by alexandra suvakova -

Transforming Marketing Realities: The AR & VR Evolution

In the fast-evolving landscape of 21st-century marketing, professionals are consistently exploring novel avenues to captivate audiences. Two technologies that have recently taken center stage are Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). As we delve into the exciting realm of AR marketing and question the necessity of AR and VR in marketing, we’ll explore how these technologies are reshaping the marketing landscape and whether they are a boon or a bust for businesses.

The Rise of AR Marketing

What Is Augmented Reality?
AR, a form of extended reality, seamlessly blends the digital and physical worlds, bringing the metaverse to users. Unlike its immersive cousin, Virtual Reality (VR), AR often operates subtly, with applications ranging from gaming, like Pokémon GO, to transforming how we shop.

Importance of AR in Marketing
AR marketing is a game-changer, turning passive experiences into active engagements. Mimicking the in-person shopping experience, AR enables users to try before they buy, enhancing conversion rates and customer satisfaction. The technology, still in its infancy, holds the promise of making shopping enjoyable and memorable, ultimately boosting brand awareness and loyalty.

AR Gear for Marketing
Unlike many metaverse-related technologies, AR marketing doesn’t demand specialized gear. Nearly everyone already possesses an AR-capable device – the smartphone. However, companies like Microsoft and Google are pushing the boundaries, introducing dedicated AR and mixed reality gear to provide more immersive experiences.

Strategies in AR Marketing

Several strategies are shaping the landscape of AR marketing:

Try Before You Buy: Emulating the offline shopping experience, AR allows users to virtually try out products, from clothing to furniture.

Raise Brand Reputation: The immersive nature of AR creates lasting positive emotions, turning satisfied customers into active brand advocates.

Tours & Assistance: Integrating digital assistance into physical locations, AR helps users make informed decisions, from exploring products to virtually experiencing distant places.

AR Marketing Materials: Utilizing AR in traditional marketing materials, such as brochures and business cards, enhances the user experience and blurs the line between analog and digital.

Success Stories in AR Marketing

Several companies are leveraging AR to create unique and engaging experiences:

Snap: The City Painter feature on Snapchat fosters real connections, allowing users to collaboratively create virtual murals in shared spaces.

Home Depot: Project Color enables users to visualize how different paint colors would look in their homes, considering lighting, furniture, and shadows.

Sephora: Utilizing Modiface technology, Sephora’s Virtual Artist App allows users to digitally try on makeup, overcoming the challenges of online cosmetic shopping.

Questioning the Need for AR and VR in Marketing

The Role of VR & AR in Marketing
While the first-hand experiences shared earlier highlight the merits of AR in marketing, it’s pertinent to question the necessity of AR and VR. Despite the novelty and excitement surrounding these technologies, marketers must ask themselves whether their innovation is yielding tangible results.

Why Marketers Embrace VR & AR
The appeal of VR and AR for marketers lies in their storytelling potential. These technologies offer new and unique ways to engage audiences, provided the campaigns make sense, resonate with the target audience, and align with the promoted brand.

Risks and Considerations
The flipside of innovation is risk. Developing VR/AR-based campaigns demands significant time and resources, and success is not guaranteed. Marketers must be cautious not to prioritize promoting the technology over promoting the client’s best interests. The story’s resonance with the audience is crucial, and missteps in context or tone can lead to failure.

The Philosophical Perspective
The article takes a philosophical turn, reminding marketers that creativity should never be an end in itself but a means to realize the communicational goals of the client. VR & AR, like any innovative technology, are tools for storytelling and experience-building, valuable only when integrated into a comprehensive digital marketing strategy aligned with the client’s business plan.

Striking a Balance

In conclusion, the dynamic duo of AR and VR holds enormous potential for reshaping the marketing landscape. Whether you’re ready to embark on the AR marketing journey or cautiously evaluating the role of VR and AR in your digital strategy, these technologies are undeniably changing the game. The future of marketing may well be written in the language of augmented and virtual realities, where engaging stories, resonant experiences, and client-centric innovation take center stage.

