Spatial News™ #042
This week we focus on spatial computing, metaverse experts, NeRFs, Generative AI, XR design skill basics, AR & VR for healthcare, digital identity, digital asset trading, & more!
Welcome to Spatial News™ 42, the calculation of Deep Thought! “Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.” -Alfred Pennyworth in Batman Begins.
Spatial News™ has been up and running with fat baby feet for a year already, but I’ve never truly explained why it’s called Spatial News™. Some of you that have taken the time to visit Spatial8’s website (bless your sweet hearts) or were already knowledgeable enough of the Extended Reality (XR) industry know that it comes from Spatial Computing, but
What is Spatial Computing?
While some folks might use Spatial Computing as a synonym for Extended Reality (XR), it really includes a lot more.
“Spatial computing broadly characterizes the processes and tools used to capture, process and interact with 3D data. Components of spatial computing can include IoT, digital twins, ambient computing, augmented reality, virtual reality, AI and physical controls."
(Meh. Good enough.)
Read on to find out more about Spatial Computing.
Here’s a tiny image from the article that I wish I could read. Apparently, there’s business to be made from Spatial Computing.
Okay. Let’s scramble past this preamble.
According to a recent DIGIDAY article, this is
How to Spot the Real Experts in the Metaverse — and Avoid the BS
Faux “metaverse experts”…
Insist on a Narrow Definition for the Metaverse
Don't Ask the Right Questions
Don't Have the Right Experience and Background
Talk About Metaverses, not THE Metaverse
Bill Young, Head of Games at Twitch, who shared the article, points out that the fourth bullet is still up for debate as the author of the article himself states.
I’ll add.
Are called “Chief Metaverse Officers” (I kid, I kid)
XR pioneer Avi Bar-Zeev is even more strict:
“No one has actual proven work experience in The Metaverse yet, except perhaps:
+ People who've worked on VR for 10+ years
+ People who've worked on AR for 10+ years
+ People who've shipped successful MMOGs
+ People who've built The Web, foundationally
+ People who've formed open standards for any of these
And if you want to include web3:
+ People who built ethical decentralized & crypto solutions (small set).”
We’ll end with a quote from Bill Young from the previous post,
“I think you likely get the point by now...we don't know. I don't know. You don't know. THEY certainly don't know.
...but be wary of those who claim they do.”
We’ve been trying to avoid getting our boots soiled since, at least, the last SN, at least, but as one of my forebears might have said, “When you’re working on the farm, expect to step on some cow patties.”
Why THIS is the Future of Imagery
And here, I thought it was Spatial News’™ extended, mixed metaphors.
Well, according to the video above, it’s actually NeRFs (Neural Radiance Fields). The vid explains what they are (because I’m not gonna try) and why this next-gen 3D scanning technology is the “next big thing in image capture/CGI”.
(Thanks to Maciej (Magic) Pulit for sharing.)
We’ve been going on about Generative AI for issues now (since SN #038, dear reader). That tech is on a roll, and the breaks are busted.
Hans-Peter Wijns created a LinkedIn post about
Text-to-Motion AI
As Theo Priestly pointed out in the comments, there are two projects ongoing here and here.
Watch the “Human Motion Diffusion Model” one in action.
But there’s more, and it concerns the present-future of film more than the future-future of film (like NeRFs). Hold on to your gummy bears because
Someone's Making an Entire SciFi Movie Using Video Generated by AI
<Embed ‘That escalated quickly’ meme>
German tech entrepreneur and neuroscientist Fabian Stelzer is
“[u]sing programs like DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion and Midjourney [to] generat[e] the film’s imagery and audio by entering minute text descriptions of what he wants, which include everything from the graininess of the ‘camera’ stock to a VHS distortion effect.“
He’s even having his Twitter followers get involved in a “‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style for the AI age”.
(Thanks to Rupert Breheny for sharing.)
Do you feel like you’re falling behind? Do you feel like you’re stuck in 2D (even though you’re 4D or more-D) and want to move into 3D? Fret not!
Dinesh Punni’s helpful, edge-of-the-precipice starter vid will take you
From 2D Designer to XR Designer
His three tips include:
Learn a game engine
Learn some 3D modelling
Build a portfolio
+1
Building a personal brand online helps, too
And why would you want to get into the wacky world of XR design?
It’s the future (unless you just decide to use Nvidia’s text-to-3D), but there’s money to be made right now in training, e-commerce, manufacturing, and healthcare.
Besides 3D marketing (see SN #040), there are a number of ways XR can be useful (and potentially lucrative, maybe) in healthcare as shown below in an BBN Times article shared by Emilios Eracleous.
Despite the potential (and the hype), there’s still a long way to go for something like ‘augmented surgery’ to be medical grade. So, in the immortal words of my old friend Sam, “Keep on truckin’”.
Unbundling Digital Identity Unlocks New Ways to Play and Build
Good read with some “metaverse archaeology” by Jon Radoff.
“While the challenges ahead are substantial [better technologies to support privacy and security — while also supporting user choice, usability and interoperability], the rebundling of identity into a you-centered internet is one that will enhance self-expression, both in terms of our presentation as digital humans and our ability to craft worlds and experiences for others.”
Digital Asset Trading: The Untapped Multi-billion Market within Videogames
In this short but insightful piece, Kim Soares estimates that while as complicated as what banks have to deal with, “we will see the first official large storefronts for secure in-game item trading with real money and with validated ownership as soon as next year (2023).”
Now, extrapolate that to the kind of trading that will occur between people’s “you-centered internets” aka “me-taverses”… multi-gazillions!
<Your Spatial AD Here>
Immersal’s Talking Metaverse podcast
How do you define metaverse? How do the experts in this field define it? Is AR dead? Are we all just waiting for web3? Listen to Immersal's Talking Metaverse podcast and you will know.
https://immersal.com/talking-metaverse-podcast
Sponsored by Immersal
Want to be briefed on the metaverse each week, with analysis? Check out a concise summary with the Immersive Wire, the newsletter curated by Tom Ffiske every Wednesday and Sunday and enjoyed by thousands of professionals.
Sponsored by The Immersive Wire
We’ll be back like stingers!
Joh of Spatial8, coming up with his own un-quotables like “Why do we winter? So that we can spring.”
P.S. Don’t forget to take our Future Technologies Usage Survey 2022 for a chance to get some random NFTs! (Yes, it’s still going!)