Tag Archives: Google VR

Welcoming Owlchemy Labs to Google

We care a lot about building and investing in compelling, high-quality, and interactive virtual reality experiences and have created many of our own—from YouTube, Street View, and Photos on Daydream to Google Earth VR and Tilt Brush. And, we work with partners and support developers and creators outside of Google to help bring their ideas to VR.

Today, we're thrilled to welcome Owlchemy Labs to Google. They've created award-winning games like Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality which have really thoughtful interactive experiences that are responsive, intuitive, and feel natural. They’ve helped set a high bar for what engagement can be like in virtual worlds, and do it all with a great sense of humor!

Together, we'll be working to create engaging, immersive games and developing new interaction models across many different platforms to continue bringing the best VR experiences to life. There is so much more to build and learn, so stay tuned!

Welcoming Owlchemy Labs to Google

We care a lot about building and investing in compelling, high-quality, and interactive virtual reality experiences and have created many of our own—from YouTube, Street View, and Photos on Daydream to Google Earth VR and Tilt Brush. And, we work with partners and support developers and creators outside of Google to help bring their ideas to VR.

Today, we're thrilled to welcome Owlchemy Labs to Google. They've created award-winning games like Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality which have really thoughtful interactive experiences that are responsive, intuitive, and feel natural. They’ve helped set a high bar for what engagement can be like in virtual worlds, and do it all with a great sense of humor!

Together, we'll be working to create engaging, immersive games and developing new interaction models across many different platforms to continue bringing the best VR experiences to life. There is so much more to build and learn, so stay tuned!

Bringing Within to WebVR

Editor’s Note: With WebVR, you can access VR experiences through a compatible browser like Chrome and a compatible headset like Daydream View. We’re exploring some of the WebVR content that’s available now. Jono Brandel of Within explains the technical steps they took to bring their VR storytelling platform to the web.

At Within, we’re showcasing the best experiences from VR creators around the world. We’re excited to be one of the first platforms available in WebVR.

On Within, you can dive underwater and explore a tropical paradise in Valen’s Reef, or learn the language of dolphins in Click Effect. You can experience how a blind person sees the world with sound in Notes on Blindness, and step into the dystopian hacker world of the hit TV show Mr. Robot. Or, cheer for an animated bunny trying to save the planet from menacing aliens in Baobab’s Invasion!

With WebVR, it’s possible to access all of these experiences right in the browser—making it easier than ever to explore. And with Google's new WebVR API, we were able to easily integrate this new feature into our existing code base.

In order to achieve a working experience with WebVR, we proceeded step-by-step. We started by taking our Web Player for desktop and mobile viewing and added three-dimensional menu controls to seek and change resolution in VR. These elements are not in the DOM’s hierarchy tree; they’re drawn in WebGL on a canvas element. Since there aren’t any click events on these elements, we wrote a Ray Casting technique commonly found in video games to allow viewers to interact with these objects. Once we had this working, we realized that we could recreate our native application’s gallery to navigate between films with essentially the same assets.

Around this time, the WebVR 1.0 spec was released and demonstrated how a web browser could connect to the many VR controllers hitting the market through the Gamepad API. Using the Gamepad API and typical event handlers on the web, we designed a filtering specification that takes in many controller inputs, including keyboard, mouse, touch, the Daydream View controller and other VR headset controllers. With this abstraction, we can focus on interactions and know that they’ll be consistently mapped to the viewer’s environment. Finally, to round out parity with our native application counterparts, and to really give our website the polish it deserved, we wanted to find a way to clearly display non-interactive text. We spent extensive time researching this and have written an in-depth case study about our findings here.

Visit VR.with.in (our VR-first web app, created especially for viewers with VR headsets) to get started. We’ll be rolling out extensive WebVR upgrades in coming months, as well as new experiences made especially for WebVR viewing.

Bringing Within to WebVR

Editor’s Note: With WebVR, you can access VR experiences through a compatible browser like Chrome and a compatible headset like Daydream View. We’re exploring some of the WebVR content that’s available now. Jono Brandel of Within explains the technical steps they took to bring their VR storytelling platform to the web.

