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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 F E B R UA R Y 1 8 , 2 0 1 9 the idea that more companies, orga- nizations and storytellers will want to take advantage of this medium, and we'll be well-positioned both as a toolmaker and as a high-end studio for content creation." ey're gearing up as the virtual and augmented reality market takes off worldwide, with spending on both technologies forecast by International Data Corp. to rise to $20 billion this year from $12.1 billion in 2018. While consumer spending is mainly on games, commercial spend- ing is gathering pace in the areas of training ($1.8 billion projected in 2019), online retail showcasing ($558 million) and industrial maintenance ($413 million). e IDC report shows that global spending on augmented and virtual reality products and ser- vices will remain strong over the next five years, as tech giants including Google, Apple and Microsoft duke it out in terms of developing hardware, software and content to meet grow- ing demand. From Kodachrome to smartphones ough virtual reality's origins are disputed, the modern concept stems mainly from the gaming world. It's commonly understood to mean an interactive and immersive 100% digital experience within a simulated, three- dimensional environment as lifelike as if one were physically there, exploring a country from afar, the inside of the brain and even other planets. Current technology most com- monly uses special headsets with built-in screens, sometimes in com- bination with physical environments or props, to teleport the user into a simulated world that can be animated or video-realistic. ough the level of detail and sophistication vary, there's often a hand-held game pad or other device users can press to move around in the projected reality, interact with people or objects and look in all directions with 360-degree panoramic vision — and can be far more intense than an Omnimax eater show. Today's goggles are a 21 st -Cen- tury version of the View-Master toy stereoscope first introduced in 1939 for viewing pairs of transparent Kodachrome color photographs with a three-dimensional effect. Using smart-phone technology and cardboard headsets, Google recently teamed up with Mattel Inc. to develop a mass-market virtual and augmented reality viewer that retails for less than $10 at Walmart. As the hardware becomes more accessible and the wire- less technology advances, companies and organizations in various sectors are starting to use the technology in their daily work. In Maine, SMRT Architects and Engineers and Hospice of Southern Maine are using virtual reality in very different settings and applications. High-tech architectural design In designing the interior of WEX's soon-to-open $15 million waterfront headquarters, the SMRT team next door started with line drawings before moving to computer renderings and virtual reality that allowed for simu- lated visits along the way. "e use of virtual reality was an invaluable process as it allowed us to experience the building 'live' during the early planning process" and make any changes that would have been more expensive at a later stage notes Safet Cobaj, WEX's head of global real estate. "Our CEO was also able to walk through the building virtually, which provided a higher level of com- fort with a project of this magnitude." A recent virtual reality demo at SMRT's office, set up by architec- tural drafters and in-house tech gurus Caleb Morton and Jack Haskell, backs that up. So far they've done training on the new tool for about 10 people at the firm, including architects Graham Vickers, the WEX interior architect and project manager and Nicole Rogers, who didn't work on the WEX project. ough it took some getting used to, both regularly use virtual reality and are convinced of its usefulness in a fast-changing profession where paper sketches and scale models have largely given way to computer-aided design and other technology. "Now instead of drawings, we do 3-D modeling, which virtual reality is a part of," says Vickers. "It's efficient, effective, and a little bit of a 'wow' factor." at's especially true in a project's early stages, like one Rogers remem- bers that initially foresaw a two-story atrium. "When the client saw it in VR, they were like, 'is is huge,' so we changed the design and got rid of the atrium." Let Us Help You Power Your Business With the Right Workplace Technology. 800.374.9900 SymQuest.com C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » Virtual reality is future tech. — Tim Mateosian Big Room Studios V I D E O S T I L L / C O U R T E S Y O F B I G RO O M S T U D I O S V I D E O S T I L L / C O U R T E S Y O F E M BO D I E D L A B S R E N D E R I N G / C O U R T E S Y O F S M R T "Island Land" is a storytelling experiment that uses virtual reality to put the viewer inside a lobster trap. SMRT's still shot of a virtual reality view of the new WEX Inc. headquarters in Portland. Embodied Labs' "Clay" puts views in the skin of a dying patient. This is a scene toward the end. F O C U S

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