The latest release to Snobal VR is a big one. We have added new collaboration tools including:

• Infinity Space – you can now load and view 1:1 scaled models (factories, manufacturing equipment, aircraft, ships, etc) from the no-code Snobal admin dashboard to view in the infinity space. Great for customer product demos to increase buy-in and understanding, design testing and review of engineering designs, or even use for new hire onboarding.

• 3D model controls – use the scale and rotate controls for 3D models to get up close to 3D models that you import into your virtual environment. Great for customer product demos and design collaboration and review.

• Breakout Rooms – we’ve added breakout rooms to templated environments including Reception Hall, Command Room, and the Amphitheatre. Ideal for team breakouts and private meetings.
  
• Whole room voice broadcast – a whole room broadcast feature on the Amphitheatre podium. Ideal for use in whole team presentations.
  
• Crowd Control – the ability to mute and remove disruptive attendees from virtual environments.
  
• Table Manners – we’ve added the ability to teleport to and auto orientate the view for group meetings. Helps in ensuring social etiquette and comfort.

• Launch VR apps from within the Snobal VR space – you can now upload your VR app from the no code admin dashboard and then launch the app within Snobal VR. Great for delivering virtual training and assessment as part of a curriculum, for example.

And there’s more….

We’ve also brought on some general life improvements including:

• Network reconnection upon internet droppages.
• CI/CD setup for Pico Neo3, HTC Focus, and Windows builds
• Multiple Scalability improvements:
  • Huge reduction in Avatar RAM usage
  • LOD system for Avatars
  • Enable/Disable lip-sync based on distance
  • Improved logic to reduce Avatar transform traffic
  • Enabled Foveated rendering

Want to experience these features firsthand? The best way is to schedule a demo. Reach out below.

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In case you missed it

Metaverse and Fintech: The metaverse has major implications for the future of financial technology and could enable a digital economy writes Stephane Kasriel, previously CEO of Upwork and an early team member at PayPal. Read more.

Government eyes Metaverse: The government should care about the metaverse writes an article in GovTech where Governments can use the metaverse for reasons such as to better inform residents and entice public participation. Read more.

Sony stakes a metaverse claim: Sony is readying for the metaverse with a cross-platform push with Chief Executive Kenichiro Yoshida stating “mobility will be the next megatrend”. Read more.

This article first appeared on Snobal Weekly. You can subscribe to receive updates here.

Research suggests people alter behaviors based on assumptions about the appearance of their avatars, so what does this mean for avatar design in enterprise VR / the metaverse?

Avatar comfort and preference

Over the last month, Snobal has been discussing the topic of avatars frequently with our enterprise customers. How avatars should look (photorealistic or animated)? Should they be full-body or is half body sufficient?

User avatar comfort and preference is one key area of interest that’s important to keep in mind when talking about VR.

In short: is the user comfortable with the avatar that represents them?

In VR an avatar is something a user selects before entering a virtual environment or experience and where the user experiences the environment from the avatar’s point of view.

At Snobal currently, we have deliberately not offered users the ability to select photorealistic avatars. We have done this a bid to prevent any ‘uncanny valley’ experience. Instead, users can select animated avatars like this:

But what is the uncanny valley? The uncanny valley is a concept first introduced in the 1970s by a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Masahiro Mori, who coined the term to describe the observation that robots that appear humanlike are more appealing but only up to a certain point. At a certain pt, they start to feel…creepy.

Did you know? Snobal Cloud now enables 3D asset import

Snobal Cloud now enables 3D assets namely GLTF and GLB file import: This enables customers to upload and render in a Snobal virtual environment 3D models and 3D animated models.

Read more

While the original article was written with robots and prosthetics largely in mind the same concept also applies in VR – if you seek to make avatars too photorealistic you risk having users getting distracted by the avatar or perhaps feeling unease at other users avatars and not achieving what they need to in VR environment whether its effective employee onboarding, product demos, workplace training etc.

Our favourite observation though by Mori echos with lessons for any VR designer or enterprise requesting photorealistic avatars for their virtual environment:

Thus, because of the risk inherent in trying to increase their [robots]degree of human likeness to scale the second peak, I recommend that designers instead take the first peak as their goal, which results in a moderate degree of human likeness and a considerable sense of affinity. In fact, I predict it is possible to create a safe level of affinity by deliberately pursuing a nonhuman design. I ask designers to ponder this. To illustrate the principle, consider eyeglasses. Eyeglasses do not resemble real eyeballs, but one could say that their design has created a charming pair of new eyes. So we should follow the same principle in designing prosthetic hands. In doing so, instead of pitiful-looking realistic hands, stylish ones would likely become fashionable.