At Within, we’re showcasing the best experiences from VR creators around the world. We’re excited to be one of the first platforms available in WebVR.

On Within, you can dive underwater and explore a tropical paradise in Valen’s Reef, or learn the language of dolphins in Click Effect. You can experience how a blind person sees the world with sound in Notes on Blindness, and step into the dystopian hacker world of the hit TV show Mr. Robot. Or, cheer for an animated bunny trying to save the planet from menacing aliens in Baobab’s Invasion!

With WebVR, it’s possible to access all of these experiences right in the browser—making it easier than ever to explore. And with Google's new WebVR API, we were able to easily integrate this new feature into our existing code base.

In order to achieve a working experience with WebVR, we proceeded step-by-step. We started by taking our Web Player for desktop and mobile viewing and added three-dimensional menu controls to seek and change resolution in VR. These elements are not in the DOM’s hierarchy tree; they’re drawn in WebGL on a canvas element. Since there aren’t any click events on these elements, we wrote a Ray Casting technique commonly found in video games to allow viewers to interact with these objects. Once we had this working, we realized that we could recreate our native application’s gallery to navigate between films with essentially the same assets.

Around this time, the WebVR 1.0 spec was released and demonstrated how a web browser could connect to the many VR controllers hitting the market through the Gamepad API. Using the Gamepad API and typical event handlers on the web, we designed a filtering specification that takes in many controller inputs, including keyboard, mouse, touch, the Daydream View controller and other VR headset controllers. With this abstraction, we can focus on interactions and know that they’ll be consistently mapped to the viewer’s environment. Finally, to round out parity with our native application counterparts, and to really give our website the polish it deserved, we wanted to find a way to clearly display non-interactive text. We spent extensive time researching this and have written an in-depth case study about our findings here.

Visit VR.with.in (our VR-first web app, created especially for viewers with VR headsets) to get started. We’ll be rolling out extensive WebVR upgrades in coming months, as well as new experiences made especially for WebVR viewing.

Bringing Within to WebVR

Editor’s Note: With WebVR, you can access VR experiences through a compatible browser like Chrome and a compatible headset like Daydream View. We’re exploring some of the WebVR content that’s available now. Jono Brandel of Within explains the technical steps they took to bring their VR storytelling platform to the web.

At Within, we’re showcasing the best experiences from VR creators around the world. We’re excited to be one of the first platforms available in WebVR.

On Within, you can dive underwater and explore a tropical paradise in Valen’s Reef, or learn the language of dolphins in Click Effect. You can experience how a blind person sees the world with sound in Notes on Blindness, and step into the dystopian hacker world of the hit TV show Mr. Robot. Or, cheer for an animated bunny trying to save the planet from menacing aliens in Baobab’s Invasion!

With WebVR, it’s possible to access all of these experiences right in the browser—making it easier than ever to explore. And with Google's new WebVR API, we were able to easily integrate this new feature into our existing code base.

In order to achieve a working experience with WebVR, we proceeded step-by-step. We started by taking our Web Player for desktop and mobile viewing and added three-dimensional menu controls to seek and change resolution in VR. These elements are not in the DOM’s hierarchy tree; they’re drawn in WebGL on a canvas element. Since there aren’t any click events on these elements, we wrote a Ray Casting technique commonly found in video games to allow viewers to interact with these objects. Once we had this working, we realized that we could recreate our native application’s gallery to navigate between films with essentially the same assets.

Around this time, the WebVR 1.0 spec was released and demonstrated how a web browser could connect to the many VR controllers hitting the market through the Gamepad API. Using the Gamepad API and typical event handlers on the web, we designed a filtering specification that takes in many controller inputs, including keyboard, mouse, touch, the Daydream View controller and other VR headset controllers. With this abstraction, we can focus on interactions and know that they’ll be consistently mapped to the viewer’s environment. Finally, to round out parity with our native application counterparts, and to really give our website the polish it deserved, we wanted to find a way to clearly display non-interactive text. We spent extensive time researching this and have written an in-depth case study about our findings here.

