Page History

Eric from University of Michigan Digital Commons. They do have a CAVE, try to make VR accessable for students, researchers

Tom Pollock Trinity College, Dublin 

Matthew Belskie, UNC Chapel Hill, Education Technology Coordinator

Brooklyn Gore (ESNet)

Dan Eklund

Eric Maslowski

Chris Collins

Ben Fineman

1.  Introductions for first time attendees
2. Co-chair needed - volunteers?
3. Report on possible immersive meeting platforms for the group
   
   Ideal Requirements:  Free, open standard or open source, permits connection with and w/o VR HMD (desktop), integrated voice and telephone call-in
   1. Ben Fineman - JanusVR - http://www.janusvr.com/
      1. Nice for "metaverse" VR webpages, not really designed for realtime collaboration
   2. Amela Sadagic - BlenderVR - https://blendervr.limsi.fr/doku.php
      1. Amela couldn't attend - will follow up
   3. Dan Eklund - VRChat - http://www.vrchat.net/
      1. Hard to install, little documentation, not ready for primetime
   4. Chris Collins - AltSpaceVR - http://altvr.com/
      1. Good platform, comes with Leap and Kinect support. Does have Mac client.
   5. Any consensus on a platform to try?  Other platforms we should explore?
      1. Other platforms - None forthcoming
      2. Next meeting on April 5, 2016 will be held in AltSpaceVR, with BlueJeans backup.  
         1. Chris Collins will send out connection information for meeting room on AltSpace VR.  
         2. Ben Fineman will investigate the ability to bridge in phone-in capabilities.  
         3. Ben Fineman will send backup BlueJeans connection information.
         4. Participants are encouraged to attend meeting in VR, but desktop login will also work.
4. Updates on consumer VR hardware releases
   1. Oculus Rift
      $599 - Pre-orders open: https://shop.oculus.com/en-us/cart/ (July delivery)
   2. HTC Vive
      $799 - Pre-orders open:  https://store.htcvivecart.com/store/htcus/en_US/quickcart/ThemeID.40533800/OfferID.48383055501  (April delivery)
   3. Playstation VR
      Price and release date not yet announced, rumored June 30th
   4. OSVR Dev Kit
      $299 - Available for purchase:  http://www.razerzone.com/store/osvr-hdk
   5. Leap Motion update
      New hand tracking firmware update greatly improves VR functionality
      Leap Motion Orion update page:  https://developer.leapmotion.com/orion
      Leap Motion Orion video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnlCGw-0R8g
   6. Hololens 
   7. Other hardware updates?
   8. Updates from participants
      1. Matthew has DK1, new one on order
      2. Eric has DK1/DK2, new one on order, updated Leap Motion on order, OVRVision Pro (AR). Hololens wave 1. Very interested in Vive
      3. Tom - Daqri, hard hat AR screen
      4. Ben has DK2, Kinect 2. Wave 3 for Hololens. Got to try Vive - Vive is coming to MSU and Northwestern, contact Ben for details. 
      5. Chris - Leap is $70 and new firmware has much improved the experience. "Orion" update 
5. Internet2 Global Summit - Chicago - May 15-18, 2016
   1. Who's attending?
      1. Ben, Chris, Dan. Anyone else?
   2. Metaverse Working Group in-person meeting
   3. VR Applications in Education presentation
      1. Ben is talking with Falko Kuester from CalIT2 to be on panel. Send other panelist recommendations to Ben
6. Open Discussion