The Awesome VR Content Creation Platform MINDSHOW gets a HUGE Update!

As the Mindshow team heads into their upcoming open beta they have released a HUGE update for early adopters. 

First up the team has introduced starter scenes to provide a little creative inspiration!

Starters help you create shows very quickly because they come with half the story - it's up to you to complete the scene by adding your own personality!

Currently their are three starter scenes: Mile High Hug, Made Up News, and Bad Doctor. You can look forward to seeing even more starters as they head towards Open Beta! 

Here is the CatsAndVR take on the Bad Doctor starter scene

The Dev team has also added in some great camera improvements with a fixed camera, a stedicam, and also doubling the size of video exports to 1080!

BUT WAIT THERES MORE!

New Characters and scenes make the platform well worth going back to if you have not touched it in a while.

Now you get to play as: Doctor Cleo, Scientist Franklin. Reporter Carlita, Lenny the Pilot. and Surgeon Clark. 

Operating Room:
Perform surgery on a piñata and other life saving scenarios!

Mindshow Nuze TV Studio:
Shoot your own news segment in VR!

Mindshow is quickly becoming the darling of the LA VR scene and a must play expereience. 

Cosmo and the Mindshow team are hard at work heading into the open beta, if you are currently in the Alpha I suggest you jump back in ASAP. If you have not tried Mindshow yet go learn more about this amazing VR experience and all the new updates here.  https://medium.com/@Mindshow/4-26-update-31e1516bad2e

Events like VRLA Spring Expo are helping to shape the universe of VR for the dreamers of the future.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” -Carl Sagan

In a world where both tech industry insiders and consumers seem to flip flop on VR as both the next big thing and just a fad, VRLA is a place that solidifies what VR is to me.  VR is growth, VR is creative freedom, VR is the future. One can simply look at the growth of VRLA and see that the team behind this event will not just leave this new industry to chance but rather push it forward to the promises of the Sci-Fi novels that shaped our visions.

Look at the growth of #vrla2017 @vrlosangeles That small #redbox was the first. #vr #growth. pic.twitter.com/Imz5b13uu4

— CatsAndVR (@CatsAndVR) April 15, 2017

I started CatsAndVR.com last year in order to throw myself full force into the VR ecosystem. During the VRLA Summer Expo last year I was actually able to use my VR experience to get a job in VR. For me the VRLA events are a bit different than VR events in the Bay Area as there is a more dream like quality in presentation and outlook. For me VRLA is a refresher to remind me why exactly I want to be involved in this industry.

For me one of the best thing about VRLA events are the people and I recenlty got to chat with one of my favorite in the industry, Jonathan Krusell. Last year Jonathan helped me skip the line to check out Mindshow and this year I returned the favor and made sure I checked out some great stuff on Daydream from L.A. Devs.

"Whats amazing about VRLA and VR in L.A. is that there are so many amazing developers here in town. There are so many folks coming from different mediums converging in VR bringing their strengths and experiences."- Jonathan Krusell, Google Daydream

Cofounder of VRLA Cosmo Scharf killed it with his opening VRLA remarks showcasing an almost Steve Jobs level of charm in telling the tale of why VR is important to him. 

Wow @cosmoscharf dropping knowledge #VRLA2017 Dystopia @vrlosangeles #world view shift. #TaxMarch #vr pic.twitter.com/QvSzosF5x1

— CatsAndVR (@CatsAndVR) April 15, 2017

The VRLA Saturday keynote by Justin Roiland of Squanchtendo and Rick And Morty fame was also riveting and added to the unique charm of the VRLA events not found elsewhere. 

VRLA showcases that the future of VR is bright and its events like these as well as groups such as VRLA and Upload provide the pickaxes and shovels for the true seekers of VR Gold.

The Future Of VR is bright!

Of course I can't do VRLA post without a dash of Mindshow. Check a little Mindshow sketch I did at VRLA

CatsAndVR.com/blog

Mindshow lets us remember the promises of VR and captures the spirit of the VRLA Summer Expo.

This weekend I attended one of the best up and coming conferences dealing with VR. Just like the humble beginnings of GDC, VRLA started because of a true passion for its respective industry. Having attended E3, PAX, GDC and many more events in the gaming industry VRLA may have been one of the most productive events I have ever attended. In fact the reason this post is late is because I may have possibly joined a stealth startup while attending the expo and had some work to do (more to come in the future)

Cosmo Scharf started Day 2 of the expo basically asking the audience to take a journey with him into our unconscious minds. To him VR is a journey into greater human understanding not just a race for the next big thing or monetization conversations. 

I was intrigued by his presentation that featured many references to Terrence McKenna and included a very trippy set of slides. He would then introduce Gil Baron, CEO of VisionaryVR, a startup that also includes includes the co-founders of the VRLA conference Jonnie Ross, Adam Levin and Cosmo Scharf as well as Luke Patterson who was the lead engineer on the virtual reality sandbox game ElemenTerra. 

