Oculus Rift - 90% Knowledge retention through virtual reality

If you are looking for new ways to get your message across, you may want to consider immersive learning experiences using virtual reality

Atticus has harnessed the latest technology from Oculus Rift to generate 3D interactive applications that enable learning by doing. You may have heard that this Kickstarter project, was recently acquired by Facebook for $2 billion. We have been working as Oculus VR developers for some time now and have already produced several immersive learning experiences, including one for a major European energy provider and another for a hazard mitigation company. Other projects include work in the aerospace industry. 

The first application was a sustainability project for an energy company, who wanted their staff to "learn by doing" instead of sitting through 5 hour PowerPoint lectures. Atticus was commissioned to make complex simple and devised a 10 minute fully immersive learning experience that is truly engaging and memorable. 

Feedback so far shows that knowledge retention of the key messages is around 90% compared with traditional methods, which only return around 10-20% recollection. 

Our latest project is for specialist risk analysis company MMI Engineering, featuring their quantitative realtime training simulation, or QUARTS system, which has been developed for health and safety training on oil and gas platforms. 

Bringing this expertise onto the Oculus Rift has made this experience incredibly realistic and very memorable. The user has to raise the alarm when a fire breaks out and after following the correct procedure, must find their way to safety. 

As David Sanderson, a Principal at MMI said: "We pride ourselves on our ability to improve situational awareness through the innovative use of videos and simulators is the next step - it's something we have been at the forefront of for years. VR is the next obvious step and with our partner Atticus, we have developed a simulation with Oculus Rift and the user really feels like they are walking around the platform - it's incredible." Try the web version out here. 

The sense of being completely immersed in the environment with full 360 degree spherical vision allows the user to look all around, up and down and even move through the scenes using controllers or even with walking/movement tracking via Xbox Kinect sensors.

Atticus would love to show you how Oculus Rift could help get your message across, contact us to request a live demonstration.

Augmented Reality App for ChildFund Alliance

Augmented Reality App for ChildFund Alliance – Free From Violence

Atticus Digital was commissioned by Gill Advertising to develop an app to encourage people to sign a petition to help set children 'Free from Violence and Exploitation'.

ChildFund Alliance Augmented Reality App from Atticus Digital on Vimeo.

ChildFund Alliance was keen to use some kind of augmented reality. Once the creative approach had been agreed and the target audience had been identified, we set about figuring out the best approach to tackle this very sensitive subject and develop a promotional tool that would engage and educate the user. It was important to consider the advocacy of the stakeholders and the anticipated reaction of the audience.

The result of the creative process was to focus on the plight of children in certain scenarios, such as Child Labour, Physical Violence and Sexual Violence. The key concept was established and it was decided that we would incorporate the brand message and set children free from violence and exploitation using the ‘Butterfly Effect’.

It was decided that we did not want to portray nations, gender specific people, ethnic groups or identify individuals, so Atticus suggested using animated silhouettes to represent the scenarios.

Once the concept was agreed, Atticus set about investigating the technical approach to the app development. Budgets were restricted due to the charitable nature of the project, so conventional animation methods were dismissed. Motion capture of real people was the obvious choice but traditional methods are very expensive.

Atticus decided to opt for new motion capture technology using Microsoft Xbox Kinect sensors and specialist software iPi Soft, to record the data and convert it for use in 3D platforms.

Each of the 3 scenarios were acted out by adults and the motion was captured and transformed into data that could be manipulated in 3D animation software by Newtek, called Lightwave.

The characters were developed and individual child and adult profiles were matched to suit the brief, several iterations of gender, clothing and even hairstyles were modelled to fit with the requirements.

Once the animation had been matched with the models and the motion capture, the movie files were exported in high definition, ready for compositing with graphics and key messages.

Atticus also produced the animated butterflies to free the children from violence and exploitation.

The augmented reality was programmed by Atticus via the gaming engine Unity, which enabled the integration with the required devices and utilised the gyroscope and GPS locating system on iOS and Android devices.

TestFlight was used to distribute the app for testing on devices before deployment.

The initial release was on the Apple App Store and the approval process was lengthy. Additional functionality was added to aid this, such as news feeds, sharing, Twitter and Facebook integration.

