reality platform, StellarX (also available on desktop), will assist the naval community to develop training curriculum for recruits and existing ship staff. Maintenance knowledge for preventive actions and corrective repairs will be provided through immersive scenarios and remote assistance capabilities. This will progress the Navy’s digital transformation goals by providing much greater accessibility to training material and expert knowledge, enabling near hands-on experiences that are otherwise costly and logistically complex.

Furthermore, StellarX is a Single Synthetic Environment enabling several integrated activities. The RCN can benefit through the inherent collaboration opportunities for their other operations including design reviews, engineering changes, work instructions, and visual communications / confirmations with vendors and suppliers.

Comments from OVA

Harold Dumur, OVA’s Co-Founder and CEO “Accessing the metaverse is often complex for big organizations. The process for building tailored virtual worlds is convoluted. This project will revolutionize this by democratizing the metaverse. With our StellarX software, all naval personnel, even those with no coding or programming experience, will be able to create their own metaverse training scenarios. This is a paradigm shift in the way that soldiers are being trained. It’s not about bringing the soldier to the field, but rather bringing the field to the soldier.”

Tim Purdy, OVA’s VP Client Solutions, Canada & US “Digital transformation has become a necessity for industry and government alike. The advances in immersion technologies allow for significant cost savings over traditional training applications. Virtual and Augmented Reality experiences have found secure footing in Canada and are increasingly providing value to DND and Tier One suppliers. Beyond the development of tailored marine system maintenance activities, this project will help to showcase the limitless possibilities available from OVA’s ever-increasing metaverse toolset.”

About OVA inc.

OVA’s core mission is to empower businesses and content creators with immersive technologies. They understand how valuable metaverse solutions can be and are striving to make them as accessible as possible through user-centered design thinking and artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements. Currently, the majority of metaverse content is developed by highly technical teams that have significant expertise with programming languages and professional 3D engines. The steep learning curve and difficulty to enter this field limits the amount and breadth of available content. Through OVA’s mission of democratizing the metaverse, they are enabling more and more people to come together to create new experiences, collaborate to solve difficult problems, share creative works/passions, and optimize business operations.

A focus in digital transformation efforts to revolutionize clients’ business operations has guided OVA’s product offerings since their infancy in 2014. Since then, the team has grown significantly and consists of tech-creatives, futurist gamers, eclectic artists, and passionate storytellers. OVA’s flagship software, StellarX, allows those with no programming or coding knowledge to place 3D goods and create immersive experiences through simple drag-and-drop actions. Storytelling, which involves a series of interactions, sequences, and triggers, are easily created through OVA’s patent-pending visual scripting tool. StellarX is continuously improved by developing more features and integrating the latest tools. While there are potentially limitless applications, Spaces within StellarX are tailored specifically by each client to intuitively build the experience they are imagining for their customers. Collaboration is heightened as StellarX allows for multiple people to be engaged in the experience together (either through extended reality headsets or personal computers) regardless of their geographical location. Furthermore, situations that would otherwise be incredibly expensive, logistically complex, or contain sensitive information are made cost effective, potentially effortless, and secure through curated immersive environments and interactive content.

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Project Update: OVA Delivers Enhanced Training Experiences for Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) MarTechs with Interactive Digital Twins #BuiltWithStellarX

Montreal, QC, July 19th, 2022

OVA has delivered on their $1.2 million contract by supplying their Metaverse creation software StellarX, used for creating Virtual and Mixed Reality content for the RCN’s HMCS Venture (naval Leadership Training Centre, formerly the Naval Training and Development Centre Pacific, NTDC-P). OVA’s Virtual and Mixed Reality platform, StellarX (also available on desktop), was used to build life-like Digital Twins of marine systems to address training and collaboration needs for new and existing ship staff. With these scenario results and demonstrations, the naval community can continue to use StellarX to suit their needs for training, design review, work instructions, and equipment maintenance. Scenarios can be accessed and experienced collaboratively by the RCN anywhere across the globe. Under this contract, OVA delivered maintenance instructions for the Reverse Osmosis Desalination and Blackwater systems, an educational rendering and interactive animation of the High Pressure Air Dryer, Shoring activities (Damage Control) and a Remote Assist capability on the HoloLens.

Figure 1:* Digital Twinning of Compartments and Marine Systems using StellarX*

Figure 2: Demonstration of Virtual Reality Training Scenarios with NTDC(P) Personnel (top), Mixed Reality Capability (bottom)*

This project has aligned well with the Royal Canadian Navy’s Digital Navy Initiative. This strategy to enable Canada’s naval team for the digital age is implemented in part through OVA’s powerful digital tools and Digital Twin technologies for the “enhancement of training and assistance to members of the naval team when performing tasks.” Training and maintenance activities can be completed faster, safer, and more efficiently as a result of OVA’s innovation. Life Cycle Material Managers may see that shipboard equipment receives prompt preventive maintenance as a result of tailored immersive training. For those completing corrective maintenance (such as advanced technicians or Fleet Maintenance Facility), their burdens may be reduced. Furthermore, packages of immersive emergency training operations can be practiced remotely when preparing to sail, or for reference during an emergency.

Captain (N) Jason Boyd’s letter to the members of the Naval Personnel and Training Group emphasizes the importance of the Force Generation training requirements to support the CAF’s operational effectiveness during the COVID-19 Pandemic. He discusses measures to preserve the Force, ensuring that members are “available for future taskings which the CAF may be asked to fulfill.” OVA’s tailored training curriculum fits squarely in this vision, enabling members to train and collaborate remotely, whether this is through tailored training scenarios in Virtual Reality or with remote assistance Mixed Reality capability.