Links:

by helene.goedl -

03 | Digital Fashion – Topic Overview

Digital fashion refers to clothing and accessories that exist purely in the digital realm, created using computer-generated imagery (CGI) and 3D modelling techniques. It combines elements of fashion, technology, and art to create virtual garments that can be worn and showcased in digital spaces, such as virtual reality (VR) environments, online gaming platforms, and social media. Because of these factors, digital fashion holds great potential for an interdisciplinary case study in the field of media design. It combines factors from different disciplines and intersects in a way that presents both enormous potential and considerable challenges in the design process. Over the next blog entries, I will present several factors of digital fashion that are relevant and interesting to investigate in a further research project. This blog entry presents a brief topic overview to establish some of the main areas of the topic.

History

As an introductory entry, it will be interesting to take a closer look at the history of digital fashion. Arguably, the core concept of digital fashion has existed since the development of digital animation and computer games. These two areas have provided the most opportunities to showcase digitally designed and created garments. In a future blog entry, the history of digital fashion will be revisited in more detail. 

Digital Fashion for Avatars 

In the gaming and virtual reality space, digital fashion is gaining popularity as a way for users to customize the appearance of their avatars. Players can purchase or earn virtual clothing items to enhance the aesthetics of their digital personas.

Collaborations and Digital Fashion Brands

Traditional fashion brands are starting to collaborate with digital artists and designers to create limited-edition virtual collections. Some brands are also emerging specifically as digital fashion entities, focusing on creating unique and innovative digital clothing. Some of the collaboration projects also tie in with the previous topic as they have taken place in the video game sphere. Most notably, the 2021 collaboration between luxury fashion brand Balenciaga and the gaming studio Epic Games for the popular game Fortnite has made waves in the business. A future blog entry will explore said collaboration in more detail as a case study.

Virtual Fashion Shows

Designers are increasingly exploring the possibilities of presenting their collections through virtual fashion shows. These events take place in digital environments, allowing for unique and immersive presentations that go beyond the constraints of traditional runway shows. This has gained relevance especially in the pandemic years and will be looked at in more detail, with a special focus on differences in potential between real life and virtual fashion shows and what the introduction of the new possibilities could mean for the fashion industry in the future.

Sustainability

Digital fashion is often touted as a more sustainable alternative to traditional fashion. Since there is no physical production involved, there is no need for raw materials, manufacturing, or shipping, potentially reducing the environmental impact associated with the fashion industry. At the same time, the discussion around digital products and their sustainability is a point of contention on its own, since the ever growing need for larger server farms, computers and their energy consumption need to be weighed against traditional forms of production. 

NFTs and Digital Ownership

Some digital fashion items are being sold as NFTs, providing a sense of ownership and authenticity in the digital space. Buyers can use these NFTs to showcase and trade their virtual fashion items within specific platforms. This is especially interesting because it brings up discussions around the value of digital products in general, the merit of owning a purely virtual item and the relationship to the analogue equivalent of attributing value to fashion items. An intersting point of discussion for this topic is also the relationship between original fashion pieces and fake products or counterfeit items in the real world and in digital space.

Augmented Reality (AR) Fashion

AR technology allows users to superimpose digital clothing onto their real-world surroundings through smartphone apps or AR glasses. This enables users to experiment with different looks without physically trying on clothes. This also ties in with the previous topic of digital ownership and how this might be handled in AR spaces.

3D Modelling for Fashion Design

Digital fashion designers is mainly done in 3D modelling software to create detailed and realistic virtual garments. This process enables them to experiment with unconventional materials, shapes, and designs that may be challenging or impossible to produce in the physical world. A closer exploration of material qualities and possibilities in digital space will be continued in its own blog post. 

Digital fashion is a dynamic and evolving field that continues to push the boundaries of creativity and technology. As technology advances, we can expect to see even more integration of digital fashion into our virtual and augmented reality experiences.

by leonie.dunke -

8 | Theatre in the digital time

Project: Hybrid-real stage spaces

This project looks at how real and virtual spaces can work together in performances, with a focus on how audiences engage with musicians or performers. Through the creation of the VR performance „Spatial Encounters,“ they are exploring how blending physical and digital spaces can be a powerful tool for designing unique and immersive experiences. Additionally, their goal is to understand how artists collaborate in performances, specifically in the realm of musical experiences.

