DIGITAL REALITIES vienna business agency A service offered by the City of Vienna WHITE PAPER A 2 • Digital Realities: Potentials of immersive 4 technologies in the creative industries A THE LANGUAGE OF THE • Creating new realities together Thomas Ragger 8 DIGITAL REALITIES NEW FIELDS OF WORK — • Testing and exceeding limits is an integral Interview with Jogi Neufeld 12 NEW KNOWLEDGE part of the act of playing • Design is a matter of communication Efa Doringer 14 B EXPERTISE THROUGH • Augmenting construction Greg Lynn 18 EXPERIMENTATION THE ARTISTIC-CREATIVE • No longer a question of scale Interview with Julia Körner 22 PROCESS • The uncaptured image Leonhard Lass 24 • Use case Depart: The Lacuna Shifts 25 • Use case Gravity Sketch: Prototyping 27 • Giving new room to ideas Interview with Lip Comarella 28 C • Augmented fashion: Interview with Hannah Gutkauf 32 NEW REALITY WORKS Fashion at the interface PRODUCT AND SERVICE INNOVATIONS • Use case TheWaveVR: 35 A new kind of musical experience • When the headset is superfluous Interview with Markus Dorninger 36 • Technology is not the Interview with Julia Murczek 38 biggest challenge and Simon Wallner • VR means more than just gaming Interview with Michael Tisler 40 D • Fashion meets technology: Interview with 44 ENABLING EXPERIENCES, Not just a flash in the pan Sabinna Rachimova ALLOWING INSIGHTS MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION • Use case THISPLAY: 47 The virtual fitting room • Use case Acute Art: 48 Virtual art and big names • Use case Artivive: 49 A new dimension of art E • The future is now Sara Lisa Vogl 52 THE WHOLE AND THE INDIVIDUAL PARTS • Viennese companies are competing Interview with Renate Brauner 55 STRUCTURES AND with global giants and Gerhard Hirczi REQUIREMENTS • Imprint 56 EDITORIAL DIGITAL REALITIES POTENTIALS OF IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Analogue is only half the story. Virtual (VR), augmented TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES — (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are currently trending, and RECIPROCAL IMPULSES astounding announcements from the global technology Creativity and technology stimulate each other. These re­ incubators and development laboratories are continual­ ciprocal effects drive design processes and product inno­ ly promising extraordinary innovations. Both industrial vations. Innovative added value is created when creative enterprises and research centres are increasingly delving content is communicated in a new way and technologi­ into these technologies. All the more reason for creative cal services add a virtual dimension to the creative prod­ professionals to sound out the spectrum of what is cur­ ucts. The “Digital Realities” funding competition ad­ rently available and to reinterpret it for their work. dresses the possible applications of VR, AR and MR for With this white paper, the Vienna Business creative work. The Vienna Business Agency sees itself as Agency looks into the role currently played by virtual and a link between the different economic sectors. The aim is augmented reality in the creative industries and the di­ to overcome the boundaries between disciplines and to rection these technologies will take in the future. It draws foster qualities through crossover constellations. a highly varied picture of the creative industries and the VR, AR and MR create new levels of experi­ many possible applications of digital realities, ranging ence and have the potential to open up unexpected per­ from multimedia, games and film, music, sound design spectives. They make co­creation and inter­ and trans­ and publishing, through to architecture, fashion and cul­ disciplinary communication — even with non­experts — tural education. easier. In the creative design process, the new digital The many different facets of VR, AR and MR tools are put to a variety of uses in prototyping and are shown — as immersive experiences or live experien­ product design. New forms of marketing and customis­ ces, as new tools in the creative­artistic process, as art and ing arise; for example, virtual showrooms or VR product culture mediators, and as innovative interfaces between configurators. humankind and the digital world. How a society embraces and uses innovative These theoretical considerations also aim to technologies is the result of a variety of assimilation and inspire creative professionals to realise ideas: This white testing processes. If one sees the creative industries as a paper accompanies the “Digital Realities” funding com­ driver and catalyst, the added value could be extremely petition, which has EUR 1 million in funds at its disposal far­reaching. In connection with digital realities, creativ­ to help projects be implemented. 