This project has uncovered several follow-on activities that could be valuable to HMCS Venture, the Navy, and, more broadly, DND. The Canadian Army’s Modernization Strategy ‘Advancing with Purpose’ plans to “rationalize and increase its use of virtual and constructive simulation for both collective training and individual training, as well as distributed learning in order to ensure that basic skills have been learned before engaging in live simulation events like field exercises.” The Royal Canadian Air Force also indicates their hopes for synthetic training in their ‘Preparing the RCAF for the Future,’ noting that “Enhancing or increasing the training capabilities of [426 Squadron’s CC130J facility and 450 Squadron’s CH149 Chinook facility] for use by international partners may, therefore, be lucrative for Canada (in addition to enhancing prestige for Canada in the eyes of its allies), while at the same time supporting Canadian aerospace industrial partners.” With all branches of the Canadian Armed Forces (as well as other federal government entities) seeking Training and Simulation solutions, OVA is glad to have their technology tested and validated under this contract. They will be entering the Innovative Solutions Canada ‘Pathway to Commercialization’ stream whereby Canadian contracts up to $8 Million per defence department will be pursued over the next 3 years from 2022–2025. Beyond this, OVA plans to increasingly integrate their training and simulation capabilities with NATO allies and become a key contributor in equipping those that serve.

Comments from HMCS Venture (Formerly NTDC-P)

Course Content Development Analyst, RCN “You forget that you’re not actually onboard the ship because it looks so real and lifelike.”

Learning Specialist, RCN “So much great flexibility in StellarX, it really is a Swiss Army Knife for VR and AR development.”

Comments from OVA

Keith Beaudoin, OVA’s Head of Product “For the RCN and our other major clients we are not solely a technology provider, rather we are a close partner; one that helps, guides and supports in all the phases of training creation. We build effective training solutions tailored to their needs.”

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OVA to lead $5.5M Metaverse Campus project

OVA to lead $5.5M Digital Supercluster Project to create an AI-Enabled Metaverse Campus in partnership with Masterpiece Studio, Cognitive3D, and Toronto Metropolitan University

Montreal, QC, September 7th, 2022 The AI-Enabled Metaverse Campus project is building the best Artificial Intelligence on the market. Led by OVA.ai, in partnership with Cognitive3D, Masterpiece Studio, Babcock, HMCS Venture (Formerly NTDC-P, Naval Training Development Centre-Pacific), the MIMS Lab from Toronto Metropolitan University and with co-investment from the Digital Supercluster, the platform will enable non-programmers to develop their own training simulations inside the Metaverse through simple drag-and-drop creation. For instance, StellarX, powered by OVA, is a Metaverse creation software that requires no coding knowledge.

The economic and educational markets are seeking more accessible tools to build virtual Spaces that are easily available in XR or on desktop computers, and designed for non-programmers to use. Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D content typically require technically trained people with specific programming expertise, further increasing cost and time constraints. The steep learning curve and difficulty of building 3D content have limited the number of available resources in this area.

The AI-Enabled Metaverse Campus will be a virtual Space to develop intelligent, adaptive, and interactive systems tailored to the needs of an organization. It will allow individuals without technical expertise, or any background in programming, to create virtual worlds aligned to their needs.

Defense suppliers can pair their existing training material with the tools developed as a result of this project. Together, they will be well-equipped to execute their digital transformation strategies and formulate use cases to secure support contracts under the following training programs:

• Future Aircrew Training Program

• Future Naval Training Systems

• Future Fighter Capability Project

• Land Vehicle Crew Training System

OVA and project partners are glad to move the yardstick forward for immersive training and simulation. If you are interested in adopting innovative training methodologies, reach out to OVA to indicate your interest. Specifically for Canadian Federal Government groups, OVA will have a unique contracting mechanism available from 2022–2025 for contracts up to $8 Million. Beyond this, OVA plans to increasingly integrate its training and simulation capabilities with NATO allies and become a key contributor to equipping those that serve.

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With the current situation being, let’s face it, rather exceptional, many companies have had to turn to remote work. In the last few months, we could say it’s become the new normal.

However, now that the possibility of a return to the office is on the horizon, some are questioning its necessity. Come to think of it… should we really go back to our old ways? Some companies have already taken the plunge, announcing that remote work would become their new mode of operation by default; even when the pandemic would be far behind (1). So… Good or bad idea?

While teleworking has many advantages, from reducing road traffic to saving time and money, it also has its drawbacks. As a matter of fact, it can make communication, meetings and collaboration particularly difficult, or even impossible. Granted, many video conferencing tools are now available to us; but they don’t even come close to a face-to-face meeting. Non-verbal communication is practically non-existent, interactions are more distant, and fatigue is omnipresent. The lack of common space and the inability to touch, interact, move — simply, to be present — greatly undermines the authenticity and effectiveness of these meetings. Simply put: videoconferencing offers about 10% the value of an actual in-person meeting (2).

Not to mention that not everyone’s home environment is suitable for teleworking. It’s hard to stay focused when you’re surrounded by distractions, completely disorganized, or locked in a broom closet!

Here’s a simple solution…

This is where Immersive Technologies come into play. These technologies enable the creation of realistic, interactive work environments that can be fully adapted to suit anyone’s needs.

With Virtual Reality, for example, it’s possible to offer workers a simulated space in which they can meet, move around, interact, and collaborate together on projects; all while having the genuine feeling of being … there. The fact that the virtual meeting takes place in 3D, all around us, creates a whole new dynamic. Human connection and interactions with the environment become possible again and, as a result, employees are more alert, more motivated and more present than during a video meeting, phone conversation, or written communication. The productivity of work sessions is then increased tenfold.