This special space combines real and digital elements to explore conversations between music, people, and surroundings, breaking away from traditional concerts. Participants can immerse themselves in the music without having a traditional front-facing setup. It aims to create new interactive dialogues between sound and visuals, inviting participants to focus on a unique way of listening.

Various virtual landscapes generated with VFX form the basic setup. Musicians and up to nine participants can interact simultaneously in this space. Visitors interact with their own avatars or others, influencing the virtual space. At the same time, the musical composition by the artists affects the virtual space, creating a mutual interplay between musicians and participants that constantly evolves.

The main focus of the project was on the questions:

  • How do users behave alone or in a community in different contexts, media, and formats?
  • How much influence do we allow users, and how much interaction is possible and necessary?
  • How can we transform passive viewers into active creators?

Special attention was given to ensuring a successful performance by emphasising spatial safety. Overlaps must exist in both virtual and real spaces, clearly indicating that one can move safely in the real space.

Project: Augmented reality as a communication tool

The project aims to address communication challenges in theater refurbishments and cultural venues by leveraging XR (extended reality) technologies. Traditional tools like drawings and models have limitations in conveying the complexities of spatial situations in theaters. Collaborating with experts, the project explores scenarios for renovation planning and discussions on stage productions, aiming to answer questions about presenting architectural transformations, integrating augmented reality into physical scale models and drawings, and digitally supporting planning processes using XR technology for seamless communication among stakeholders.

Basis:

Complex construction projects, including new builds and renovations of theaters and cultural venues, pose significant communication challenges. Traditional tools in architectural visualization, such as 3D views and animations, often fall short in conveying the overall spatial context. While physical models aid spatial understanding, they may lack flexibility. The need for interactivity and flexibility highlights the demand for improved communication methods.

Key Questions:

To what extent can digital technologies like Augmented Reality support communication by adding digital layers to built-scale models, drawings, and physical spaces, presenting complex architectural transformation processes comprehensibly?

Task:

In the refurbishment of the Luisenburg Festival’s natural stage, digital tools were employed to enhance the communication of the complex system structure of cavities, corridors, and stairs in the planning process. The goal was to involve all stakeholders in the decision-making process and convey the highly complex planning process in an understandable way for prompt decision-making.

Implementation:

The AR application was developed using terrestrial laser scans, drone-based photogrammetry, and CAD planning. Users can present three-dimensional content on a floor plan or physical model using a tablet, smartphone, or AR glasses. Physical objects serve as anchor points for digital content prepared in advance. Aspects such as object positioning, scaling, and user interface were considered.

Technical Tools:

WebXR Editor and Viewer

Advantages:

  • Cost savings
  • Improved planning capabilities
  • Location and time-independent planning
  • Consistent presentation regardless of weather conditions and changes in natural conditions due to snow
  • AR as an effective presentation tool for tables, models, or sketches to enhance communication

Opportunities for Digital Tools:

  • Workshop drawings and planning sketches are 2D, but a 3D blueprint is not necessarily required
  • 3D provides advantages in lighting and simulating the sun’s position without waiting for the corresponding time of day
  • Need for professional exchange between festival locations and various stakeholders at the national and international levels.

Ressources

DTHG: Abschluss-Publikation des Forschungsprojektes „Im/material Theatre Spaces“

by leonie.dunke -

7 | Theatre in the digital time

Project: Virtual teaching and learning spaces

The project focuses on the development of digital, interactive training modules within a project unit. Innovative teaching and learning tools have been created for virtual reality. Virtual Reality can significantly contribute to practical learning and the acquisition of experiential knowledge, especially in spatial learning, technical preparation, and avoiding injury risks in a simulated work environment.

The use of a virtual learning space provides the opportunity to make hidden structures visible and facilitates the learning of extensive technical skills in a straightforward manner. Often, the size of learning groups and the temporal constraints tied to a specific location hinder individual experimentation and learning. The listed projects, including the 3D reconstruction of a chain hoist as a construction project for rehearsal stages and the skills training in microphone techniques through the „Sound Space“ contribution, address various aspects.

