The VR Digest for March 2018 highlights various advancements in virtual and augmented reality technologies, including tools like Briovr for user-friendly VR production and the release of V-Ray Next Beta 2 with AI denoising features. Notable hardware announcements include new headsets from Qualcomm and Asus, as well as Magic Leap's CEO discussing future products. The document also lists upcoming VR game releases for the month, showcasing a diverse range of titles across different platforms.

1. VR digest
March 2018
by Marina Kolesnichenko
Software Developer at ElifTech

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Technologies

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BrioVR: Approachable Tool For VR Production
Some features:
BrioVR supports all the latest PBR shading in
addition to things like Lightmaps that can really
help create a more beautiful scene.
BrioVR is a drag and drop VR editor & sharing
platform – again with the ultimate goal of being
user friendly to non-tech industry users.
BrioVR support PBR textures, tiled maps, tri-
planar projection and more. One of the cool
things is we support is video in all the shading
channels.
Read more - here

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ARKit
Singh is able to mimic the native function
of a dedicated AR headset by applying
occlusion shaders to manually map
ARCore
Google Brings ARCore 1.0 to Multiple
Flagship Smartphones, Google Lens
Preview Soon
Read more - here Read more - here

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Unity 2018: Introducing Shader Graph
Shader Graph will let you:
Procedurally alter your surface
appearance
Warp and animate UVs
Modify the look of your objects using
familiar image adjustment operations
Change your object’s surface based on
useful information about it; its world
location, normals, distance from the
camera, etc.
Expose Properties to the Material
Inspector, so that you can quickly tweak a
shader’s visuals in the context of a scene.
Share node networks between multiple
graphs and users by creating subgraphs
Create your own custom shader graph
nodes through C# and HLSL
Read more - here

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130 ZBrush Alphas
The pack will help you deal with metal and
other kinds of surfaces inside the tool,
featuring tons of brushes and height/alpha
maps, all 2048×2048.
V-Ray Next Beta 2 Released
Chaos Group has revealed the latest beta
of V-Ray Next, introducing the integration
of the NVIDIA AI denoiser as an
alternative to a denoising algorithm
Read more - here Read more - here

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3D Zephyr 3.7 Available Now
Main features:
Support to multi-texture generation and major
texturing improvements
Multispectral support for orthophoto generation
with multispectral transform composition
‘High-Frequency Gain’ slider for
photoconsistency to preserve sharp details
Position constraint in bundle adjustment for RTK
GPS
Support for 3fr raw cameras (Hasselblad)
Color by elevation in the “update colours” dialog
Layers management in cameras
Read more - here

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Project Manager 2.88 Available
The newest Project Manager introduces a
bunch of new features, adds possibilities
for working on renders, and more.
V-Ray Next Beta 2 Released
Chaos Group has revealed the latest beta
of V-Ray Next, introducing the integration
of the NVIDIA AI denoiser as an
alternative to a denoising algorithm
Read more - here Read more - here

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Gaea Early Access Available
Main features:
Gaea catapults erosion into a new stratosphere
of what’s achievable, far beyond the limiting
processes and vertical lines that have genericized
industry terrains.
Gaea has elevated erosion to an art form. Uniting
the best of sculpting and procedural design,
Directed Erosion lets the artist direct how and
where erosion occurs.
Gaea’s hydraulic erosion is one of the most
advanced algorithms ever created for artistic
visualization.
Read more - here

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Marmoset Toolbag 3.03 Released
News:
Jeff Russell and Chris Perrella teamed up to
provide a comprehensive guide to creating
custom shaders.
Introductory tutorial that covers the basics of
creating Python plugins for Toolbag.
Check out the new Add-On Library, your one stop
shop for carefully curated custom shaders and
Python plugins
Read more - here

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Hardware

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Qualcomm
Qualcomm’s 845 VRDK
Reference Headset Boasts
Eye-tracking, High Res, & High
Framerate
HTC
HTC Confirms It’s Merging VR
and Smartphone Divisions
Varjo
Varjo Announces AR Pass-
through Capability for Its
‘Bionic Display’ Headset
Read more - here Read more - here Read more - here

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Asus
Asus Windows VR Headset
Finally Launches
HTC
HTC Confirms It’s Merging VR
and Smartphone Divisions
Microsoft
Microsoft Affirms New
HoloLens Headset is in
Development
Read more - here Read more - here Read more - here