Augmented or Mixed Reality, on the other hand, can allow some workers to optimize or even totally transform their workspace at home, with tools replacing, or overlaying the real world. An example of this concept can be seen on Andrew Bosworth’s Twitter account, AR/VR Manager at Facebook. The short demonstration presents us with a dynamic workspace, oscillating between the real and the virtual worlds. And, we have to say it’s quite impressive!

As we think through supercharging remote work and productivity, we’ve been working on mixed reality concepts that builds on existing technologies like Passthrough to allow people to switch between real and virtual worlds pic.twitter.com/cJCEXDxC7b

— Boz (@boztank) May 21, 2020

At the end of the day, we all need to be able to see, touch, feel — interact (3). This is what immersive technologies allow us to do, from anywhere in the world. 🌎

Widely adopted… Soon?

Of course, these technologies are still in their early adoption phase. Charlie Fink, Virtual and Augmented Reality Consultant, explains that, “These platforms are preliminary. They are still being invented.” (4) Nevertheless, we can certainly expect an accelerated expansion in the coming months — especially considering the urgency of the situation. This is an unprecedented era, and we must adapt, whether we are ready or not. As technology evolves, virtual collaboration will become more and more common. Maybe it’ll even become the new normal… who knows?

On our end, we’re keeping pace to make sure we offer you the best, and to help you through this exceptional time.

Our platform, StellarX, makes it easy to build any virtual environment you need. If you’re considering taking action in order to pursue your professional activities remotely and effectively, we invite you to contact us or schedule a meeting so that we can discuss your options. We’re always there to guide you in the right direction! ✨

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The brand new StellarX Professional was released this past November, and since then, it’s been… well, a true game changer.

StellarX already lets you achieve so much — from giving birth to whole worlds from scratch by importing, modulating and animating all kinds of content, to visualizing concepts in time and space, sharing your work with others, collaborating in real time from anywhere in the world, and, essentially, creating your own Metaverse, So, you may be wondering, what more can be provided by the Pro version that’s not fulfilled by the already well-rounded Essentials? Well, with Pro, you can do all that… and so much more. 🙌

Particle System

Let’s start with a bang 💥: StellarX Pro grants you access to the Particle feature. The latter takes the “no code” pledge even further by allowing you to add particle effects to your Space and customize them, completely effortlessly! Bring a 3D environment to life with water, smoke, and fire effects, which will be sure to provide the missing pizzaz to your decor!

If you’re on a budget (and, let’s be honest, who isn’t), this feature makes it extra easy to boost the realism of your simulation. Say, you’re building a hazard training simulation for heavy equipment — you’ll want it to be as realistic and close to reality as possible. Well, now, if something’s meant to ignite after an unfortunate mistake… it will! The value of immersive training lies within the emphasis of things through visualization. The more closely virtual environments mimic real-life, the more efficiently staff members can better their expertise — without any danger, and without huge resource-mobilization costs. Not to mention that this eliminates the need for experienced programmers or 3D modelers to spend hours on creating complex props and animations. From the click of a button, you can add fully customizable effects yourself, without even thinking twice about it!

Web Panel

Another Pro perk: the Web Panel. Use it to access your favorite media, and browse the web while in immersion. Get absorbed even more into the Metaverse as the real and virtual worlds collide — what can you do in real life that you can’t do in VR? The answer is: less and less. We’re personally working on it. 😉

Simply place the Web Panel asset into your Space, and voilà! You can now access anything you want, from a Spotify playlist to a Youtube tutorial, a todo list, personal notes, or your own LMS. Even better: you can even use the Web Panel to access Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meetings and speak with non-VR users, directly from StellarX! No need to go in and out of VR to be fully connected; the Web Panel takes collaboration and assistance a step further by merging the real and virtual worlds into one.

Say you’re wanting to hold a virtual meeting in a StellarX Space; well, the meeting agenda you worked on using a simple word processing software is now at your fingertips, right there, in VR! 💡 Effective collaboration and active attention being some of the most interesting payoffs of immersive simulations, it goes without saying that avoiding the distraction and confusion that can come from going in-and-out of VR is very valuable.

Space Transfer

We’ve mentioned sharing your Spaces with others a bit earlier, right? 👀 Well, Space Share has been a thing for a while now with StellarX, ever since we’ve entirely reworked our Basecamp interface. The twist is: with the Essentials version, you can download up to 500MB worth of shared Spaces, but can’t upload your own. With the Pro version, though… You can upload Spaces, Spaces, and more Spaces with a 5GB upload bandwidth, and then download even more Spaces with another 5GB of storage per month! 💾✨

500MB can be sufficient if you’re simply looking to try out the feature; but, if you’d like to implement StellarX to the core of your collaborative workflow, Pro is where it’s at. When using external assets and media, 500MB can be exceeded fairly quickly, even with a single Space — just think of the size of a lengthy video, or of an asset with a bunch of polygons!

Space Transfer bids adieu to the bygone era or constantly sharing files, upon files, upon new files of updated content. Spaces can be shared in a single click right from within the app, can be downloaded and accessed by anyone through a simple 8-digit code, and are updated in real time when edits are made. Say you’d want to build an online, virtual course using StellarX; well, the whole class could access the latest version of the experience, from anywhere, at any time!