  1. „Virtual Chain Hoist Exercise“: A VR prototype designed for a theater lab, this exercise involves selecting the right chain hoist, understanding components, and solving context-specific challenges set by a lecturer.
  2. „Safety Signs“: Users memorize safety sign functions and engage in a fire-fighting exercise, choosing the correct fire extinguisher and maintaining the proper safety distance in this virtual learning space.
  3. „Rehearsal Stage Setup“: This virtual space reduces rehearsal stage construction time by shifting planning to the virtual realm, addressing challenges in transforming stage designs into plans using standard materials.
  4. „Sound Space – Microphonation“: Users explore instrument microphone setups in a virtual learning environment, comparing sound qualities in a stage and recording studio, understanding pick-up positions, and microphone types.
  5. „Hazard Detector“: A virtual learning space in a trade fair hall, users test theoretical knowledge with a suspended rig, conducting safety checks and identifying hazards, simulating challenges faced by event technicians.
  6. „Bending Beam“: Using theater objects, this virtual learning space teaches technical mechanics, allowing users to understand the interplay of forces in a simulated trade fair hall, providing real-time feedback and serving as a tool for theoretical teaching.
  7. „Cybertheater 2077“: A learning game immersing users in various technical professions and theater departments, modeled after a pre-university internship, engaging prospective and advanced students, alumni, and professionals in the virtual theater world.
  8. „Let There Be Light“: This VR project teaches lighting technology through exercises in stage lighting, object tracking, and additive color mixing. Divided into theory and practice rooms, it targets students, trainees, and the general public, with flexible upgrades based on specific learning groups or audiences.

For virtual learning to function seamlessly, strong engagement from all participants and flexible adaptation to constantly changing conditions are crucial.

Project: Digital twins of theatre technology history

„CANON“ brings together educators and students from nine European universities to create an open database and teaching approaches focused on preserving the cultural heritage of international theatre technology. The foundation of the project encounters a challenge in teaching the history of theatre technology, particularly due to the complexity of the machineries.

The project’s prototype is crafted for a teaching setting featuring a timeline on a table or wall, allowing the placement of content linked to a media database. This database’s 3D objects can be dynamically visualized in augmented reality, incorporating photos, videos, texts, or diagrams.

The key advantage lies in the ability to visually demonstrate machine functions, utilizing a dynamic 3D representation with sound, video, images, and supporting texts for easy access to theatre history. Integrated into lessons through QR codes and the CANON database, this tool supports diverse teaching scenarios (frontal, teamwork, free work, presentation) with different methods and didactics, including a „guided tour,“ the „explorer“ discovery mode, or the „flaneur style.“

Project: Bringing theatre heritage to life

„Virtual Reality Time Travel Berlin 1927“ is an immersive project that takes you on a journey to explore the history of the theatre. By integrating historical artifacts from Stadtmuseum Berlin and other archives, the project addresses the challenge of making cultural heritage accessible. It also examines how digital tools in archives and virtual reality can bring historical theatre architecture to life. The project, marking the 100th anniversary of the Große Schauspielhaus, offers both an exhibition installation and a freely accessible VR application, providing a unique and spatial experience of the theatre’s history, architecture, and art. The participants are accompanied by one of three virtual characters, each offering a different perspective of the theatre and providing a dynamic exploration the heritage.

Ressources

DTHG: Abschluss-Publikation des Forschungsprojektes „Im/material Theatre Spaces“

by leonie.dunke -

6 | Theatre in the digital time

Im/material theatre spaces

In my last post, I presented a work from the project Im/material theatre spaces, which offers a potential answer to my question about a digital construction rehearsal.

As the project m/material theatre spaces encompasses further works that delve into digital aspects, particularly the theme of virtual and augmented reality in the theater environment, I would like to discuss additional projects as they can serve as inspiration for my own thoughts.

This research project explores the synergy between immersive technologies and centuries-old theater knowledge. They posit that theater and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) share spatial immersion and methods, addressing questions of participation and changing perspectives. VR, through complete immersion, opens up new storytelling possibilities, allowing shifts in perspective and embodiment of different roles. On the other hand, AR enriches reality by overlaying it with digital content, creating a fusion between the real and digital worlds.