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Hasbro
Hasbro Jumps Into AR With
Iron Man Hero Vision Toy
Magic Leap
Magic Leap CEO danced around
questions regarding pricing of the
forthcoming Magic Leap One AR
headset
Samsung
Samsung Odyssey Goes on Sale,
Steep Discounts Continue for
Windows VR Headsets
Read more - here Read more - here Read more - here

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News

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Google
Google is said to work on a new gaming
platform and streaming service called Yeti
“Yeti” will use Internet to support the service
similar to PlayStation
The giant is working on a futuristic game-
streaming service, with an idea of launching a
physical console.
The thing here is that the new project will allow
gamers to stream games via Chrome and
ChromeCast and that’s definitely a huge
advantage.
Read more -
here

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eMagin
Read more - here
According to documents filed last month with
SEC, participation of a new stock issuance of
some $10 million by OLED microdisplay maker
eMagin was offered to Apple, Valve, and LG,
among others, though those companies didn’t
end up participating in the deal, Emagin says.

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March 2018 VR Game Release Date
▪ Ascent Spirit – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 1)
▪ Beat the Blitz – HTC Vive (Mar. 1)
▪ Galaxy Race – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 1)
▪ HALUNAZI – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 1)
▪ OVERVIEW – HTC Vive (Mar. 1)
▪ Rise of Insanity – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 1)
▪ Audio Forager – HTC Vive (Mar. 2)
▪ Cloudborn – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 2)
▪ The Way of Kings: Escape the Shattered Plains – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 2)
▪ Yozakura Wizard VR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 2)
▪ Beer Pong VR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 3)
▪ Belle II in Virtual Reality – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 5)
▪ Mech League Hunting – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 5)*Early Access
▪ Surgera VR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 5)
▪ Bravo Team – PSVR (Mar. 6)

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March 2018 VR Game Release Date
▪ Epic Roller Coasters – HTC Vive (Mar. 6)
▪ Escape Room VR: Stories – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 6)
▪ FAUCET VR – Oculus Rift (Mar. 6)
▪ Battle for Mountain Throne – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 7)*Early Access
▪ Guiding Hand VR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 7)*Early Access
▪ Audio Beats – PSVR (Mar. 8)
▪ Big Blue – Memory – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 8)
▪ Hatsune Miku VR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 8)
▪ Ground Runner: Trials – HTC Vive (Mar. 8)*Early Access
▪ Virtual Boxing League – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 8)*Early Access
▪ Xtreme Paddleball – HTC Vive (Mar. 8)*Early Access
▪ Battle Ion – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 9)
▪ John Lazarus – Episode 1: Dead Man’s Origin – HTC Vive (Mar. 9)
▪ Lair of the Titans – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 9)*Early Access

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March 2018 VR Game Release Date
▪ Live the Guitar – HTC Vive (Mar. 9)
▪ oVRshot – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 9)*Early Access
▪ VR Soccer Training – Oculus Rift (Mar. 9)
▪ Volotic – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 10)*Early Access
▪ Bridge Trek – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 12)
▪ Evil Fire – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 12)*Early Access
▪ VIARKANOID – HTC Vive (Mar. 12)
▪ Flipside Studio – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 13)*Early Access
▪ Golem – PSVR (Mar. 6)
▪ Quickshot – HTC Vive (Mar. 13)
▪ Go Guess – Oculus Rift (Mar. 14)
▪ Robo Boop – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 14)
▪ NVR Player – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 16)
▪ Apex Construct – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 20)
▪ Data Thief – HTC Vive (Mar. 20)
▪ Google Spotlight Stories: Rain or Shine – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 20)

21. www.eliftech.com
March 2018 VR Game Release Date
▪ The Villa: Allison’s Diary – HTC Vive (Mar. 21)
▪ Air Raid Over Britain – HTC Vive (Mar. 22)
▪ For The Stars – HTC Vive (Mar. 22)*Early Access
▪ ROMBIE – HTC Vive (Mar. 20)
▪ gridCrack – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 28)*Early Access
▪ Guard of Wonderland VR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 28)
▪ STAR SOD – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (Mar. 30)
▪ Innocent – HTC Vive (March 2018)
▪ Kung Fu All-Star VR – HTC Vive (March 2018)*Early Access
▪ Pale Lands VR – HTC Vive (March 2018)*Early Access
▪ Puzzle Lab – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (March 2018)*Early Access
▪ Rangi – PSVR (March 2018)
▪ RoboHeist VR – HTC Vive (March 2018)
▪ Tanks VR – HTC Vive (March 2018)*Early Access
▪ WORLDS AT WAR – Oculus Rift/HTC Vive (March 2018)*Early Access

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