Facilitating scalability: check. ✔️

Waypoint System

Another huge player is the Waypoint System. 👣 This Pro-only Experience asset allows you to create paths for your assets to follow, adding more depth to your creative experience. Make your simulations feel that much more realistic, with objects following paths of their own!

Before the release of this new feature, it was already possible to make assets move, rotate and scale using Remix capabilities and the Scenario Canvas. But, the Waypoint System allows you to take that even further! Create complex, and more precise paths by combining Waypoint and Scenario features, and assigning Nodes to certain points along your path. Be in total control of any movement happening in your simulation — because nothing should be left to chance. 🍀

Assets such as characters, vehicles, animals (or anything, really!) moving on their own could be exactly what you need to infuse a spark of life into your simulation. You could even use the feature for more practical purposes — for example, to create a virtual assistant. At the beginning of your experience, a character could greet your user, lay bases, and prompt them to follow them; thus, acting as an easy-to-program and intuitive step-by-step guide.

Multiplayer Session Management

Last, but not least; the multiplayer feature. Here’s the deal: anyone can join an existing multiplayer session, but only Pro users are able to launch a new one. So, without the Pro version, you’ll be able to join colleagues… but not to bring them together. 👥

Virtual collaboration truly takes StellarX to the next level. Experience any virtual Space in multiplayer — interact through avatars, learn together, train as a team, prototype and visualize, offer remote assistance, and more. If, for your virtual experience to work, you need multiple people at once to get in on the fun, this is the feature for you.

So, if you’re at the head of a team and plan to steer the ship and not to just go aboard, maybe you’ll want to consider going Pro! 🚢

So, to go, or to not go Pro? The choice is yours. If you plan on using StellarX as a tool to assist you in your daily activities such as training, teaching, remote meeting, designing & prototyping, collaborating, and more, we figure it could make your flow even more enjoyable. Plus, we are working tirelessly to constantly improve StellarX — many other Pro features are to come, such as NPCs, Avatar Builder, and multiplayer access to the Create Mode, to name only a few.

So, if you’re feelin’ it, get the StellarX Professional Subscription plan for 275 USD per month and experience the new and improved Metaverse builder! It can be purchased right from within your StellarX Portal.

Lastly, if you have more specific needs regarding features, we also offer customizable subscription plans suited for enterprise or academic needs as part of our SaaS (Software as a Service) offer. Simply contact us for a walk-through, or toodle-on this way for more details!

For more information on these features, visit our Help Guide:

• Particles

• Web Panel

• Space Management

• Waypoint

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I’ve always had a profound appreciation for creative expression and technology. Somehow, when both these worlds collide, something powerful emerges… (I think that we can all agree that CES is undoubtedly a prime example of this!)

Now, I may not be artist, but I am an individual with vision. Like everyone else, I dream, I imagine, and I long to bring my ideas to life. I’d willingly argue, that deep down, everyone has that intrinsic drive to express themselves freely and creatively.

However, I do agree, that this innate ability to render creative expressions isn’t given to all. Despite what most think, when I studied Engineering, it was a skill I sought out to pursue. No, I didn’t major in Art History, I didn’t study Picasso, nor do I paint, draw, or play music. My creative medium is tech. It’s how I express myself; it’s where I feel comfortable.

Similarly to Art students, I studied the past in search of inspiration. I realized that the current two-dimensional limitations weren’t innovative enough to bring my wild ideas to life. The filtered human-interface relationship I had developed with my screens, didn’t allow me to truly experience, at full scale, the immersion I was yearning to feel. So, I looked to the greats, such as Marshall Mathers, Phil Knight and Andreessen Horowitz, for inspiration and guidance. Like artists do, I tried different mediums, practiced various forms, and explored new techniques until I found a style that was undeniably me: Immersive Computing was definitely my thing.

You see, Augmented and Virtual Reality empowered me to feel new things, see new worlds in a different lens, and genuinely experience what it feels like “to be.” My senses heightened and my brain stimulated, these three-dimensional virtual environments provided me with new-found inspiration. I’ll admit, I kind of felt like Neo when he was introduced to the Matrix by Morpheus. You know, like anything you think of instantly appears right before your eyes… Well, that’s what it felt like. (Or, at least, I imagine that’s what Keanu felt… 🙄)

That being said, given AR/VR’s infancy, I wasn’t adequately equipped or artistically inclined to make my renderings real. There was nowhere to click, nothing to copy and paste, no models to build on, no templates to drag and drop from, and nowhere to turn to for instructional guidance or help. Content creation in the virtual and augmented realm was a struggle. It relied solely on those with the hard skill set to code and design — and that bugged the heck out me!

“More content, in more places” please!

Creativity in the augmented and virtual space desperately needed to be democratized and the barrier to entry had to be lifted. As industry leaders, if we want people to progress, think differently, and embrace these innovative tools we work so hard to build, we have to get the technology itself into as many hands as possible. As Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, put it, “One of the most exciting things we all can do is demystify machine learning and AI. It’s important for this to be accessible by all people.”

Enter StellarX:

A content creation platform for augmented and virtual reality that’s accessible to (literally) everybody!

Luckily, with some help from the team, and industry-renowned scholars from Laval, McGill, Harvard and Stanford University, our team at StellarX powered by OVA was able to create the (un)imaginable. We created a tool that empowers non-programmers and non-designers (aka anybody) to bring their creative visions to life. After months of hard labor, we were chosen to join the ViveX accelerator which gave us unlimited access to some of the best brains around.