Research Questions

The project addresses key questions to unlock the potential of VR/AR in theater, exploring practical applications in architecture, stage design, and theater technology. Specific inquiries include the use of augmented reality in planning theater renovations, improving safety standards backstage with digital technologies, and employing immersive technologies to provide innovative access to cultural heritage.

Goals

The overarching goal of the research project is to establish theaters and event venues as ongoing hubs of technical innovation. By investigating the intersection of analogue and digital worlds, the project aims to make these new technical spaces usable for theater practitioners. The focus lies on developing prototypical solutions, communicating findings to the theater landscape, and fostering a sustained dialogue through workshops, lectures, and blog posts. The publication serves as a comprehensive overview of the project’s results, methods, and an exploration of potential future developments in the theater and cultural landscape.

Project: Digital Mounting Systems

Background:

The project addresses the lack of knowledge for assembling and dismantling complex equipment in the events industry. Not everything can be adequately conveyed through training, and many assembly and operating instructions are often impractical or too vague in paper form. To ensure safety during construction, this project aims to develop digital support.

A functional prototype, specifically addressing the AR-supported setup of a curtain rail, has been developed, serving as a practical foundation for further discussions. Through an interactive website, assembly instructions are displayed in detailed steps, supported by 3D animations. The technology allows usage on conventional screens or immersively through Augmented Reality glasses or AR functions on smartphones. The website offers flexibility for future instruction updates without the need for end-device updates.

Feedback:

The digital assembly aid was generally deemed helpful, especially due to the detailed representation of complex steps. Realistic representation was considered necessary, particularly for quick component identification. Usage on a tablet or touchscreen was preferred, while Augmented Reality glasses were viewed as promising for the future. The desire for a personal account was expressed to customize existing instructions. The application could be used for notes and specific solutions within the house or for different productions. It was noted that the application could be useful for additional instructions and the visualization of theater projects. A technical obstacle lies in providing and maintaining high-quality 3D data.

Additional Areas for Digitization in Internal Processes:

  • Inventory control systems
  • Calculation tools
  • Warehousing
  • CRM systems for customer service

How could the project be continued, and what future applications could arise from the initial prototypes? Based on project feedback, the development of an individualized and fully automated creation of stage mounting systems could be pursued. A website could be created, allowing free configuration of a modular rail system. The individualized system could then serve as the basis for the automatic generation of precise assembly instructions.

Ressources

DTHG: Abschluss-Publikation des Forschungsprojektes „Im/material Theatre Spaces“

by vinzenz.weber -

XR 2 // The Evolution and Current Landscape of Extended Reality

From Sensorama to Apple Vision Pro: A Journey Through XR’s History

The Beginnings: Sensorama and the First HMD

The journey of Extended Reality (XR) dates back to 1956 when cinematographer Morton Heilig created Sensorama, the first Virtual Reality (VR) machine.

This innovative movie booth combined 3D, stereoscopic color video with audio, smells, and a vibrating chair, immersing viewers in a unique cinematic experience. Heilig’s pioneering work didn’t stop there; in 1960, he patented the first head-mounted display (HMD), merging stereoscopic 3D images with stereo sound, laying the groundwork for future VR technologies.

Early Steps in Augmented Reality: The Sword of Damocles

By 1965, the field of XR took another significant leap with Ivan Sutherland’s development of „The Sword of Damocles“ Considered the first augmented reality (AR) HMD and tracking system, it aimed to enhance users‘ perception of the world. Despite its primitive user interface and simple wireframe graphics, it marked a crucial step in the evolution of AR.

Mediated Reality and the Reality-Virtuality Continuum

In the 1970s, Steve Mann’s research into mediated reality, which later influenced tech giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft, focused on augmenting human perception through digital overlays in the real world. Building on this concept, Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino introduced the Reality-Virtuality continuum in 1994, illustrating a spectrum of experiences from purely real to purely virtual environments.