4 ity can have an enriching effect not only socially but also individually, functioning almost like a kind of “empathy Virtual reality (VR) is mersive technologies for the creative indus­ engine” that facilitates a change of perspective, encour­ the term used for the tries. Issues relating to the democratisation presentation and ages us to interact with the unfamiliar, thus also promot­ simultaneous perception of both knowledge and communication are ing emotion. of reality and its physical also looked at. How can people with differ­ In any case, the new digital realities harbour characteristics in a ent background knowledge discuss technical computer-generated, a wealth of potential for creative enterprises. real-time interactive content with one another and make informed virtual environment. decisions? What is the interface between ex­ VR GOGGLES ARE NOT JUST ROSE-TINTED perts and non­experts? Mixed reality (MR) Where there is great enthusiasm there is also skepticism. describes environments The creative design process is the main Whether with regard to the limits of physical movement or systems that combine focus of chapter two. The more intuitive and and perception that come to bear in a virtual experience, natural perception with interactive work processes are, the shorter an artificial (computer- a lack of confidence in these new worlds, or the absence generated) perception. they become. Also, new digital tools enhance of community formation — because, at least for the mo­ the creative process. Leo Lass asks how art ment, users remain (largely) alone with their experience Augmented reality (AR) can use VR to question established human is that aspect of mixed in the digital reality: These points are crucial and must be reality in which reality perceptions. And Greg Lynn describes how a dealt with in order to advance the developments. In ad­ is enriched with virtual spatial discipline like architecture makes use dition, codes of conduct and rules, i.e. key ethical issues, information. of digital worlds. and also the gap between digital and real perception are (Definitions based on A large number of innovative VR and topics that call for social, creative and technological debate. Wikipedia) AR products are constantly entering the mar­ It is also possible that some people are mis­ ket. Chapter three puts the spotlight on trustful of a field in which there is so much happening at some of them. Fashion, music, games, film the same time and the changes seem overwhelming. On and art applications show innovative strate­ top of that, production involves a lot of effort and high gies, services and products, but also creative costs, especially in virtual reality. fields of application beyond the creative in­ The aim of the Vienna Business Agency’s dustries. “Digital Realities” funding competition is to help compa­ A newly shaped perception of reality nies from all areas of the creative industries to implement also allows products to be experienced differently: in a their VR, AR and MR projects, and thus to leverage exist­ more immediate, direct way and closer to the customer. ing potentials in Vienna. This white paper also hopes to Chapter four shows how mixed reality is taking fashion inspire creative professionals to look into these new tech­ shows to the next level, and how these innovations are nologies and use them in their work, because their crea­ being employed in art education. tive services and content are essential to the success of While everything up to here has revolved the medium. around the dimension of the conceivable and the possi­ The hardware is becoming more diverse ble, chapter five looks at the concrete requirements for and more readily available, the VR/AR software is often new ways of working, product innovations and market­ available for free and with open data in open source pro­ ing strategies. Sara Lisa Vogl addresses the prerequisites grams, cross­ media collaborations are yielding results, for efficient work, such as networking and exchange of and storytelling, which is so essential to designers, is knowledge, as well as equipment and locations. Innova­ coming to the fore. tive funding and financing models are especially relevant How can interested creatives now effectively in cases where the content and the creative component make use of VR, AR and MR — be it in the design or work are the main focus, rather than technology being an end process, or for marketing and distribution purposes? in itself. What could the next impulses in this field be for This white paper takes stock of the possibili­ Vienna’s creative industries? ties and explores these and other questions. To this end, This white paper includes wide­ranging ex­ numerous conversations with players and representa­ pertise from the intersection of the VR/AR scene and the tives of the Viennese scene took place: Several Creators creative industries. It is important to the editorial team to Labs and round table discussions were the inspiration for illuminate the subject from different angles, though the content and examples in this paper. At the same time, there isn’t enough space for everything. Completeness is this paper, intended as a stimulus for new strategies, ser­ not the goal, because we are in motion. vices and products in the Viennese creative industries, is a framework for the “Digital Realities” funding competi­ The editorial team tion, a compass for the development of future examples of innovation and a sensorium for the status quo in Vien­ na and beyond.