You can download the app from the Apple App Store here:

An Android version is also available on the Google Play Store

Secretary of State for Wales visit with UKTI CEO

Welsh Secretary hosts Nick Baird on visit to Atticus Digital in Cardiff

From innovative 3D animation companies, to an incubator for medical and life sciences start-ups, Secretary of State for Wales, David Jones was host to UK Trade & Investment CEO, Nick Baird on visits to some of Cardiff’s leading business successes.

UKTI is the government organisation responsible for assisting companies to export goods and services abroad, and attracting inward investment into projects and industries at home. Mr Baird is visiting the Welsh capital to underline the level of UKTI support available to businesses in Wales that are looking to enter or to grow in overseas markets.

Mr Jones and Mr Baird visited Atticus Digital – a creative agency based in Cardiff Bay, which is already making waves with international companies such as CNN and BP. The company sees further infiltration into overseas markets as key to their future growth.

Secretary of State for Wales, David Jones said:

“We all want Wales to be a more prosperous place, with increased private sector employment and better opportunities for businesses to grow.

“And there are positive signs that this is happening – 67,000 jobs have been created in the private sector in Wales since 2010*, and there has been a 191% rise in the number of investments by foreign companies into Wales over the last financial year.

“As a Government, we want to do more to ensure Welsh businesses take advantage of every opportunity available to them to grow and expand into new markets. UKTI, with representation throughout the world, has an important role to play in this process. 

“UKTI is a valuable resource for businesses throughout the whole of the UK, Wales included.  Unleashing the potential of companies such as those we are visiting today will be key to ensuring sustainable recovery.”

Nick Baird, Chief Executive of UKTI said:

"I am delighted to be in Wales again to see first hand how local companies are working to internationalise their businesses with support from both UKTI and the Welsh Government Trade & Investment Team, who act as our delivery partner for trade services in Wales.

"I am also pleased to have the opportunity today to talk to Welsh Assembly members about the support offered by UKTI across both trade and inward investment.   

"UKTI offers a wide range of trade support programmes, including help with market research and identifying contacts overseas. UKTI's website provides full details."

During their visit to Atticus Digital, Mr Jones & Mr Baird saw how a company founded as a graphic design agency in 1998, has progressed into producing 3D animation, videos, websites and interactive presentations which have impressed multiple multinational clients.

Atticus’ Managing Director, Martin McCabe highlighted some of the creative and innovative marketing solutions produced by his team in Cardiff, and outlined his plans to venture into virtual and augmented reality applications. 

Mr McCabe said:

“It has been a long and, at times, hard journey over the years; but the team have never lost their excitement in providing imaginative and innovative solutions to clients’ communications needs.

“The company now also offers a full corporate events organisation service, with an experienced team of professionals whose clients include; Land Rover, AstraZeneca, Norwich Union and Aviva. Atticus is committed to continue to provide creative communication solutions to a growing number of world-class companies who benefit from Atticus’ “Complex made Simple” approach.”

CloudCam aerial video and photography services

Atticus partner with CloudCam for UAV aerial video and photography services

CloudCam offers high definition, aerial video and photography, using state of the art UAV technology to provide real-time live action or full production services at a fraction of the of traditional helicopter cost. Find out more at http://cloud-cam.co.uk/

Atticus will provide CGI and 3D animation to compliment the service, an example of this can be seen below:

miLoan Broker animation

Animation to promote secured loans for financial organisation Y3S

Aimed at brokers, miLoan offers an alternative to a remortgage and could prove cheaper for those with low SVR, interest only mortgages. The animation had to be quirky but get a complicated message across in a simple and engaging way. Find out more at miLoan Broker

EKF Molecular Diagnostics website goes live

Atticus latest website for EKF Molecular Diagnostics went live on September 10th

We have already produced 3 websites for the company including one in German.

EKF Molecular Diagnostics aims to enhance genetic detection processes with highly specific, sensitive and innovative technologies and products for research, clinical and companion diagnostic applications.

The company is at the forefront of advancing molecular diagnostics to improve patient health and wellbeing.

Take a look at the website: http://www.ekfmolecular.com/