Wednesday, April 29th, 2015

Virtual - Augmented Reality Workshop

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Salon I

VR in the Out-of-Home Entertainment Sector

Kevin Williams, Consultant and writer, KWP, Moderator (former Imagineer)

David A. Smith, CEO and Founder, Wearality Corporation

Nancy Bennett, Chief Content Officer, Two Bit Circus

Andrew Prell, Founder and CEO, Agora Technologies Inc.

Kevin Bachus, Senior Vice President of Entertainment and Game Strategy, Xbox co-creator

Manuel Gutierrez Novelo, CEO, ImmersiON-VRelia

RePlay Magazine. Recently Kevin has co-authored a book on the sector called ‘The Out-of-Home Interactive Entertainment Frontier’ (published through Gower). And with this move he has also founded and is the chairman of the new Digital Out-of-Home Entertainment Network Association (DNA) (www.dna-association.com). The DNA Association having gathered leading developers, operators and investors in the re-emerging public space entertainment sector, and the new initiatives that are driving the growth in interest.

David A. Smith, CEO and Founder, Wearality Corporation; dedicated to creating and delivering the highest quality and most accessible AR and VR products to both consumer/commercial and defense industries.   Smith is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who has focused on interactive 3D and using 3D as a basis for new user environments and entertainment for over thirty years. His specialty is system design and advanced user interfaces. He is a pioneer in 3D graphics, robotics, telepresence, artificial intelligence and augmented reality (AR). He creates world-class teams and ships impossible products.  Smith was Chief Innovation Officer and Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin MST, where he was focused on next generation human centric computing and collaboration platforms. Before joining Lockheed Martin, Smith was the chief architect of the Croquet Project, an open source virtual world collaboration platform where he worked with Alan Kay (Turing Award winner) and was later CTO and co-founder of Teleplace, Inc. providing a collaboration platform developed specifically for enterprises based on Croquet.  In 1987, Smith created The Colony, the very first realtime 3D adventure game/shooter and the precursor to today's first-person shooters. The game was developed for the Apple Macintosh and won the "Best Adventure Game of the Year" award from MacWorld Magazine. Smith founded Virtus Corporation in 1990 and developed Virtus Walkthrough, the first real-time 3D design application for personal computers. Virtus Smith also co-founded Red Storm Entertainment with author Tom Clancy.

Nancy Bennett, Chief Content Officer for Two Bit Circus: As a video/music director and producer, entrepreneur, executive and ball of energy, Nancy Bennett’s talents have pulsed through the heart of the media world for over 25 years. Not content to just create music projects for the likes of Tori Amos, Led Zeppelin, The Beastie Boys, Ringo Starr and Ray Charles; or to work with visionaries like Jimmy Iovine, Angus Wall, Marcus Nispel and Sean Penn; she has founded multiple businesses that staked out the next wave in the confluence of technology, film, television, and advertising. Bennett is currently the Chief Content Officer for Two Bit Circus, an interdisciplinary team of artists, inventors, engineers, educators and entrepreneurs passionate about reimagining all forms of entertainment. They have been on-camera inventors for network television, built viral videos for rock bands, and created massive spectacles for large brands. Clients include Amazon, Intel, Nvidia, the Girl Scouts of America, IBM, and Dave & Buster’s. While redefining modern amusement, Two Bit Circus is working to inspire young minds to explore careers in STEAM: science, technology, engineering, art, and math through STEAM Carnival, the carnival reimagined with fire, lasers, and robots! [www.steamcarnival.com] Bennett is responsible for the Two Bit Circus image as it is portrayed in all of its cinematic work, specializing in 2D and 3D 360 live action virtual reality immersive experiences that are accompanied by motion platforms displayed via Oculus Rift, Oculus powered Samsung GearVR and Google Cardboard. 2BCVR has developed a portfolio of original VR IP including tools for VR production that provide preview capabilities via live stream and stitch within Oculus Rift while filming; a light weight helmet camera system and stitching software. Recent work: major Fortune 500 3D 360 motion platform experiences including the most recent NBA Samsung GearVR "Keys to the Game" featuring superstar NBA players launching February 2015 on Samsung GearVR’s MilkVR platform. Bennett holds a B.A. in Music and a M.S. in Film from Boston University. She is a member of BAFTA and Grammy.org, has served as panelist for the NEA Media Arts and is a professor at Boston University’s Masters in New Media and Business Administration Program here in Los Angeles.

Andrew Prell, a veteran inventor, director, developer, and serial entrepreneur, is an early pioneer of virtual reality, being one of the first to commercialize the technology in the early 1990s. Andrew was the founder and CEO of Alternate Worlds Technology, Inc. (AWT) which developed and successfully marketed the first US Manufactured Virtual Reality Arcade System, the "Reality Rocket". The system featured several high profile games developed by Andrew's team, including Wolfenstein VR, and one of the first real-time 3D virtual reality games, Xenomorph, which was based on PixelPlanes Technology from the University of North Carolina. More recently, Andrew was the Founder and CEO of Agora Technologies Inc., a software venture enabling live interaction in social media building on work done in partnership with Bell Labs, Lucent/Avaya, Compaq, Quest, and Computer Associates. He is currently working with industry leaders and other established pioneers on a stealth project aiming to disrupt the online games and mobile entertainment industries. Andrew currently holds two patents and is named as an inventor in a third.

Manuel Gutierrez Novelo, CEO, ImmersiON-VRelia; Honored by the International 3D Society with the 2013 Lumiere Award for Technology. Inventor of A.I.L.E.E.N.N., a new platform for Artificial Intelligence Logic Electronic Emulation Neural Network. Inventor of the Stereoscopic 2D+Delta codec in 2003. IP Patent statements submitted and listed on the MVC ISO Standard 14496-10 in 2007. In December 2009 The MVC standard was selected by the BDA as the official 3D Blu-ray spec.  First in the world to show a compatible full HD 3D Blu-ray in 2007.  Inventor of the Dynamic Convergence Algorithm for CG in 2004 now used in some S3D Videogames.  Designer of the TDVisor, a Head Mounted Display HMD in 2003, and the first full HD 3D stereoscopic HMDin 2007.  Designer of the TDVCam in 2003 and the first Full HD S3D digital camcoder in 2007. Holder of many patents and copyright titles worldwide.  Architect of all the Firmware, Hardware and Software of all TDV products and applications.