What I saw at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference this year
A quick rundown of the VR experiences that caught my attention
Last week I was invited to GTC 2017 and I attended the event for the first time. GTC stands for GPU Technology Conference. It is NVIDIA’s own annual developer conference and this year it took place on May 8–11, 2017 at the San Jose Convention Center in Silicon Valley.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of the focus was on GPU supercomputers, AI and deep learning technologies. However, I was happy to see how prominent Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies were. There was a large number of talks related to immersive technologies, a significant number of AR and VR start-ups had a booth and there was even a dedicated ‘VR Village’ on the show floor.
Here is a rundown of the experiences that caught my attention.
Jensen Huang’s keynote speech and Project Holodeck
NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, took the stage on May 10 for a packed two-hour keynote. The highlight, for me, was the unveiling of their Project Holodeck, a photorealistic, collaborative virtual reality environment that incorporates the feeling of real-world presence through sight, sound and haptics. In a spectacular demo, carmaker Christian Koenigsegg and three other people entered the Holodeck to see a model of Koenigsegg’s new $1.9 million luxury car. The keynote audience watched engineers in the Holodeck environment explore the car at scale and in full visual fidelity, and consult each other on design changes in real time.
The Holodeck environment spans many possible use cases — from product designers and architects, to content creators, to enthusiasts wanting to enjoy 3D and 360-degree content with their friends in a VR space.
The VR Village
Several VR start-ups and NVIDIA’s own VR booths were conveniently grouped in a ‘VR Village’.
In this video, you can follow me as I walk through the expo hall and through the VR Village. You can watch a demo of NVIDIA VRWorks 360 Video, which enables VR developers and content creators to capture, stitch and stream 360-degree videos. Nvidia demonstrated this by offering visitors a chance to wear a VR headset and experience a full 360-degree view using live streamed footage from several cameras placed around the convention area.
NVIDIA also offered a set of demos in closed VR booths, by appointment only:
- Soane Light Field
Stereoscopic experience inside a digital reconstruction of the Bank of England just as how it appeared in the 18th century, featuring the neo-classical design of Sir John Soane.
- Endeavor Point Cloud
Volumetric VR experience inside NVIDIA’s upcoming new headquarter building, named Endeavor, as it’s being built.
- Batman: Arkham VR
AAA game enabling players to experience Gotham City through the eyes of Batman himself.
- VR Funhouse
NVIDIA’s own video game, a virtual carnival full of fun and games.
I was lucky to try the first three and I already knew the last one — which is a lot of fun, by the way!
Otoy
I had such a great time on OTOY’s booth!
First they had me try their amazing rendering technology in a pair of ODG Smartglasses. It made me so happy to try the Osterhout Design Group glasses for the first time!
Then I put on a VR headset to experience footage shot with a prototype of Facebook’s new volumetric camera. I say ‘experience’ because with this technology, you no longer view 360 content, you can move in it! Volumetric technology enables users to move inside 360 VR content, ability which is known as 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF). I was transported to Facebook HQ’s roof garden on top of Building 20 and could walk around! All of a sudden, it was night time and we could use the controllers to project light from a virtual flashlight. Then the 360 sphere shrank and I could pop my head right into it. It really was a fun and exciting experience!
Live Planet
I got really excited by Live Planet’s upcoming VR camera. They have an end-to-end solution with a camera, cloud-based processing tools and workflow and an SDK for optimized viewing experience. Their camera captures 4K, stereoscopic, 360º video and does stitching and encoding inside the camera.
They were capturing a stereoscopic VR livestream outside the expo hall and showing it in real-time to attendees checking the demo on their booth using a Gear VR. The camera is priced at $10k and is due to launch in July this year.
Talk: Design with Virtual Reality in Architecture, Engineering & Construction
Scott DeWoody, Firmwide Creative Media Manager at Gensler spoke about how his architecture firm is using the latest technology in virtual reality across all aspects of the design process for the AEC industry (Architecture, Engineering & Contruction). Gensler is the firm behind the creation of NVIDIA’s new headquarter building, Endevor, which is due for completion by the end of this year.
They used Virtual Reality to enhance their processes, every step of the way. DeWoody shared how VR has added value to the process when using different kinds of VR solutions. He also talked about some of the challenges Gensler has faced with VR in terms of hardware, software, and workflows. Along with all of this, he explained how NVIDIA’s latest VR visualization tools are helping with the overall process and realism of their designs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it seems that GTC has made it to the list of the must-attend events for anyone interested in immersive technologies. I am definitely planning to attend again next year!
Note: You can view all my photos of the event on my Facebook Page, a VR journey.
Cecile Eskenazi is the host of a VR journey and a guest writer for Haptical. You can follow her on Facebook, or Twitter. If you are interested in publishing your article with us, here is how you can do it.
