Topic #1: Virtual Reality Communities
The intricate process of creating animation content such as characters, sets, and the interface design is exhilarating. As a 3D animator and creator, I love everything about the development process of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) content, which is now better known by the combined terminology of Extended Reality (XR). Conversely, as a user there are times when it can be daunting, and things don’t work the way I think they should or could. As a sound engineer and designer, a tremendous area of consideration for me is audio quality. Just like in a Google or Zoom online meeting, I am not concerned about how I appear to others because usually my camera is turned off. The audio quality and its consistent clarity and the ability to hear others with clarity is my foremost concern.
During a recent test for the VRARA of different VR software that provides meeting spaces in virtual reality (such as Engage and Altspace, among others) the team ran into some interesting situations. We wanted a VR application for VRARA panel discussions to be held during the VR/AR Global Summit Online Sept 30 - Oct 2, 2020. As you may know, many VR applications provide meeting spaces in virtual reality where users can have conversations, watch videos, play games, and browse the Internet. The avatars in these applications can automatically mimic a user's body language which enhances the “in-person” communication.
As we moved forward in our testing, it was soon discovered that the application cost, room size, and most of all, support for the application became a huge issue. We found the AltspaceVR application to be the best for the quick turnaround that we were looking for. Our goal was to use the application for the VRARA panel discussion, but very quickly an audio quality situation arose. The boardroom in AltSpace (the set) and my AltSpace avatar (the character) looked great, but the issue arose when we started to have one-on-one conversations within the boardroom. Granted, AltSpace is great for community presentations and even demo situations. Where it falls short is audio quality and clarity during personal interaction and one-on-one communication. This significantly impedes networking on this platform.
Let me explain in more detail the audio situation within the boundaries of personal interaction in a meeting. In an AltSpace meeting room with ~50 other users, things tend to get hectic when the moderator turns on all the attendees’ microphones to introduce themselves and interact with others around them. Herein lies the problem—there is currently no way to have a private discussion with someone without hearing every other discussion in the room. Because of this dilemma, people leave the current meeting to find another room to meet in private. Unfortunately, the process of getting a private meeting room is time consuming and cumbersome. This means you have left the main meeting for this private discussion and now have perhaps lost the opportunity to meet other users. In my eyes this is a major issue and defeats the purpose of being at the meeting to network with others. A great advantage is lost.
I see two features that would be brilliant additions to AltSpace and would be an incredible game-changer for the program. First, I would suggest:
Add an area for appointments
In such an area, new acquaintances could arrange impromptu appointments to avoid fighting against the collective noise of everyone in the boardroom. There could be a reservation system in place so that users could reserve an area before, during or after the boardroom meeting for a conversation. My second suggestion is:
Add a “bubble” around the user to create a private meeting atmosphere
This “bubble” would create a useful environment for interacting with others without the user needing to arrange a private meeting room. Easily configurable privacy settings would allow the user to have private impromptu conversations. The addition of these two features would significantly improve AltSpace’s capability as a networking platform.
These would be my suggestions for Altspace to add to their VR application. As I have already said, my specialty and passion as a sound engineer and designer keep me from looking past these important details of audio challenges. Networking is vital to the process of companies making connections and growing. I believe that by implementing these two features, Altspace can become an even more widely used application, especially as a networking platform. See you next time!
dalecampbelljr@positiveproductionsplus.com
Positive Productions Plus