Visit VR.with.in (our VR-first web app, created especially for viewers with VR headsets) to get started. We’ll be rolling out extensive WebVR upgrades in coming months, as well as new experiences made especially for WebVR viewing.

U.S. history takes center stage for high schoolers

Editor’s note: Last week, Google announced a grant to bring students to see “Hamilton.” We tagged along to get a firsthand glimpse at how the students reacted to this unique experience of American history.

“I see him as the underdog, and I think, ‘that’s kind of me, that’s all of us.’” That’s what one high school junior from San Jose, CA had to say last week about Alexander Hamilton. How do you get 21st century kids to relate to a U.S. Founding Father born 260 years ago? Take them on a virtual journey through his life, and then bring that history lesson to the stage.

Last week, students went on six new Google Expeditions to follow along with Alexander Hamilton as he shaped the foundation of our country. Then, using racial justice funding from Google.org, the Hamilton Education program (#EduHam), brought 5,000 Title I students to see “Hamilton” in San Francisco, Chicago and New York. And we were lucky enough to be in the “room where it happens” with 2,000 local students in SF as the curtains rose...

HamiltonExpeditions_students.jpg

Students go back in time to hang with Alexander Hamilton. Best Monday ever?

Act 1: the Expedition

To get in the right mindset before seeing “Hamilton,” juniors at Aspire Golden State Preparatory School in Oakland, CA went on an Expedition using Google Cardboard. They took a virtual tour through the events of Alexander Hamilton’s life, starting with the American Revolution, where they visited landmarks and read documents that were important to the outcome of the war. 

The Expedition continued through the ratification of the Constitution, the creation of our nation’s economic system and George Washington’s presidency. It ended with a glimpse of Alexander Hamilton’s personal life—his letters dealing with love and grief—and ended at the famous spot where he dueled Aaron Burr. With each step in the Expedition, there were collective “oohs,” “aahs,” “whoas” and the occasional snarky comment: “Sick wig, Hamilton.”

Several students noted that, as visual learners, it was easier to understand this historical era through the Expedition, instead of reading about it in a book. Something clicked when they could visualize where these historical moments took place. Joanne Lin, assistant principal of Aspire Golden State, says that her students relate to Hamilton: “He had to make it on his own in America—that’s the connection for many of our kids.”

h3
2,000 high school students eagerly await the show to start in San Francisco.

Act 2: students take the stage

Students participating in #EduHam took a six-week American history and civics program, and had to create a performing arts piece based on a document from the Founding Era. On the day of the show, one student (or in some cases, a duo or trio) performed their acts on the “Hamilton” stage. In San Francisco, the performances—spoken word, raps, poems and musical numbers—touched on themes of courage, independence, racial tension and women’s rights. With each one, the raucous applause in the audience got louder and louder. The term “bringing down the house” may have been coined by high school “Hamilton” fans!

The finale: Q&A with the cast before teleporting to 1776

Before the show, the students heard from the cast, who shared their experiences working on “Hamilton.” Cast member Desmond Nunn encouraged the students to chase their dreams: “Dreaming is great,” he said, “but wake up and make it happen.” When asked about the cultural relevance of “Hamilton,” cast member Hope Endrenyi said, “People don't like to talk about hard subjects. With ‘Hamilton,’ you get lost in it and have a good time, but also talk about something that is important and makes a difference.”

When the lights in the theater flickered, the excitement in the air was palpable. For many students, it was their first time ever attending a musical; most would never have the opportunity to see “Hamilton” otherwise. Cheers erupted as a man in Colonial garb took the stage—his name was Alexander Hamilton.

Curtain call

As Aspire Golden State’s assistant principal Joanne Lin said, “These moments in history don’t just live in the past.” Google Expeditions and #EduHam help bring students from all backgrounds closer to history. With a stronger connection to the events of our country’s past, students can better visualize the role they’ll play in our future—asking themselves, “What comes next?”