GIl would go on to show the trailer for Mindshow and I was instantly captivated and said it might be worth checking out. I then went about my business which included interviews with an amazing DJ, checking out the awesome game Wands offsite, doing a job interview, and checking out the rad upcoming VR headphones from Skullcandy. I decided I had a quick break and I will now try to check out Mindshow, well the line was about 2 hours long and I was not press enough to cut the line apparently. Well after lunch with an Adult VR company I decided I NEED to see this and tried again. After some smooth talking I was able to check out Mindshow. You see the point I am trying to make is that I took a Greyhound bus from SF to LA because of passion for VR. I made sure I checked out Mindshow because of a passion for VR.

Mindshow is a product built from a passion for VR. Not just because VR is cool but because we were promised the future when we were kids and still seeking it. 

Mindshow is Walt Disney. Mindshow is Jim Henson. Mindshow is Steve Jobs. Mindshow is the spark in humanity that made them create characters out of the stars. Mindshow are the muppet babies playing make believe come to life. 

It was hard to try to write something about Mindshow because everyone who tried it in the media loved it to some degree and has been able to post before me. What do you write to be different. CatsAndVR.com can't compete with UploadVR, Techcrunch, VRScout , and the other cool kids in resources, turnaround time, etc.

Mindshow reminded me I did not start the site to do that at all but instead I started it to learn and to grow. In the end maybe this post did not fully explain what Mindshow really is or do the experience justice, but neither did the trailer. You have to experience it to really know that this is what we have been seeking in VR the whole time. You see in the end what Mindshow really is can just be described as inspiration captured and then shared for the sake of shared inspiration itself. Inspiration is what I walked away with from VRLA. Inspiration is what I walked away with from Mindshow.

Cats And VR

TheWaveVR team raises $2.5M from KPCB and others to help grow their interactive VR DJ/Production tool.

Well I woke up this morning in shock but not surprise to learn that The WaveVR team had just raised $2.5M from KPCB and others to help grow their interactive VR DJ/Production tool. 

Shocked because I have met Grimecraft, one of the primary architects of this amazing piece of software. Not surprised because I have met Grimecraft, one of the primary architects of this amazing piece of software. 

TheWaveVR is a VR platform for people who love music, enabling them to view, host and socialize in live and recorded shows worldwide, anytime, anywhere.  TheWave creates a VR venue where artists can perform live music by simply importing their tracks, customizing the visuals of the venue, and sharing virtual shows. Fans can attend via most major VR head mounted displays, interact with performers, socialize with friends, dance, paint and more.

Ever since I heard about TheWaveVR I thought this may be something that will be big and looks like investors share the same sentiments.

“TheWaveVR is building music experiences that can only exist in virtual reality. They're giving musicians superpowers they've never had before, and allowing listeners to experience performances in ways that have never been possible. We're excited to help them build this platform that will forever change the music industry,” said Anjney Midha, founding partner at KPCB Edge.

Photo Credit: Clarke Nordhauser

You may have not tried TheWaveVR yet but if you are into VR or even electronic music in general it is a must experience app.  Grimecraft, a game industry vet and SF based DJ  has been spending his time at conferences and VR events on an almost Fight Club like schedule(no sleep) to demo this to anyone interested. I knew it was something big when I saw the Tilt Brush team basically in awe of The WaveVR during a recent VR event. 

The company also announced that it has added David Wexler (aka Strangeloop) and Dave Haynes as advisors. Wexler is an audio-visual artist and founder of Strangeloop Studios in Los Angeles, CA. He is one of the most recognized live visual artists in the world, having worked with Flying Lotus, Skrillex, The Rolling Stones and more. Haynes is a longtime entrepreneur and currently on the investment team at Seedcamp. He was formerly a VP and part of the early team at SoundCloud, helping the company grow from launch to the world's leading online audio platform.

“We’re working toward empowering artists and music lovers alike and transforming the way people connect through music by building the world’s first musical metaverse in VR,” said Adam Arrigo, CEO of TheWaveVR. “Music creators will be able to fully customize how their audience experiences the music – whether that’s by transforming the venue from a realistic nightclub to outer space or putting on the most unimaginable light show ever.”

TheWaveVR will be unveiling the world’s first VR Rave at VRLA on August 5-6 in partnership with SubPac, Skullcandy, PhaseSpace and 3DLive. A curated list of DJs will be performing in the HTC Vive, while multiple attendees will wear positionally tracked Gear VR’s and SubPacs (subwoofer vests). The DJs will be performing in front of a giant 3D screen, so music lovers can also experience eye-popping visuals from the metaverse on 3D glasses

thewavevr.com

Cats And VR