– What Is the Uncanny Valley? Creepy robots and the strange phenomenon of the uncanny valley: definition, history, examples, and how to avoid it, 2019

For those interested you can read the original essay (translated) by Masahiro Mori here.

Impact of Avatars on behaviour

This goes to a related issue – avatars affecting behavior in VR.

Research suggests that people alter their cognitions and behaviors based on assumptions about the appearance of their avatars. (Sherrick et al, 2014).

For example, research has shown that taller avatars behave more confidently in a negotiation task than participants assigned shorter avatars. (Yee & Bailenson, 2007).

(Hint: perhaps consider avatars are all the same height in an enterprise VR experience?)

And other research found that the “more anthropomorphic (lack of androgyny) avatars were perceived to be “more attractive and credible and people were more likely to choose to be represented by them”, (Nowak & Rauh, 2005).

All of this falls under what you might call the Proteus Effect – the effect an avatar has on the user and others around them.

Both the Uncanny Valley and Proteus Effect are a fascinating exploration into the psychology of avatars and its an area we are going to see an explosion of research, learnings and insights over the coming years. It will also be interesting to see how VR/AR software companies iterate and make improvements as we learn more about how avatar comfort and preference influence user engagement and comfort in the VR environment.

In case you missed it

Accessibility in VR: VR is not going away so now attention turns to making it more accessible. More>

Microsoft believes the metaverse is coming and that transparency and interoperability are key. More>

Architects ignore VR at their peril: Architects who choose not to adopt the use of VR into their design process “fall victim to being at a significant disadvantage” writes the ArchDaily. More>

Metaverse job listings have grown by 379% since October 2021, according to research from Adzuna, a job search engine. More>

Qualcomm seeks to power the Metaverse : Qualcomm has recently announced the set up of a $100M metaverse fund to invest in virtual and augmented reality developers and technologies in a bid to power the metaverse. Not a surprising move given last year president and CEO Cristiano Amonsince is reported to have said the metaverse will be “bigger than mobile.” More>

Accenture’s perspective on the enterprise metaverse: Fortune Global 500 company Accenture has announced a revamp of its orientation process with employees in Australia and New Zealand now launching into “the company’s metaverse”. It has also released a report on its perspective on the metaverse – the ‘metaverse continuum. More>

KPMG recently released its metaverse report – Future of Extended Reality 10 predictions, 15 experts’ outlining some central theme, trends and insights shared from 15 experts including Snobal’s CEO, Murray James. More>

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As organisations seek to land on a suitable workplace model for their business assessing the place and impact of the Virtual Workplace in any new model is key.

The office will continue to be an important site for workplace collaboration reports a new insight piece by PwC but it won’t be the only space.

To help organizations take the next step, PwC has collaborated with international design firm Hassell to explore what the future workplace might look like.

The other place?

It paints an interesting picture of the fit-for-the-future workplace. In the article, PwC outlines that there will be three key places -the home, the office, and the third place for eg a co-working space or cafe. All these places are physical.

It causes us to wonder that perhaps what the world now looks like is that virtual is a shadow connecting all these physical places and people work connected across the different ‘places’?

Source: Inspired by graphic in Changing Places: Designing hybrid offices that work, PwC, 2021.

Workplace models

The PwC insight piece reflects a document by Hassel which reviewed the latest academic research and their insights on the future of the workplace.

The document “Remote? In-person? Hybrid? How to structure the workplace after COVID” has Hassel compare five workplace models spanning:

1) As it Was 2) Turbocharged ABW 3)Clubhouse 4)Hub and Spoke and; 5) No office.

Again all the workplace models portrayed revolve around a physical place.

Fit for Future workplaces and the metaverse

This is interesting in the context of a new research paper – “Into the Metaverse” – by insight agency Wunderman Thompson.

The paper evokes now as a time where more and more of our lives are spent virtually and “it’s becoming harder and harder to distinguish “real” life from a life lived digitally.” People are moving seamlessly between the physical and the virtual doing what they need to do – communicate, collaborate and work.

In terms of the fit for the future workplace we are moving to a time where the workplace is seen not as a physical space but rather as a space (both virtual and physical) where people do things.

The shift to remote work is giving rise to companies prioritizing virtual environments…The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the future of work, pointing to a flexible hybrid model. “We anticipate never going back to five days a week in the office. That seems very old-fashioned now,” stated Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever…”

Source: New trend report: Into the Metaverse. Wunderman Thompson, 2021.

Because virtual environments are limited only by imagination it means organisations won’t be restricted by the physical limitations of office size, office design, structural columns – or budget.

Virtual environments can be created that reflect the company brand. These environments can be updated regularly and extended.

This seamless move between physical and virtual will create new business models, careers, and revenue models.