As a result, we’ve been able to make the content creation process as natural and intuitive as possible. We transformed the creative process so that abstract notions can be expressed in a more physical and spatial manner, which is a fundamental shift from the traditional two-dimensional interaction we’re accustomed to. It’s amazing to think that my team is empowering people to express themselves in every way possible.

Not to mention, our technology has allowed us to create truly immersive experiences that are currently transforming entire industries.

For example, we worked with Quebec’s Police and Emergency Response team and helped them redefine their training exercises. Thanks to the immersive technology, users felt and experienced the exact same stimuli they would in real-life emergency situations. Dopamine levels rose, endorphins kicked in, and behavioral responses adapted to suit each situation. The experience we built reflected their natural crisis management reactions, without having to rely on real disasters, or without having to mobilize expensive vehicles, which always results in a total logistics nightmare. Not only are immersive training environments beneficial to the trainees who gain greater access to trainings on-the-go, but it’s also a safer alternative, and offers a more cost-effective solution in the long-run. (Not to brag or anything, but it’s for these reasons that we won the Silver Excellence in Technology Award at the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards this month.)

This rich virtual realm we now have access to is also transforming the healthcare industry. For instance, OVA developed an immersive environment interface for patients affected by Schizophrenia for an Avatar therapy led by Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal. A total of 19 patients participated in this pilot project, and 15 of them proudly boast that their quality of life has increased significantly. As mentioned in an article published by Radio Canada , the results are very promising!

At the end of the day, “Teamwork makes the dream work!” and I’m proud of our team and what we stand for. We’re part of something larger than ourselves. We’re changing the way people interact with technology and we’re striving to foster symbiotic human-AI relationships that are meaningful and memorable. We’re changing the way people see the world around them and exposing them to unseen realms and beyond… Worlds they can imagine and create with their own hands. Worlds they can close off for safeguarding, or share with others at their liking. Immersive computing provides us with the unique ability to transform the world around us. Now, that’s powerful! And, everybody should have the ability to experience it!

Enough with the XR/VR stuff! Time to get back to reality… 😉 But, I do appreciate you reading my article and would welcome any comments or feedback you have. Just drop me a line or send me a Tweet! Oh, and don’t forget to give it a share if you really enjoyed it!

Stay tuned for more AR/VR articles! Cheers!

Harold Dumur — CEO, OVA

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When I think about literature, cinema, video games, or any form of art involving the representation of a world, I usually refrain from describing my experience of work as being immersive.

Over time, I’ve come to find that the concept of immersion is often used so vaguely that it actually loses its meaningfulness.

More specifically, in interactive media and entertainment contexts, it’s often related to how efficiently an immersive work succeeds at imposing its own world by bombarding the senses, rather than making the experience singularly and subjectively engaging. With that said, if we take a slightly oblique view, the concept of immersion might lead to a lot of interesting ideas. For instance, the immersive computing field allows us to experiment and drives us to question how computers can process subjectivity.

From that perspective, by simply observing the advancements in current AI and immersive computing research fields, to name a few, the paradigm appears to be shifting from a more technical one to an existential one. As such, we’re left to question what it means to perceive the world through a machine, and in turn, how that same world is perceived by a machine.

We also speak of computing as being immersive, as if it weren’t already. In reality, computing is immersive by design. I don’t say this because I believe it can be used to create “virtual” worlds, but rather because of its systemic nature. One of its primary purposes and functions has always been to integrate into our living spaces in such a sophisticated and seamless way; naturally fading into the fabric of everyday life and becoming as transparent as a window’s glass, reflecting and mirroring its surroundings.

In the same way, we speak of virtual reality as if reality wasn’t already virtual. But we know that the notion of virtual concerns potential, as in an object or being’s potentiality to become or to evolve into something different, more specifically, the opposite of its actual state; the physicality of that same thing. Gilles Deleuze suggest that “the tree is given in the seed, but as a function of a plan(e) that is not given”¹ as if the tree was actually absent, but virtually present in the seed.

A Subject Oriented Paradigm for Computational Spaces

D. Fox Harell describes subjective computing as “an approach to designing and understanding computational systems that serve improvisational, cultural, and critical aims typically exhibited in the arts.”² However, as the notion of immersion is my starting point, I adopt a different approach by exploring subjectivity as a way to express the ambiguous and singular nature of human inhabited and uninhabited computational spaces³.

If immersive computing revolves around the notions of space, sensorial experience, embodiment, and physical interactions, I’m tempted to say that we might be progressively moving into a multidimensional subject oriented approach based on a subject, percept and context relationship model where everything revolves around the idea that the subject perception of a thing is also a means of interaction. In other words, the environment alters perception, and perception alters environment.

In my opinion, such a model is a way to understand human-computer interaction in a more subjective manner. To me, being immersed is being subjectively engaged in such a way that I’m no longer simply consuming someone else’s content, but also altering it by my presence.

Since the experience becomes all the more subjective, it naturally becomes less predictable. Although we’re not quite there yet*,* computational environments will involve ever-changing spaces that reflects the singularity of one’s ambiguous human essence.

As for now, these spaces break from the traditional touchscreen and filtered interfaces we’ve grown accustomed to using in our day-to-day. Relying on haptics, artificial intelligence, voice control, computer vision, and more, these immersive realms pretend to enhance our interactions in the most natural and seamless of ways.

What’s the point to all of this? As these systems respond to natural human speech, physical movement, psychological behavior, and context, they adapt to our environments to become inhabitable spaces and spaces that inhabit us.

Paradoxically, as with any system, the more seamlessly integrated they are, the less control we have over them. As such, an invisible technology is not necessary a transparent one. Generally speaking, such technologies tend to be rather opaque, closed, and invasive.

