Arun Priyan’s business card designates him to be the Chief Wizard at his firm VRnxt. It seems an ambitious thing to call oneself, until he and co-founder Sephin Thomas hook up an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset and encourage me to have a go at a demo that takes the user into the mind of musician Reuben Wu. After a few minutes of being transported from a room with four walls to a world of firing synapses, the claim does not seem so tall. This is after all, a lot like magic.
Virtual reality relies on the user wearing a headset that replaces everything in their current field of view with an alternate one, with the headset tracking the user’s head movements and immersing them in the experience wherever they look. Though developed with the intention of making video games more immersive, as it has matured the technology community, has begun to realise it can be used across multiple sectors.
VRnxt is a five-member strong team that is putting virtual reality technology to use in helping real estate developers give prospective customers virtual walkthroughs of what their future home will look like. “We have both been into VR for a long time. In fact, Sephin was one of the first people to get an Oculus Rift in India after backing them on Kickstarter. When we started working on it, we decided that it could have applications in fields beyond gaming, which is what most people are focusing on.”
Varun explains that the concept of VR has been around a long time, but it was when Palmer Luckey came up with the idea of the Rift that it became mainstream. Later, Google developed an inexpensive version of the VR headset that could be assembled out of cardboard and powered by a smartphone display, called, in typical Google fashion – Cardboard.
“By next year, we will see a lot of VR headsets hit the mainstream market, and the use cases are many. For example, for Kerala Tourism, who spend a lot on branding to showcase Kerala’s attractions, being able to give people the experience of actually being at a Kathakali performance, or seeing the Athirappally waterfalls up close, would be beneficial. Films shot with a 3D camera that supports VR can have viewers wear headsets and become characters in the film who the actors can interact with, and the view from the best seat in a stadium can be streamed live to any number of users with headsets; the possibilities are many,” Varun explains.
Starting out with such a futuristic technology in Kerala was a risky move, he admits, but it was also a way for the small team to streamline their business before moving to greener pastures. “I’m from Kochi, and I wanted to start something here and get a couple of clients to establish ourselves. We are looking to expand to Mumbai and Bengaluru soon,” he says.
The team is also working on developing more solutions for the real estate sector, including allowing further customisation to be displayed to customers, such as multiple interior design options. They are also looking to expand into the gaming space, but Varun is quick to underline that these are still in a conceptual stage.
He admits that VR is not a concept that can be sold with words, but an experience to be savoured. “I could talk about this for 15 minutes, but the moment I give people a demo it blows their mind,” he says, going on to elaborate that VRnxt is also developing their own headsets, a robust version of the affordable cardboard and a more durable plastic-based one. The former is slated to be available for purchase within a month and the latter by the end of the year.
Along with the slew of VR headsets that are on their way, companies are also working on augmented reality (AR), which provides additional contextual information to what the user sees around them. However, Varun does not see this as a problem. “Some people say AR will destroy VR and vice versa, but they have different use cases. For what we do, VR works best, but for a designer who wants more information while designing a physical product that is before them, AR is the ideal solution. They both have their uses, and those don’t overlap much.”
Once the hardware is available, the team plans to release an app that guides users through different types of available VR content and get them used to the concept. “After all,” Varun concludes, “The only way we can get more people to understand this technology is by getting them to try it.” For more information about the company, visit: www.vrnxt.com.