New opportunities, markets, and careers

Indeed design technology specialist Chloe Sun, of HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering firm recently wrote a piece in archdaily.com outlining how with the tech available and the rise of the metaverse architects can move from designing physical workplaces to also designing virtual workplaces.

The metaverse Sun goes on to say, provides architects the opportunity to move from selling their time to selling scaleable products and solutions.

For architects, the metaverse is a virgin territory full of possibilities, and a Utopia without the constraints of the physical world…Architects can also build digital assets like cities, buildings, furniture, sculptures, point clouds, textures..etc, and sell them multiples times to virtual worlds, games, and movies.”

You could say it’s all part of the rise of the workplace metaverse. What’s your organisation’s take on the workplace moving into the new normal?

In case you missed it

The metaverse is coming and apparently, brands need to get on board or risk getting left behind reports a new research paper by intelligence insight agency Wunderman Thompson. More>

Are you a User or Creator? Digital tech is the future, but Australia risks being left behind finds a new academic article in The Conversation. More>

Legal Guide to the Metaverse: A multi-disciplinary team of lawyers at US-based Reed Smith have compiled a user-friendly guide to the legal issues that the metaverse will create. More>

Designing for the Hybrid World of Work [Podcast]: Matt Blain, Managing Principal for UK & Europe, Hassell and Jeff Phipps, General Manager, ADP UK & Ireland discuss what to consider when designing an office space for hybrid working. More>

Top VR podcasts. More>

For many businesses globally, the last few months have been spent looking at what technologies are needed for the new normal. VR and AR are at the top of the list but how best to assess and evaluate?

A just-launched Australian government report from The Productivity Commission reveals Australians are expected to keep working remotely after the pandemic subsidies with hybrid working the most likely format.

For many businesses globally, the last few months, in particular, have been spent looking at what technologies are needed for the new normal, and invariably virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality(AR) are at the top of the list.

But what criteria should be followed when evaluating VR/AR technology for your organisation?

Hybrid/WFH Technology kept the wheels turning – and often made them faster

There is no denying WFH technologies played a key role in keeping many businesses’ work moving forward over the last 18mths.

The US-based National Bureau of Economic Research found the widespread adoption of WFH technology increased productivity in WFH compared to the office:

The model suggests the widespread adoption of WFH technology increased the productivity of working from home relative to the productivity of working in the office by 46 percent between the onset and the end of the pandemic.

Source: The work-from-home technology boon. April 2021

No surprise then that those businesses that had already beefed up their digital adoption pre-pandemic ensured that were well placed to take advantage of the ‘virtual first’ environment,

Our results indicate that firms with higher digital resilience, as measured through our pre-pandemic WFH index, performed significantly better in general, and in non-essential industries in particular, where WFH feasibility was necessary to continue operation.

Source: Digital Resilience: How Work-From-Home Feasibility Affects Firm Performance. March 2021

Questions to guide VR/AR tech assessment

Many businesses have spent the last 18+mths experimenting with WFH digital and collaboration technologies but the use of VR/AR had not been widespread pre-pandemic. When remote working took off in earnest many organizations suddenly looked at VR/AR through a new lens to solve mission-critical problems like customer engagement and collaboration; employee collaboration; employee onboarding and workplace training.

But in terms of criteria to follow when evaluating technologies including VR/AR for business, we like this article from Vera Solutions, which we have adapted for assessing VR/AR tech. See below:

Like this emailed to you as a PDF? 

Can you think of any other questions that would be helpful to ask? Share your thoughts.

In case you missed it

Apple still working on AR hardware – apparently. Apple’s launch event last week unveiled the iPhone 13 but the long-awaited release of an AR headset did not materialise. Perhaps that is because the phone is turning into an AR machine? More>

Growth of B2B: We’re at the dawn of a renaissance in B2B commerce creating a new playbook for the next generation of B2B marketplaces. More>

A new era of distance learning: Predictions are we are entering a new era of distance learning that is synchronous, interactive, engaging, and dare we say it immersive? More>

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The innovative research recognises VR adoption for learning in enterprise and education is at a critical inflection point and there there is a need to look to industry standards.

Welcome to Snobal Midweek. This is where we share our update of what we’re hearing, sharing and thinking about this week. As always if you find Snobal Midweek of value, please comment, forward or share.

Snobal and the Center for Digital Humanities at University of Arizona have announced they are the successful recipients of a Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) grant investigating the impact on learning of the choice and comfort level with digital avatars in immersive learning experiences.

As VR technologies become more widely adopted in educational settings  to enhance student engagement there is an  increasing focus on how best to ensure that VR technologies and experiences are accessible to people from diverse backgrounds and abilities.

