Anthony Steed

Bizaarely enough, I have just found out that someone I know was the son of the person who designed the reinforced concrete dome - there was another of these domes in Bovingdon which is not far from where I live

The Dome trainer buildings invented by Henry Stevens is probably the first ever military simulator using film and light.
We have all the information on its development at our museum.
The air to air and bomb aimer simulators were developed from the same system.

See this call for papers on Beyond Game Engines in Extended Reality: www.frontiersin.org/research-top...

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS “TOWARDS A RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE METAVERSE”

Metaverse for the Good Alicante 11-12/6 updated web page:
catedrametaverso.ua.es/ii-internati...
* deadline 25/4
* two keynotes swapped days
* pre-registration docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Powerpoint refusing to open a file because the filename is too long

It's 2025

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary ...

One way of coming to work with our team at UCL is to apply for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship: marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-p...

VR headsets, yoga mats and pool sliders added to UK ‘inflation basket’ Pulled pork replaces oven-ready gammon joints, and local newspaper adverts are out on ONS list

VR headsets now part of UK inflation metric. Just as important as yoga mats. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Next UCL VR Club is this Wednesday 19th 5-7pm

Ubiq Tutorial at IEEE VR 2025 Schedule and instructions for the Ubiq tutorial at IEEE VR 2025.

More details about our Ubiq tutorial at #ieeevr this coming weekend: ubiq.online/blog/ubiq-tu...

The Panorama: History of a Mass Medium - Zone Books In the wide-ranging contemporary debates about visuality and the emergence of the modern spectator, the significance of panorama painting in the nineteenth...

I just read Oetterman's book on the history of panoramas. There was some really interesting context about the emergence of these paintings, from the writing of Goethe about the alps to the endeavours of the Montgolfier brothers: www.zonebooks.org/books/86-the...

We have a Ubiq tutorial scheduled for IEEE Virtual Reality 2025 #ieeevr. We are taking suggestions for what you would like to see explained. If there is something you are trying to do in social XR, we will happily explain how to do it in Ubiq ieeevr.org/2025/program...

Meta Avatars in Ubiq The Meta Avatars also work in Ubiq!

We have a lot going on in Ubiq about avatars. Here is a recent demo from Klara about using the Meta legged avatars in Ubiq: ubiq.online/blog/meta-av...

I remembered a project from Matthew Lombard to collate VR&telepresence references in film and TV. Now found it: smcsites.com/telepresence/

Red Dwarf had an earlier episode Season 2 "Better Than Life"

The Immersive Enclosure: Virtual Reality in Japan Buy The Immersive Enclosure: Virtual Reality in Japan by Roquet, Paul (ISBN: 9780231205344) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

This message bought to you by "The Immersive Enclosure: Virtual Reality in Japan", by Paul Roquet www.amazon.co.uk/Immersive-En...

So my current problem: I read one book about virtual reality, media theory, embodiment, etc. and end up with at least four more titles to buy or order from the library

Sad to hear that the fantastic Retro Computer Museum in Leicester has been damaged by flooding.

More info on their site: www.retrocomputermuseum.co.uk

If your able to support, here's their fundraiser: www.peoplesfundraising.com/donation/retro-computer-museum

#retrocomputing #retrogaming

The biggest #VR research conference will be at Saint-Malo, France, March 2025.

A big thank you to our amazing sponsors 👏👏👏

If you want to be part of this list and join us at IEEE VR 2025:

ieeevr.org/2025/sponsors/

XR Events 2025

Want to network with industry experts, play the latest games, or test the most cutting-edge tech? Then heading to #XR events across the globe is crucial! ✈️

Tiny Brains has compiled a free list of upcoming 2025 events worth putting on your calendar.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Ubiq Ubiq is a Unity networking library for research, teaching and development, maintained by the Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics group at University College London.

Ubiq (ubiq.online) should work out of the box on AndroidXR because we support WebXR builds (on phone, desktop, AVP, Quest 3) developer.android.com/develop/xr/d...

I don't know if anyone is documenting the history of those systems particularly well. A lot is written about American simulators of the 1970s-1980s, but I am looking for UK or EU developments along the same lines.

I promised to stop pre-Oculus, so here is my demo from 2011/2012 of a completely portable VR system. I did try for a short while to push this as a technical venture, but in the short term, the PC was the right platform. An iPhone 3GS driving a 1998 Sony Glasstron AR/VR display.

And there was a VR industry in the 2000s serving certain industries. I showed a couple of examples from an article I wrote for the RAE's Ingenia magazine www.ingenia.org.uk/articles/how...

In the late 1990s, much of the VR industry moved to CAVE-like systems on SGI big iron

Then I showed some video from the early Division Provision system, which was the "high-end" VR option in the early 1990s. This from an early study with Mel Slater on virtual treadmills, virtual bodies and presence responses

I am still looking for good resources on the UK involvement in early digital simulators (e.g. Marconi, Rediffusion), so a bit of a jump to the late 1980s and the Virtuality days. No images here, because you can visit working machines at Retro Computer Museum in Leicester retrocomputermuseum.co.uk

And not just flight, but an example of an anti-aircraft training simulator using a projector in a dome. The Langham Dome is now a museum, though it closes over winter.

Then the VR industry owes a lot to the simulator industry. There is an interesting link between the early "Blue Box" Link simulators, and the rise of digital simulation in the 1980s. These are analogue flight simulators using small cameras flying over real models.

Less well-known is that the building is still there! Now the Church of Notre Dame de France. The panorama has long gone, and the building was damaged in the Second World War. You can see the curve of the main panorama gallery if you are to the south of the church, just off the main square

A cross-section of the Barker Panorama, built in Leicester Square in 1793.

I've been ask to share a few of the images from my talk "Early History of Immersive In and Around London". First the relatively well-known Barker Panorama in Leicester Square. Lots of resources about this online: