Atomu is a social VR experience that premiered at the Sundance New Frontier Biodigital Theater on Friday, January 24, 2020 by co-creators Shariffa Ali (half-Kenyan,

#886 Sundance: Group Ritual in VR: ‘Atomu’ & the Kikiyu Tribal Mythology on Gender Identity

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The OpenXR 1.1 minor release comes out today, which moves some of the more commonly used extensions into core and it also marks a new Khronos Group commitment to a yearly release cycle. It's been nearly five years since the initial release of OpenXR 1.0 on July 29, 2019, and Khronos Group President Neil Trevett tells me that it's been one of the most successful open standards they've ever published, and I had a chance to catch up with Trevett and OpenXR working group chair Alfredo Muniz to talk about the range of conformant XR devices, engines, programs, what's happening with Apple and OpenXR, next steps for where they plan to take the standard in the future, and how you can get more involved either through their OpenXR Discord channel, OpenXR Forums, or OpenXR GitHub Issue Tracker. 



Also, here's a link to the announcement slides for OpenXR 1.1, which have some really helpful overview information about how broadly OpenXR has been adopted, as well as a sneak peak at some of what is coming soon including "extending hand tracking, enhanced handling of spatial entities, expanded haptics support, controller render models (glTF), increased accessibility, and Metal (Mac OS) support."



I posted a thread on X / Twitter that highlights some of these slides from the OpenXR 1.1 announcement page. 



Here's five previous interviews covering the evolution of OpenXR since 2015:




My 2015 interview with Neil Trevett with some preliminary thoughts about an open standard for VR



My 2016 interview with Neil Trevett announcing the formation of what would become OpenXR



My 2017 GDC conversation with Joe Ludwig marking the announcement of OpenXR.



My 2018 GDC conversation with OpenXR working group chair Nick Whiting with a first look at OpenXR.



My 2019 SIGGRAPH conversation with Neil Trevett marking the official OpenXR 1.0 release




Also see some related topics within my interviews tagged with open standards.

#1385: OpenXR 1.1 Release Promotes Extensions into Core & Marks Yearly Release Cycle for Prominent XR Industry Open Standard

I'm digging into my unpublished interview archives backlog to publish this conversation with Khronos Group President Neil Trevett marking the 1.0 release of OpenXR that happened during SIGGRAPH in July 2019. We talk about the intention of OpenXR as a specification, and I figured that it's worth looking back at the evolution of the specification as it has become quite a prominent open standard within the XR industry.  Be sure to also see episodes #1382 that I just published from GDC 2018, #507 from GDC 2017, and #1385 with a current update on OpenXR 1.1.

#1384: 2019 Flashback to OpenXR 1.0 Release at SIGGRAPH

OpenXR 1.1 is being released today, and so I'm digging into my archive of unpublished interviews to go back GDC 2018 when OpenXR working group chairman Nick Whiting presented some of the first information about the OpenXR specification, which wouldn't have it's initial release over a year later on July 29, 2019 (see episode #1384 for more on that). I'll also be publishing an update on OpenXR 1.1 in episode #1385, and so these next three episodes should provide a pretty comprehensive look at the evolution of OpenXR over the past 6+ years. Also be sure to check out episode #507 from GDC 2017 where I chat with Joe Ludwig about the initial announcement of OpenXR.

#1383: 2018 Flashback to OpenXR First Look at GDC

I interviewed The Golden Key co-directors Matthew Niederhauser & Marc Da Costa remotely during SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below.



Here is all of my coverage of projects in and around SXSW XR Experience 2024:




#1360: Sneak Peak of SXSW XR Experience Projects, Events, & Lounges with Programmer Blake Kammerdiener



#1362: “The Tent” Tabletop AR Mixes Photogrammetry, Volumetric Capture, & Theatre in Modern-Day Fairytale about Unhoused Crisis



#1363: DIY 360 Video for Perspective-Taking and Investigating Murder of Trans Woman in “Her Name Was Gisberta”



#1364: Step into the Movies with “The Vortex Cinema” Blending Cinematic Storytelling, Gaming, & Escape Room Mechanics



#1365: “We Speak Their Names in Hushed Tones” Explores Impact of Migration on Families Left Behind in Poetic Immersive Still Life & Audio Documentary



#1366: Electric South’s Ingrid Kopp on Increasing Access to Immersive Production Resources to African XR Creators + Tribeca 2019 Program



#1367: “Escape to Shanghai” Immersive Doc Tells the Story of Jewish Refugees who Fled to China to Escape the Holocaust



#1368: “Walk to Westerbork” Immersive Doc Shares Remarkable Story about a Dutch Jewish Holocaust Survivor Who Defied the Odds



#1369: Interactive UN Doc “Dreaming of Lebanon” Blends Interactive Oral History, 360 Video, and Speculative Worldbuilding



#1370: “Madame Pirate: Code of Conduct” Blends Spatial Representations to Tell the Story of Most Powerful Pirate in History



#1371: “Pirate Queen: The Forgotten Legend” Fuses Escape Room Mechanics with Environmental Storytelling & Embodied Gameplay



#1372: “Last We Left Off” 360 Video Plays Switches Between D&D; Imaginal Realms with Physical Reality, & Exhibiting with Apple Vision Pro



#1373: Interactive Biopic Doc on Opera Singer “Joseph Rouleau: Final Encore” that Mixes Modalities



#1374: Telling Stories of Indigenous Leaders with OurWorlds.io’s “Chief” on Apple Vision Pro



#1375: Unique 2D Hand-Drawn Animation Technique with “Tadpole” Leads to a Provocative Immersive Story



#1376: Indie Musician Roman Rappak’s Annual Mixed Reality Performance Experiments & Expansion into “Detachment” Immersive Story



#1377: Immersive Producer Katayoun Dibamehr’s Journey to Becoming an Award-Winning Producer at Floréal



#1378: Anagram’s Mental Health Series Continues with Preview of “Impulse” Mixed Reality Story about ADHD



#1379: “Maya: The Birth of a Superhero” Evolves Storytelling Grammar with Magical Realism, Dream Logic, & Interactive Embodiment



#1380: “Reimagined Volume III: Young Thang” Adapts a Nigerian Folktale while Refining the Grammar of Spatial Storytelling



#1381: “Soul Paint” Wins SXSW Special Jury Prize for Innovative Body Mapping Technique to Spatially Draw Your Emotions



#1382: Interactive Generative AI Storytelling Installation “The Golden Key” Wins Top Prize at SXSW Leveraging Archetypal Folklore Motifs



PREVIOUSLY COVERED PROJECTS



[PART 1 from Tribeca Immersive 2023 – Part 1 + Part 2 debuts at SXSW] #1244: “Maya: The Birth” Animation Uses Mythic Symbols & Magical Realism to Explore Menstrual Taboos



[from Venice Immersive 2023] #1272: Kickoff of Venice Immersive 2023 Coverage with Winner “Songs by a Passerby” and Atmospheric Storytelling




#1382: Interactive Generative AI Storytelling Installation “The Golden Key” Wins Top Prize at SXSW Leveraging Archetypal Folklore Motifs + Links to SXSW 2024 Coverage

I interviewed Soul Paint co-directors Sarah Ticho & Niki Smit remotely ahead of the SXSW XR Experience 2024. See more context in the rough transcript below.











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Music: Fatality

#886 Sundance: Group Ritual in VR: ‘Atomu’ & the Kikiyu Tribal Mythology on Gender Identity

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