The research will study students’ preference and selection of virtual avatars in an immersive virtual environment and how those decisions and options can foster a more positive learning environment for people from diverse backgrounds and abilities.

“The world works very differently than it did a year ago.  We are seeing a huge shift in where and how people work and study and the adoption of digital technologies such as VR. VR has the potential to change the way we learn, collaborate and communicate but many of the elements around responsible development and use are still evolving including guidelines on virtual avatar design and preference,”

– Ann Nolan, Snobal co-founder and Chief Growth Officer

“We know that the experience people have of their virtual avatars impacts how they feel in VR. Avatars can literally change people’s behavior and attitudes and how they feel about themselves in VR. But we don’t know what avatar choice needs to be made available to students to ensure inclusive learning experiences? What drives avatar comfort in learning environments? This research is about enabling us to better understand this so the broader VR industry can have clear direction,”  said Nolan.

Did you know: Avatars can change users’ behavior and attitudes. Research on the Proteus Effect has found that embodying Albert Einstein can increase cognitive task performance.   Read more.

Bryan Carter, Director of the Center for Digital Humanities and Associate Professor of Africana Studies, will introduce his students to Snobal’s enterprise VR collaboration and presentation authoring app, Snobal Sphere, using the Pico Neo 2 Eye headsets.  

The students will have a selection of diverse options as they establish themselves in the virtual environment and begin engaging with the course content. Anonymous data collected via survey, eye tracking and choice will be used to enhance user experience throughout the semester and presented through a white paper at the end of the study.

“Digital avatars are supposed to represent the user, but the virtual representations have often been a generic, one-size-fits-all variety, lacking in cultural diversity and physical ability…There is an opportunity now to develop industry standards and broad guidance on avatar comfort and other preferences to ensure that virtual technologies are accessible to people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.”

– Bryan Carter, Director of the Center for Digital Humanities at University of Arizona

The use of digital technologies including VR/AR for remote collaboration has accelerated in both business and educational settings in the last year with online education assuming greater importance than before and students’ needs and expectations having changed.

The Snobal and The Center for Digital Humanities at The University of Arizona project is funded by a research grant from FRL, which requested proposals targeting the company’s third Responsible Innovation Principle: “Consider Everyone.” 

Key questions our customers ask on implementing a VR collaboration solution.

Welcome to Snobal Midweek. This is where we share our update of what we’re hearing, sharing and thinking about this week. As always if you find Snobal Midweek of value, please comment, forward or share.

Collaboration. The word is everywhere.

While the pandemic induced disruption has driven us all into our homes and onto our devices, it has also made the word “collaboration” have a resonance in a way it never had before.

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As the chaos caused by the last year slowly subsides slowy, business leaders, CEO and boards across the globe are wrangling with the knowledge that hybrid working is here to stay and what that means for how they work.

Employees want to have an office to go to but not all the time. In fact, just a bit of the time and when it suits them. Given that everyone isn’t going to race back into the office anytime soon, what does the organisations digital toolkit around “collaboration” need to look like for the “new normal”?

What is needed to enable more effective employee and customer engagement, collaboration and learning to keep ahead of the game?

In a world where remote working is the new normal, organizations must excel in digital collaboration and harness the power of digital technologies and processes to achieve business outcomes.

Source: www.capgemini.com

If you are an organisation in healthcare, engineering, medtech, pharmacuticals, management consultancy, education, workplace training, media, museums and culture, in fact any industry sector and are wanting to add immersive or virtual reality (VR) collaboration to your organisations digital arsenal what do you need to consider?

Collaborative learning can help managers work together to establish new ways of communicating and managing dispersed workforces, while also supporting greater team agility and employee empowerment.

Source: www.trainingzone.co.uk

What are the things you need to be asking and thinking about?

We’ve captured some of the key questions we get asked from customers about implementing VR collaboration in the workplace.

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Have we missed any? Still have questions? 

In case you missed it

Realistic avatars and learning: Are realistic looking avatars needed to enhance virtul reality learning? Maybe not. More >

Hybrid Work Is Here To Stay. Now What? [Interestingly this interview with Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom on blending remote and on-site work does not appear to take account of the potential impact of immersive VR collaboration. ] More>

60% want to work out of the office, but only 2% of want to do this full time. More >

How to calculate the ROI (or Return on Immersion) for (consumer) VR requires new ways of thinking – and moving. More>

Epic Games acquires Sketchfab to become a 3D files powerhouse on the web. More>

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Get your lifevest: COVID19 vaccinations are like a lifevest says former US surgeon general Jerome Adams. “You may still get wet….but the lifevest [the] vaccine significantly lessens the chance you’ll drown”. More>