The 1990s: Pioneering AR and the Birth of Sportsvision

The 1990s saw Thomas Caudell & David Mizell develop the first see-through HMD, coining the term „augmented reality.“ In a significant mainstream breakthrough, Sportsvision broadcast the first live NFL game in 1998 with a yellow yard marker overlay, revolutionizing sports broadcasting.

Modern Advancements: The 2010s Onward

The 2010s heralded rapid advancements in XR technology. Key developments included:

  • First Oculus Rift Prototype: A milestone in VR technology.
  • 2014 – A Landmark Year: Sony and Samsung jumped into the VR headset market, while Google launched the affordable Cardboard VR viewer and the Google Glass AR glasses.
  • Microsoft’s HoloLens: Released in 2016, it introduced a more interactive AR experience, often referred to as „mixed reality.“
  • Pokémon GO: This 2016 game brought AR to the masses, demonstrating the technology’s mainstream appeal.

A Push into the Mainstream

Apple’s AR Kit and Google’s MR Toolkit made AR accessible on smartphones, broadening the technology’s reach. In 2017, the IKEA Place app showcased AR’s practical use in retail, allowing users to visualize furniture in their homes before purchasing.

The Current State: Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro

Today, we see state-of-the-art AR and VR combinations through devices like Meta Quest 3. The recent announcement of Apple Vision Pro signals a potential expansion in audience reach, acceptance, and continued research and development in mixed reality technologies.

Links

by vinzenz.weber -

XR 1 // Evolving interaction and experiences in XR

Welcome to the world of Extended Reality (XR), where technology is redefining our reality. In this blog, we’re going to explore how XR, a mix of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), is changing not just gaming and entertainment, but also making waves in fields like science, architecture, and communication.

Imagine a world where the real and digital blend seamlessly. This is what XR is bringing to life, transforming how we interact and experience the world around us. We’ll take a look at how different industries are adapting to this new era, where digital and physical experiences are intertwined.

We’ll also discuss the race to develop cutting-edge XR technology. This isn’t just about creating new gadgets; it’s about a whole new market that’s opening up, changing the way we play, learn, and connect with each other.

One key area i will focus on is the gaming and entertainment industry. XR is revolutionizing these fields, creating virtual spaces where players can interact in ways that were once only imaginable. But XR’s impact goes beyond gaming; we’ll also explore its potential in other areas, reflecting on its growth and the new opportunities it creates.

On a personal note, I’ve always been intrigued by technological advancements. My early experiences with VR games sparked a passion for being part of this evolving technology. Through this blog, I hope to share not only the exciting developments in XR but also consider its ethical implications, ensuring we keep a human-centered approach in its adoption.

@ apple

Research Questions

  • What are the possibilities of interactions and experiences in XR? 
  • How did XR evolve in the past?
  • What is currently being used, and what can we expect in the future?

Challenges

The biggest challenge of this project is probably the rapid advancements in the industry, as it is still a niche topic with many experimental projects and features. It is uncertain which new developments will be significant breakthroughs and which ones will be failures and quickly forgotten. The direction of XR and which features will ultimately be adopted by the masses remain unclear.

Relevance

XR is shaping the future of various areas, including Entertainment, Science and Education, and Communications. Its relevance is increasing day by day and it has the potential to completely transform our understanding of how we interact with media, our environment, and each other.

  • XR can revolutionise storytelling and entertainment, creating interactive and immersive narratives that engage users on a deeper level.
  • XR can provide immersive training experiences for various fields, such as medicine, aviation, and military, allowing individuals to practice and gain skills in realistic virtual environments.
  • XR can enhance remote collaboration and communication, enabling people from different locations to interact and work together as if they were in the same physical space.
  • XR can improve accessibility by creating inclusive experiences for individuals with disabilities, allowing them to participate in activities and interactions that may be challenging in the physical world.
  • XR can enhance design and prototyping processes, enabling designers to visualize and iterate on concepts in three-dimensional virtual spaces before physical production.

Next Steps

In the first section, I will discuss past advancements in the XR industry and how they are used today. After that, I will delve into specific projects from different industries that I find interesting and analyze them to gain a deeper understanding of the industry’s standards for interaction in XR. This will help identify what works well and what doesn’t. I also want to provide a profound insight on what to expect in XR in the future.

Links