Holographic tables are a form of volumetric display and they aren’t new. However current models can only support one user at a time. They work by using projection mapping along with head tracking to give a dynamically reprojected 3D view as the user moves around freely.

A clever idea and it must be fairly impressive to experience it – but only having a single person able to look at any one time means that it has little advantage over head tracked VR such as the Vive or Rift.

An Australian company called Euclideon has cracked the problem:

“When you’re wearing these glasses, the table is able to track the position of each of your eyes, and build a custom image for each eye. Using frequency separation crystal films in both the table surface and the glasses, up to eight separate images can be sorted out from what looks to the naked eye like a jumble of coloured light, allowing up to four people to experience a binocular stereo image that looks remarkably like the way holograms are depicted in Star Wars and a thousand other movies.”

So – 4 users is better than 1 but it’s still a not enough for public demos. There is another catch. The current model has a price tag of $47,000

Still – it shows an interesting way forward and it’s an approach that hadn’t really occurred to me before.

The range of responses was fascinating. Some people took to the interface naturally and were ‘porting around the VR gallery space in no time, viewing George Underwood’s amazing paintings just as they would in a real gallery. Others found it harder to separate the comparatively ‘large’ VR environment from the more limited physical space they were in, and had to be gently restrained from walking into some very real furniture. At least we know we have the graphic realism nailed.

We were too busy setting up the VR rig to watch the presentation and talk by our first exhibiting artist, the painter George Underwood, but judging by the gales of laughter coming from the auditorium his anecdotes about making art and music with 70s rock legends including David Bowie, Peter Frampton and Marc Bolan went down a storm. A special thanks to George and the fabulously talented Underwood family for all their help and support, and thanks also to the Brighton Illustrator’s Group, 68 Middle Street and Clearleft.

A final thanks is due to the wonderful Kate Smith, writer and web project manager for the National Museum Director’s Council, who travelled all the way from Yorkshire to give Gallery Ghost a go. Kate told us afterwards that it was ‘the best VR experience I’ve had so far’, so hopefully that means her long journey was worthwhile.

And now, back to work. We have more VR exhibitions to curate. Onward and upward!

A new virtual reality art gallery will open its doors to the public for the first time in Brighton this month, with an exhibition of work by the iconic British artist George Underwood.

The exhibition, a collaboration between Brighton VR lab Gallery Ghost and Underwood, who made his name painting album covers for rock legends including David Bowie, T. Rex and Procol Harum, is one of the first of its kind and will be seen as a litmus test of how effectively VR can be utilised by artists and curators working in non-digital media.

The exhibition will feature paintings from Underwood’s dreamlike ‘Warriors’ collection, as well as selected portraits of Bowie and other stars. The paintings are displayed in a virtual space designed to replicate the experience of viewing art in a real gallery setting.

“The possibilities are endless. I could feel the future breathing down my neck” – George Underwood

Gallery Ghost worked closely with Underwood to ensure each painting was reproduced as accurately as possible, including details such as texture, tone and lighting.

“Seeing my work displayed in this way for the first time has been amazing, like entering a parallel universe,” said Underwood. “I didn’t know what to expect when I put the VR headset on, but it looked far better than I ever imagined. The gallery is so realistic I almost expected a friend to wonder in and say ‘hey George, how are you doing?’

“This kind of technology will allow art to be enjoyed by more people. You could recreate the National Gallery and show it to someone in Australia. The possibilities are endless, I could feel the future breathing down my neck.”

Gallery Ghost co-founder Andy Baker, who led technical development of the project, is optimistic that VR gallery spaces will soon be the norm in the arts and culture sector.

“VR technology has now reached a point where artists and gallery owners can use it to display work created in traditional media and be confident that the virtual environment will do it justice,” he said.

“Bringing art to a wider audience has always been fraught with logistical problems, which are all solved by VR. Geographic location, transport, framing, gallery capacity; all that ceases to be an issue. In a virtual space you can display what you want to whoever you like, anywhere in the world, at any time. The fact that a professional artist of George’s calibre is willing to collaborate on a project of this sort shows how fast things are moving forward.”

Tickets for this exhibition have now SOLD OUT. For news about future Gallery Ghost events or to arrange a demo email [email protected] 

One of the first issues we had to think about once we decided to work on a product related to VR and the arts was a problem faced by VR developers in all fields right now: Not enough people own a (proper) VR headset.

Let me qualify ‘proper’ for a second. I love the phone VR headsets. I got a Google Cardboard the minute they came out, I’ve got a Samsung Gear and a Google Daydream. I backed NOLO’s positional tracking Kickstarter and I’ve tried out nearly every VR app available on all these platforms.

But the difference between mobile VR in it’s current form and an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive is night and day. It’s not about the resolution or the quality of the optics. Even the refresh rate and head tracking (at least in terms of rotation) is “good enough” with the Gear and Daydream. And there’s some fantastic software – especially related to arts and culture.

But on the cheaper gear you can’t do the one thing that makes high-end VR really magical. You can’t lean closer to a painting. You can’t walk to one side to see how the paint catches the light. You can’t step back to take in the scale.

These things are transformative in terms of getting a sense of immersion and presence. And to get these you have to spend at least £1500 to £2000 on an up-to-date PC and the accompanying headset. That’s a big leap up from a £70 headset with a slot for your phone.

Unsurprisingly, sales of high-end VR are modest. Nobody is publishing official figures (you don’t unless you’ve got something to shout about) but we’re talking somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000 world-wide. That’s not a huge audience – especially if your audience is a subset of that.

Gallery Ghost realised early on that – until that changes – the best way to get people to experience what we do is in public spaces or events where we supply the running gear.  Other companies are also reaching the same conclusion – hence the rise of VR  at arcades, exhibitions and conferences etc.

But it won’t be this way forever. Microsoft claim the headsets that support Windows Holographic will be half the price and work on a much more modest PCs. Therefore there’s a chance that the PC you already own and a £350 headset will get you a decent VR experience. The problem is that  –  a few press demos and previews aside – there’s been no in-depth reviews of the hardware in the form that will hit the shelves. Will it be good enough? Will it be “slightly better than mobile VR” or “nearly as good as high-end VR”?

If it’s the latter then I personally will get very excited (it doesn’t take much…). Even if it’s the former, then at least that’s a step in the right direction.

And mobile VR itself will get better. I’m just really impatient…