Zero to Start VR Podcast: VR development for beginners

It's Apple Vision Pro Day! 

• Will it be as paradigm shifting as the first iPhone? 
• If Apple is hedging its bet on spatial computing, did oculus/Meta do the hard excavation work to prove there is an innovative market for XR?
• Does an early adopter really need another headset in their vast collection of goggles, glasses and gadgets?

These are some of the questions Ash Baccus-Clark, Director, Keynote Speaker & Creative Str...

The Apple Vision Pro presale on Friday Jan.19th was a resounding success, erasing any doubt about Apple’s ability to capture the public’s imagination - and their wallets, with its first spatial computer. 

The Vision Pro marks a new day in the XR industry, or rather, a new tune that has the potential to transcend the friction and failures of the last decade. 

Despite some early device limitations and the steep price tag, speculation i...

"The new era of spatial computing has arrived."  Our first episode of 2024 brings you a readout of last week's proclamation from Apple CEO, Tim Cook on the news of the highly anticipated Apple Vision Pro launch, which is just hours away from pre-sale, on Friday January 19th at 5am pacific. Vision Pro will be available in the U.S. on February 2nd.

Are you walking up at 5AM tomorrow to pre-order? We are! (hope...

This holiday we’re celebrating our 25th episode of Zero to Start with a very special guest, Kent Bye, host of the Voices of VR podcast.

Since May 2014, Kent has published over 1,300 Voices of VR podcast interviews featuring the pioneering artists, storytellers, and technologists driving the resurgence of virtual & augmented reality.

Kent is an oral historian, experiential journalist, & philosopher, helping to define...

Are you game for a full-body haptic suit? HaptX Inc. takes us one step closer with the imminent launch of their G1 Glove. 

HaptX invents and builds wearable technology that simulates touch with unprecedented realism, enabling haptic interaction in virtual reality and robotics.  

Joining me to explore the magic of the HaptX G1 glove and the future of human-computer interaction is Linda Jacobson, the Director of Marketing at ...

In the few days since OpenAI's board of directors removed its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, the future of the company and what it means for the race to AGI Artificial General Intelligence is anyone’s guess. 

Joining me to put this fast moving saga into perspective is Avi Bar-Zeev founder and president of Reality Prime an independent consulting service providing world-class expertise in AR & VR design and engineer...

On December 10th  XRSI will kick–off their 4th annual Metaverse Safety Week - XRSI’s flagship conference, an annual occasion to meet industry leaders and discuss the challenges of safety, privacy and artificial intelligence in spatial computing. 

Kavya Pearlman, Founder and CEO of XRSI, X Reality Safety Intelligence,  a leading non-profit organization globally recognized for advocating safety, privacy, security, and inclu...

Prepare to be amazed and inspired by special guest Michaela Ternasky Holland, Emmy Award-Winning XR Director, Creative Strategist and Impact Producer leading equity and social change in XR and the Metaverse.  

A pioneer in VR journalism and experience design, Michaela shares the evolution of her unique industry journey and how her latest immersive film, Reimagined Vol. II: Mahal, is redefining traditional narratives and Tagalog / Fi...

XR Pioneer Robin Moulder, Founder and CEO of 3lb Games and 3lb XR joins the podcast to share details about their latest releases including VR Workout and Grokit, a hand tracking multiplayer mixed reality game aimed at rapid fire interactions focused on fun while giving newer headset players more confidence - perfect for introducing your friends and family to the magic of mixed reality on a Quest 3 at your holiday gatherings.
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"What if I could make an app that could change an entire play area into a horror game?"
That's what David Montecalvo, Founder and President of VirtualGo LLC asked himself when he saw the black and white pass-through on the Meta Quest 2, inspiring him to create Hauntify, one of Quest 2's earliest mixed reality games that combined the headset's new experimental pass through with a ghostly room-scale expe...

Web AR and social impact is a powerful combination that fuels dynamic connection, community building, awareness and action - at scale. 

On this episode of Zero to Start,  Sarah Porter, Director of Innovative Philanthropy at Hope for Haiti joins me to share the nonprofit's mission, how they started their immersive journey and how you can join 8th Wall's Hope for Haiti challenge happening now - the deadline to enter is Novem...

Discover how Cognitive3D’s SDK for Unreal and Unity empowers immersive creators to unlock player behavior and build better 3D experiences with Calder Archinuk, Developer Evangelist at Cognitive3D. 

Designing for Player agency in virtual environments is one of many challenges in VR development, yet player agency is also what makes VR an essential medium for capturing and studying player behavior.

• How can developers quick...

Dive into the power of Neuroscience and VR to improve brain health with Amir Bozorgzadeh, the cofounder and CEO of Virtuleap. 

Brain health as you age affects each and every one of us. Caring for your cognitive well-being is essential for living an independent and fulfilling life.  Virtuleap combines neuroscience and virtual reality to help increase attention levels, and address cognitive illnesses, disorders, and learning...

Stepping into the Spotlight is Sadah Espii Proctor, XR & Experiential Designer Composer & Spatial Sound Designer 

On our 8th and final spotlight episode, recorded on January 2021, Espii shares her philosophy on creating  narrative VR experiences for theater, music and art - and how the pandemic is ushering in new ways to experience live performance. 

Among Espii's many accomplishments in immersive film, art and sound, sh...

Stepping into the Spotlight is Kai Frazier, Founder and CEO of KaiXR, the most inclusive and accessible VR platform for kids where they can explore, dream and create!

On our 7th spotlight episode Kai shares how she radically changed her life as an educator to a solo nontechnical founder in the highly volatile world of VR entrepreneurship.

Find out how Kai built an inclusive and accessible VR platform for kids over the web, how to eng...

Stepping into the spotlight is Lauren Frazier, Cofounder and CTO at Ramen VR, a Y Combinator VR game studio and makers of the award-winning Conjure Strike.

On our 6th podcast episode Lauren fills us in on Ramen VR’s upcoming game, Zenith, a cross-platform massive multiplayer for VR funded in part by Oculus. She shares how Y Combinator prepared Ramen VR for the business world, Kickstarter tips for success and how she risked a stable ...

Stepping into the spotlight is Jasmine Roberts, an accomplished software engineer who has worked at pioneering companies including Unity, Sony Playstation and Google Creative Lab in New York City where she developed and launched, Lines of Play, a Google experiment AR app highlighting the features of Google’s new AR Core Depth API. 

Jasmine was a 2017 Oculus Launch Pad fellow and in 2020 Forbes recognized her on their Games 30 under ...

Stepping into the spotlight is Richard Duck, Store Operations Manager at Oculus. 

On this episode of Zero to Start Richard talks about how  his team helps guide developers as they prepare for publishing their titles on the Oculus Store. 

Richard highlights the importance of testing all aspects of your VR title and how testing helps create community around your work.

We talk about the magic of VR, film and theatrical influences on VR, ...

Stepping into the spotlight Kathryn Hicks, AR/VR Designer at the Danse shares how the Savannah College of Art and Design led her to virtual reality, igniting the creation of her first animated 360 film, Tall Tales of the Aerona Temple. 

Kathryn fills us in on her latest project working alongside Memphis developer Justin Palmer on Mend, a cross-platform puzzle game and 2019 Oculus Launch Pad scholarship winner. 

Plus Kathryn shares he...