U.S. history takes center stage for high schoolers

Editor’s note: Last week, Google announced a grant to bring students to see “Hamilton.” We tagged along to get a firsthand glimpse at how the students reacted to this unique experience of American history.

“I see him as the underdog, and I think, ‘that’s kind of me, that’s all of us.’” That’s what one high school junior from San Jose, CA had to say last week about Alexander Hamilton. How do you get 21st century kids to relate to a U.S. Founding Father born 260 years ago? Take them on a virtual journey through his life, and then bring that history lesson to the stage.

Last week, students went on six new Google Expeditions to follow along with Alexander Hamilton as he shaped the foundation of our country. Then, using racial justice funding from Google.org, the Hamilton Education program (#EduHam), brought 5,000 Title I students to see “Hamilton” in San Francisco, Chicago and New York. And we were lucky enough to be in the “room where it happens” with 2,000 local students in SF as the curtains rose...

HamiltonExpeditions_students.jpg

Students go back in time to hang with Alexander Hamilton. Best Monday ever?

Act 1: the Expedition

To get in the right mindset before seeing “Hamilton,” juniors at Aspire Golden State Preparatory School in Oakland, CA went on an Expedition using Google Cardboard. They took a virtual tour through the events of Alexander Hamilton’s life, starting with the American Revolution, where they visited landmarks and read documents that were important to the outcome of the war. 

The Expedition continued through the ratification of the Constitution, the creation of our nation’s economic system and George Washington’s presidency. It ended with a glimpse of Alexander Hamilton’s personal life—his letters dealing with love and grief—and ended at the famous spot where he dueled Aaron Burr. With each step in the Expedition, there were collective “oohs,” “aahs,” “whoas” and the occasional snarky comment: “Sick wig, Hamilton.”

Several students noted that, as visual learners, it was easier to understand this historical era through the Expedition, instead of reading about it in a book. Something clicked when they could visualize where these historical moments took place. Joanne Lin, assistant principal of Aspire Golden State, says that her students relate to Hamilton: “He had to make it on his own in America—that’s the connection for many of our kids.”

h3
2,000 high school students eagerly await the show to start in San Francisco.

Act 2: students take the stage

Students participating in #EduHam took a six-week American history and civics program, and had to create a performing arts piece based on a document from the Founding Era. On the day of the show, one student (or in some cases, a duo or trio) performed their acts on the “Hamilton” stage. In San Francisco, the performances—spoken word, raps, poems and musical numbers—touched on themes of courage, independence, racial tension and women’s rights. With each one, the raucous applause in the audience got louder and louder. The term “bringing down the house” may have been coined by high school “Hamilton” fans!

The finale: Q&A with the cast before teleporting to 1776

Before the show, the students heard from the cast, who shared their experiences working on “Hamilton.” Cast member Desmond Nunn encouraged the students to chase their dreams: “Dreaming is great,” he said, “but wake up and make it happen.” When asked about the cultural relevance of “Hamilton,” cast member Hope Endrenyi said, “People don't like to talk about hard subjects. With ‘Hamilton,’ you get lost in it and have a good time, but also talk about something that is important and makes a difference.”

When the lights in the theater flickered, the excitement in the air was palpable. For many students, it was their first time ever attending a musical; most would never have the opportunity to see “Hamilton” otherwise. Cheers erupted as a man in Colonial garb took the stage—his name was Alexander Hamilton.

Curtain call

As Aspire Golden State’s assistant principal Joanne Lin said, “These moments in history don’t just live in the past.” Google Expeditions and #EduHam help bring students from all backgrounds closer to history. With a stronger connection to the events of our country’s past, students can better visualize the role they’ll play in our future—asking themselves, “What comes next?”

U.S. history takes center stage for high schoolers

Editor’s note: Last week, Google announced a grant to bring students to see “Hamilton.” We tagged along to get a firsthand glimpse at how the students reacted to this unique experience of American history.