Now, by simply observing how computing devices are literally getting closer to the mind (desktop => handheld => headset => ???), it’s important that we question the level of invasiveness involved in these technologies and their effect on us. Not only am I referring to issues related to a person’s intimate space, but also those regarding how computing systems can actually filter perception, thus alter subjectivity.

Reality is Conflictual

When it comes to creating immersive environments, the design and development tasks are approached quite differently. More specifically, the linearity and predictability offered by traditional interface design doesn’t appear to be relevant any more. Designers no longer rely on the abstract metaphorical elements they’ve been using as shortcuts all these years. In other words, those abstract real-world concepts we’ve extracted meaning from and represented visually via calendar icons or color-coded categorization labels for example, are no longer reflective or adapted to cater to the needs of users in such a context. Immersive spaces require tangible, real-world interactions that evoke meaningful and authentic emotional responses. As a result, those working in the virtual or extended reality field must become immersively engaged as they manipulate the environments they work in.

However, this sensorial and particularly physical approach to design for immersive spaces goes against the Seiryoku Zenyo maxim, or as Bruce Lee once said, “maximum effect from minimum effort.”

Let’s put it this way: we’ve always interacted with computers using languages, as we do amongst ourselves in “real” life, with words, pictures, numbers, and metaphors. As our brains are “hardwired for language”⁴ metaphors aren’t just “shortcuts” that you can let go of because you think they’re outdated. Metaphors are also a very powerful and efficient way to communicate an idea.

As I type this text, every key I hit has the potential to trigger or evoke a powerful emotional response. A single finger tap can prompt any task that a computer can perform. However, there’s no direct relationship between the key I’ve hit and the computer calculations being performed in the background. When it comes to immersive design, we have to come up with new ways to build an imaginary continuity between the virtual (simulated) and the actual (physical) world to bring relatable meaning to a person in an immersive context. Usually, this is done by allowing the experiencer to perform whole-body actions to interact with the computational space. However, this comes at the cost of consuming one’s physical energy, which wouldn’t typically happen in the traditional human-computer interaction approach.

As we know, immersive computing technologies, in a way, allow us to physically experience an “hallucination” by tricking the mind into thinking that it’s experiencing an “actual reality”. However, beyond questioning the believability of the illusion, what this really means is that everyday reality is a conflictual experience in which mind and matter collide with one another. From that perspective, subjective computing is a field that allows us to research and experiment ancient and visceral questions, such as what it means to live with a mind contained inside a body.⁵ A question that is also explored through those cutting edge AI-driven robots trying to compute what reality “feels” like for the first time as the complex piece of software is simply trying to inhabit its “new flesh”.

Affordances

To deal with the human-computer interactions experienced with immersive computing systems, designers and developers have to keep affordances top of mind.

In the design field, the term is often used to describe “a situation where an object’s sensory characteristics intuitively imply its functionality and use”⁶. In a virtual or extended reality context, sensory displays are used to highlight affordances, which ultimately serve to indicate actionable interactions and clarify when these interactions should occur.

If affordances can be used for functionality purposes, the affordance concept, in its original form, becomes less relevant to usability. James J. Gibson, the psychologist who coined the term in 1966, explains:

“The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in the dictionary, the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment.” ⁷

In other words, affordances describe the potential interactions between a subject and its environment according to both its needs and intentions. However needs, intentions, and the environment are always changing. Therefore, if subject and context continuously transform one another, the relationship between both can be unpredictable and ambiguous. As a result, all potential interactions can’t be predicted, and can vary from one person to another.

With the latter in mind, as we progressively move from a technical mindset to an existential one, we might also rethink our use of the common “user” concept in the computing field. Let’s face it, we aren’t just “using” computers; we live with them and experience through them. We’re immersed in a vast interconnected technological network. And if that’s the case, human-computer interactions should no longer be about a designer’s or an engineer’s ability to hack one’s mind to force a perspective or view. Now, it’s more about finding ethical, non-invasive approaches to viewing computer software as a computational space that can be subjectively, responsibly inhabited and built, rather than existing as a simple media consumption tool.

Understanding Meaning

Although, subjective computing might be about us experiencing reality through computers, it’s also about computers adapting to the way every single one of us understands and experiences our environment in our day to day, which comes with significant risks. It might also be about discovering how valuable the intimate experience of space really is and what it means to build it, inhabit it, perceive it, compute it, as well as invade it. At the end of the day, this might also open up to some deeper philosophical and ethical questions in regards to the mind as a computational space itself…

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References:

1. Deleuze, Gilles, Guattari, Félix. (2004). A Thousand Plateaus, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, A&C Black, p.293.

2. Harrell, D.(2016–09–29). Subjective Computing and Improvisation. In The Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies, Volume 2. : Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 Jan. 2018, from http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199892921.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199892921-e-003

3. A computational space being an imaginary environment or an actual place built, inhabited and/or perceived through computers.

4. Sassone Kara ( 2014–04–17). Our Brains are Hardwired for Language. Retrieved 20 Dec. 2017, from http://www.northeastern.edu/cos/2014/04/iris-berent/

5. A very interesting project exploring this subject is The Machine to Be Another by BeAnotherLab: http://www.themachinetobeanother.org/

6. Retrieved 21 Jan. 2018, from http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/affordance/

7. Gibson, J. J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), Boston.

Time and time again, I get asked what’s it’s like to own, promote, and work at a virtual reality-driven business.

