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Virtual reality : The next best thing to being there
Helsinki-based VR and animation studio FAKE Production helps global companies , including Air France – KLM , the Boston Consulting Group , and Toyota , stay connected via secure , remote meetings in virtual environments with
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their flagship VR product , Glue . Available on the HP Reverb VR Headset and other VR headsets , or on PCs ( with more limited functionality ), Glue ’ s interface is designed to mimic real-world conversations , giving attendees the personal touch that comes with faceto-face interactions and which |
videoconferences lack .
FAKE moved from developing graphics and animations for TV shows , movies , and ads into the VR space five years ago as headsets became more widely available . Since the pandemic , the company has seen a huge spike in demand for Glue and its virtual meeting capabilities .
“ The feeling of presence is one of our cornerstones ,” says Matti Pouhakka , sales
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director for FAKE . “ You have all the tools that you have in a physical meeting room : You can share your PowerPoints , share your videos on a big presentation wall . There ’ s even a whiteboard that you can use like a physical whiteboard .” Glue features an avatar system that builds 3D characters who actually look like its users . It then employs artificial intelligence to give the avatars facial expressions that change based on the speaker ’ s volume , tone of voice , and word choices . Glue also incorporates audio feedback that mimics real-world environments , so a speaker on the other end of the virtual room sounds farther away than someone seated next to the listener .
There will always be occasions when people need to be physically together , but the huge uptick in adoption of such tools in recent months leads West of the Brookings Institution to believe there won ’ t be a total return to business travel as usual once the pandemic is finally over .
“ Now that people have been forced to deploy digital products , they know how to do it , they have the right pieces in place , their staff is trained on using these techniques — there ’ s really no reason to go back ,” he says .
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