“I see him as the underdog, and I think, ‘that’s kind of me, that’s all of us.’” That’s what one high school junior from San Jose, CA had to say last week about Alexander Hamilton. How do you get 21st century kids to relate to a U.S. Founding Father born 260 years ago? Take them on a virtual journey through his life, and then bring that history lesson to the stage.

Last week, students went on six new Google Expeditions to follow along with Alexander Hamilton as he shaped the foundation of our country. Then, using racial justice funding from Google.org, the Hamilton Education program (#EduHam), brought 5,000 Title I students to see “Hamilton” in San Francisco, Chicago and New York. And we were lucky enough to be in the “room where it happens” with 2,000 local students in SF as the curtains rose...

HamiltonExpeditions_students.jpg

Students go back in time to hang with Alexander Hamilton. Best Monday ever?

Act 1: the Expedition

To get in the right mindset before seeing “Hamilton,” juniors at Aspire Golden State Preparatory School in Oakland, CA went on an Expedition using Google Cardboard. They took a virtual tour through the events of Alexander Hamilton’s life, starting with the American Revolution, where they visited landmarks and read documents that were important to the outcome of the war. 

The Expedition continued through the ratification of the Constitution, the creation of our nation’s economic system and George Washington’s presidency. It ended with a glimpse of Alexander Hamilton’s personal life—his letters dealing with love and grief—and ended at the famous spot where he dueled Aaron Burr. With each step in the Expedition, there were collective “oohs,” “aahs,” “whoas” and the occasional snarky comment: “Sick wig, Hamilton.”

Several students noted that, as visual learners, it was easier to understand this historical era through the Expedition, instead of reading about it in a book. Something clicked when they could visualize where these historical moments took place. Joanne Lin, assistant principal of Aspire Golden State, says that her students relate to Hamilton: “He had to make it on his own in America—that’s the connection for many of our kids.”

h3
2,000 high school students eagerly await the show to start in San Francisco.

Act 2: students take the stage

Students participating in #EduHam took a six-week American history and civics program, and had to create a performing arts piece based on a document from the Founding Era. On the day of the show, one student (or in some cases, a duo or trio) performed their acts on the “Hamilton” stage. In San Francisco, the performances—spoken word, raps, poems and musical numbers—touched on themes of courage, independence, racial tension and women’s rights. With each one, the raucous applause in the audience got louder and louder. The term “bringing down the house” may have been coined by high school “Hamilton” fans!

The finale: Q&A with the cast before teleporting to 1776

Before the show, the students heard from the cast, who shared their experiences working on “Hamilton.” Cast member Desmond Nunn encouraged the students to chase their dreams: “Dreaming is great,” he said, “but wake up and make it happen.” When asked about the cultural relevance of “Hamilton,” cast member Hope Endrenyi said, “People don't like to talk about hard subjects. With ‘Hamilton,’ you get lost in it and have a good time, but also talk about something that is important and makes a difference.”

When the lights in the theater flickered, the excitement in the air was palpable. For many students, it was their first time ever attending a musical; most would never have the opportunity to see “Hamilton” otherwise. Cheers erupted as a man in Colonial garb took the stage—his name was Alexander Hamilton.

Curtain call

As Aspire Golden State’s assistant principal Joanne Lin said, “These moments in history don’t just live in the past.” Google Expeditions and #EduHam help bring students from all backgrounds closer to history. With a stronger connection to the events of our country’s past, students can better visualize the role they’ll play in our future—asking themselves, “What comes next?”

Source: Education


Bringing Alexander Hamilton’s history to life

In November 2009, the White House uploaded a video to YouTube of playwright and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda performing a piece called “The Hamilton Mixtape.” In the video, Miranda proclaims to then President Obama that he would use hip-hop and spoken word to tell the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The room erupts in curious laughter. Hip-hop and 18th century history? How could these seemingly different worlds come together?

Nearly eight years later, Lin-Manuel’s Hamilton: An American Musical has blown us all away. The show is a cultural phenomenon, uniting history buffs, musical theater fans, political wonks and beyond. Through its innovative storytelling and deliberately diverse cast, the show remixes American history into a powerful lesson that resonates with society’s current challenges.