Over time, I’ve come to find that I can basically categorize most people into two very distinct categories: those who are completely clueless as to what virtual and augmented realities are, and those who work in the tech field and are looking to transition into the virtual realm. So, I thought our blog would be the perfect place to address what’s it’s really like to work in a virtual reality startup.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable…

Because VR is such a new field, there’s no set rulebook that dictates how you should be doing your work. Although some may see this as an advantage, you’d be surprised to learn how unsettling it can be for certain people to set their own standards and boundaries. My advice: don’t be scared and go for it! Lead the way. Working in VR is a great opportunity to set industry standards and challenge the status quo.

Broaden your scope…

Virtual realities are more immersive than you probably even realize! It’s important that you understand how your work affects those interacting within these immersive experiences. This involves understanding game theory, zero interface concepts, as well as psychological, behavioral, and bodily-kinesthetic factors. Be sure to read up on all of these topics so that you can stay at the top of your game. There’s plenty of exploring to do and there are a million ways to get creative.

Don’t be afraid of failure…

As I mentioned above, virtual and augmented reality development and design is a relatively new concept, so there’s no step-by-step manual to figuring it all out. Besides, if you’re looking to innovate, you’ve got to do things a little differently and you sure as hell can’t be afraid to try new things. Sure, they might not all work, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know. As a CEO, I like to surround myself with creators and innovators. I’m not really a fan of cookie-cutter executors. I like being around people who look beyond the limits. That’s what really inspires me!

Play, play, and play some more…

Now, I’m not saying we play on the job… but, in a way, we kind of do. Whether it’s Design, QA, Development, or another position, I encourage anybody who’s interested in the field to play with the various existing platforms. There’s no better way to understand virtual experiences than to give them a try first-hand. If you’re planning to build and create these immersive spaces, you’ve got to feel what the user experience is like from beginning to end. So, get out there and play!

Have fun with it…

The most important element to consider when joining any team is happiness! If you’re not having fun at work, you should find another job! At OVA, we work really hard, but we always carve time out for ourselves. Whether it’s business and beer meetings, game nights, or drawing on walls, we know how to kick back and enjoy ourselves.

By the way, we actually happen to be hiring right now … (Just sayin’… 😉)

So, if you check all of the boxes above and are looking for an awesome job at a virtual reality startup, hit us up!

And, if you happen to know somebody who might be interested in joining our team or somebody who’s mad into VR/AR, share this article with them and our team will be eternally grateful! 🙃

Now, that’s all for today, but be sure to keep an eye out for my next articles. Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

Cheers!

Harold Dumur — CEO, OVA

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XR, VR, AR, and MR explained

Immersive technologies keep breaking down the barriers between the real and virtual worlds, allowing us to experience things that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.

Even better, these technologies are settling more and more into the commercial and industrial sectors, revolutionizing the way we do things. Businesses are exploring ways they can leverage these new realities in order to solve problems, support new initiatives, improve their daily operations, refine their workforce and, in the long run, better themselves.

This accelerated development may seem a little puzzling at first. Although spatial computing related terms — Extended, Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality  — are often used interchangeably and share common features, it’s their differences that make their strength. Each of these technologies present distinct characteristics, limitations, and benefits which, when applied to the right context, hold substantial power 🌠

Extended Reality (XR)

Extended Reality, or XR, is an umbrella term for all immersive technologies.

The "X" in the acronym is a mobile variable that stands for any letter, while "Extended" refers to the fact that spatial technologies extend the boundaries of reality; either by combining the real and the virtual, or by creating a whole new reality. Thus, the term XR encompasses all technologies that merge a certain degree of immersion with computer-generated content, and human-machine interaction.

Of course, the gaming and entertainment industries were early adopters of these technologies; but now, many other fields benefit from them, such as education, engineering, safety and security, defense, healthcare, sports, design, and more.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality, or VR, is the most widely known of spatial computing technologies.

A VR experience takes place in a 100% digital world; it offers a 360-degree view and allows us to move around, watch occurrences, and manipulate objects, all while being entirely computer generated.

This type of experience tricks our brain into thinking it’s physically present in a completely different universe, which allows for the most realistic simulations.

Meetings, collaboration, education, visualization, training — as limitless as your own imagination, Virtual Reality can do just about… anything.

For example, we could use it to create a virtual meeting space, bringing videoconferencing to a whole new level; the full benefits of face-to-face interactions, without the hassle of commuting! It can also replicate any real-life environment for virtual tours; quite useful for tourism, event, and real estate industries. The health industry also benefits greatly from Virtual Reality, notably for therapy and rehabilitation purposes; two excellent use cases would be our immersive stress reduction program in collaboration with Northwell Health and LCI LX, as well as our mental health support project in collaboration with the Philippe-Pinel Institute.

From an educational standpoint, VR can not only enrich learning by making it more engaging, but can also give students a perspective that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. One thinks in particular of students at Case Western who, while studying human anatomy on a 3D image, gain an unobstructed view of organs that would be hard or even impossible to examine on a real corpse. Lastly, VR proves to be particularly useful for various types of hands-on training — especially those that present significant logistical challenges, or take place in highly hazardous conditions. Two use cases come to mind: our synthetic onboarding project in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Navy, where virtual training turned out to be an ideal solution to avoid wasting a ton of resources, and our simulated training project in collaboration with Hydro Québec, where realistic virtual scenarios allow trainees to learn how to respond to dangerous situations without putting their lives at risk.

Augmented Realities (AR)

Augmented Reality, or AR, refers to a virtual interface that overlays the real world.

Unlike VR, we are not isolated from our surroundings; rather, they are central to the experience. We are able to fully interact with the physical objects around us, all while benefiting from computer-generated contextual content (usually images, text, or animations), which supplements and enhances reality.