Google.org supported the Hamilton Education Program with a $800,000 grant that today will bring 5,000 students from Title I schools in New York, Chicago and the Bay Area to see the musical, as the capstone of a six-week curriculum about the Founding Era. Through a combination of learning from primary source documents like original letters and newspapers, and musical performances, students from every background will be able to make American founding era history their own. Students will also perform their original, history-based works on the Hamilton stage across these three cities. Perhaps one of them might be a future Lin-Manuel!

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is also launching new digital content on Google platforms that enables students around the world to engage more deeply with Alexander Hamilton’s story. Six new virtual reality tours will transport students, teachers, and fans to important places in Hamilton’s life, no matter where they live. Using Google Expeditions, students can explore places like Alexander Hamilton’s home in Uptown Manhattan, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and the infamous site of Aaron Burr–Alexander Hamilton duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.

HamiltonExpedition_2050px.jpg
U.S. history students at Golden State College Preparatory Academy in Oakland, CA explore the sites of Alexander Hamilton’s life
HamiltonBurr_2050px.png
The American Revolution through the eyes of Hamilton.png

In addition, using Google Arts and Culture, the Gilder Lehrman Institute is bringing online dozens of rare archives and artifacts related to Hamilton’s era including early printings of the U.S. Constitution and a letter to his wife expressing his love. There are 10 digital exhibits that will allow students and others around the world to learn about Hamilton’s life and legacy—from his private and political life to a virtual walking tour of Hamilton’s New York, to the creation of Modern America.

Whether in virtual reality or on the theater stage, Alexander Hamilton has a lot to teach us about the history of our country, the American dream—and most importantly–rising up to opportunity.

Source: Education


Bringing Alexander Hamilton’s history to life

In November 2009, the White House uploaded a video to YouTube of playwright and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda performing a piece called “The Hamilton Mixtape.” In the video, Miranda proclaims to then President Obama that he would use hip-hop and spoken word to tell the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The room erupts in curious laughter. Hip-hop and 18th century history? How could these seemingly different worlds come together?

Nearly eight years later, Lin-Manuel’s Hamilton: An American Musical has blown us all away. The show is a cultural phenomenon, uniting history buffs, musical theater fans, political wonks and beyond. Through its innovative storytelling and deliberately diverse cast, the show remixes American history into a powerful lesson that resonates with society’s current challenges.

Google.org supported the Hamilton Education Program with a $800,000 grant that today will bring 5,000 students from Title I schools in New York, Chicago and the Bay Area to see the musical, as the capstone of a six-week curriculum about the Founding Era. Through a combination of learning from primary source documents like original letters and newspapers, and musical performances, students from every background will be able to make American founding era history their own. Students will also perform their original, history-based works on the Hamilton stage across these three cities. Perhaps one of them might be a future Lin-Manuel!

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is also launching new digital content on Google platforms that enables students around the world to engage more deeply with Alexander Hamilton’s story. Six new virtual reality tours will transport students, teachers, and fans to important places in Hamilton’s life, no matter where they live. Using Google Expeditions, students can explore places like Alexander Hamilton’s home in Uptown Manhattan, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and the infamous site of Aaron Burr–Alexander Hamilton duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.

HamiltonExpedition_2050px.jpg
U.S. history students at Golden State College Preparatory Academy in Oakland, CA explore the sites of Alexander Hamilton’s life
HamiltonBurr_2050px.png
The American Revolution through the eyes of Hamilton.png

In addition, using Google Arts and Culture, the Gilder Lehrman Institute is bringing online dozens of rare archives and artifacts related to Hamilton’s era including early printings of the U.S. Constitution and a letter to his wife expressing his love. There are ten digital exhibits that will allow students and others around the world to learn about Hamilton’s life and legacy—from his private and political life to a virtual walking tour of Hamilton’s New York, to the creation of Modern America.

Whether in virtual reality or on the theater stage, Alexander Hamilton has a lot to teach us about the history of our country, the American dream—and most importantly–rising up to opportunity.