These information overlays can prove useful in a myriad of fields — from marketing, to manufacturing... and everything in between! First off, the opportunity to engage directly with prospective customers using Augmented Reality offers immense potential for marketing purposes. We can also think of more practical applications, such as real-time language translation, navigation, guides, and step-by-step instructions. Another interesting use case (which, incidentally, we’ve explored in collaboration with Desjardins) would be real estate material identification for insurance purposes, thanks to an easy-to-use and accessible interface.

Real-time assistance is another fundamental benefit of AR. We could, for example, get help from a colleague who, despite the distance, would physically appear in front of our eyes; as if he were really there. An augmented interface could also provide crucial information for any ongoing work. A practical example of this concept would be our predictive maintenance project in collaboration with Bombardier, which allows aircraft technicians to locate defects on huge pieces of equipment, in record time, thanks to a program that automatically sends suspect coordinates to a floating AR interface.

Mixed Realities (MR)

Mixed Reality, or MR (also referred to as Hybrid Reality), is halfway between the two previously mentioned realities. It’s a more interactive type of Augmented Reality, where the real and virtual worlds merge together as a whole.

In Mixed Reality, artificial and tangible coexist, and form equal parts of the experience. Digital objects are anchored to the physical space in which they are placed, and thus, can adapt to their surroundings and be manipulated as part of them.

Because of its similarity to AR, MR can share many of its use cases — although, usually bringing its own edge to them 🌶️

A technical support interface for a factory, for example, could be updated in real-time as the technician performs various repairs on a piece of equipment.

Other cases can be more specific to what defines Mixed Reality. For example, a virtual prototype could be laid over a real model; and, since Mixed Reality technologies allow digital additions to integrate seamlessly into real objects, potential modifications could be studied closely before even spending a single penny on production. A room’s decor — not only colors and textures, but also objects and furniture arrangements — could be visualized interactively, all while adapting to the things already in place. Along the same lines, an MR system could allow architects, building inspectors, or construction workers to locate a virtual structure to the correct scale, and even to venture inside it in order to visualize the results, conduct observations, and highlight potential issues.

When multiple realities intertwine

Despite their differences, it is not impossible to combine these technologies for collaboration purposes. Augmented and Mixed Realities are particularly booming these days; they merge the real and virtual worlds more harmoniously than ever, and could help push virtual collaboration towards uncharted grounds.

Synchronisation from an Augmented Reality headset to another already shows great promise — simply by allowing two people from completely different places to share an interface and manipulate the same digital object, in real-time.

The combination of Virtual and Mixed Reality is also an appealing possibility. Think of a remote training context where the instructor would handle a piece of equipment on-site, while the student would put on a Virtual Reality headset and be transported to the scene. As the lesson progresses, the maneuvers performed by the instructor could be transmitted in real-time to the student’s Digital Twin, ensuring a true-to-life training… completely remotely!

It is no longer even necessary for all parties to acquire complex pieces of equipment to enable collaboration. Technological advancement is cool like that! Take a trainee having to perform manipulations in an electrical box, for example; by putting on Augmented Reality glasses, not only could he have access to an interface overlaying his equipment, but he could also see his superior appear before him… And the latter would only need a desktop computer to start the process!

By the way, we just want to highlight the fact that StellarX already allows VR and desktop users to collaborate seamlessly. Soon, utter and complete compatibility will be knocking at our doors... 👀

So, basically: VR places the user in a completely digital environment; AR overlays digital elements on top of reality; and MR anchors digital elements to reality, in addition to overlaying them. Therefore, Mixed Realities are always Augmented, but the opposite is not necessarily true! As for XR, it includes pretty much all that’s related to immersive technologies… the ones we know, and the ones that are yet to discover. 🔎

One thing’s for sure: each and every one of them has its own unique features, and the constant discovery of new combinations helps us continuously refine the way we live, work, and collaborate.

Now, knowing the difference between the various types of spatial computing is one thing; applying them to your specific context is another. You may be looking to improve your onboarding processes? To boost communication within your teams? To save money, time… or both? Whatever your intentions, immersive technologies probably hold the answer. Simply book a consultation, and we’ll gladly guide you through the process!

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Resources:

Demystifying the Virtual Reality Landscape, Intel. URL: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/tech-tips-and-tricks/virtual-reality-vs-augmented-reality.html

Gleb, B. (2020). VR vs AR vs MR: Differences and Real-Life Applications, Ruby Garage. URL: https://rubygarage.org/blog/difference-between-ar-vr-mr

Hooker, J. (2021). xR, AR, VR, MR: What’s the Difference in Reality?, Arm Blueprint. URL: https://www.arm.com/blogs/blueprint/xr-ar-vr-mr-difference

Irvine, K. (2017). A definitive guide to navigating the landscape of Extended Reality, Viget. URL: https://www.viget.com/articles/xr-vr-ar-mr-whats-the-difference/

Marr, B. (2019). What Is Extended Reality Technology? A Simple Explanation For Anyone, Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/08/12/what-is-extended-reality-technology-a-simple-explanation-for-anyone/?sh=5044e15c7249

Quora, (2018). The Difference Between Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality And Mixed Reality, Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/02/the-difference-between-virtual-reality-augmented-reality-and-mixed-reality/?sh=42feea642d07

Shavel, T. (2020). MR is Leaving AR in the Dust: So Say These Mixed Reality Examples, Iflexion Blog. URL: https://www.iflexion.com/blog/mixed-reality-examples