Daniel Sproll

Realities.io

I interviewed Daniel Sproll, co-founder of the VR Company Realities.io based in Berlin, Germany.

Realities is a company which uses photogrammetry to create extremely realistic scenes of hard to reach places for people to access in virtual reality. Daniel Sproll and David Finsterwalder founded the company and the goal of Realities is to bring real world places into VR as they are, keeping as much of the detail as possible, keep “all the scratches and all the weird things.” They want people to have the opportunity to experience places they may never otherwise get to, places normally far out of reach or impossible to go. For example in their piece on the Cologne Cathedral, they were able to take people to parts of the cathedral that are not open to the public. Sproll joked, people always ask him why he hasn’t created a beach scene but without the sand between your toes, the warmth, the smells the viewer would be completely disappointed but with places you cannot go to in real life… “If you can only go in VR then VR is pretty good.” Realities is interested in a wide range of places such as taking people to cultural heritage sites like Mayan ruins as well as abandoned hospitals falling apart, places with beautiful street art, etc. But overall the main idea is places people may never see, places that may not exist for very long and places that are interesting.

Daniel Sproll began working in virtual reality five years ago. He originally started as a researcher studying human spatial navigation but he decided to more fully jump into the industry, he worked for a few companies then cofounded Realities. David Finsterwalder before cofounding realities worked with archeology, giving him a background in photogrammetry, which is a common method used in preserving artifacts and cultural heritage. He was also interested in gaming so hopped onto VR when came along.

Sense of presence

Sproll explained that right now much of VR is very stylized because of what is available to work with and although that works well for a sense of presence, there is something more that photogrammetry can bring to presence. All of the little details effect a viewer’s perception and awareness of a scene. Sproll stated that there is a magic to 3D photos, something special and immersive about it, especially when things are close to the viewer and one can be engulfed by the scene. An example of a scene that Sproll feels this way about is the inside a pit were he explained he could feel the different world around him. One thing however that is an issue with photogrammetry and Realities is currently experimenting with is movement. Photogrammetry is static and movement is another element in creating a sense of presence. Sproll discussed that there are many elements to sense of presence and that it is a huge concept, photogrammetry only being a part of it.

Additionally the concept of VR is all about immersion. Sproll discussed, it is a switch from a “proxy immersion that film uses, it actually puts people in the scene.” Realities wants people to get closer and to experience for themselves.

Sound

Another element to sense of presence is sound. Sproll discussed that once they started playing with sound it made a dramatic difference to their pieces. People would interact differently with the environment “when there is sound people slow down and take their time, they were a lot more ‘gone’ with sound. They were more transported.”

Haptics

Realities does not use a lot of haptics but they do expereiment with them quite a bit and feel they make a difference to sense of presence. Realities uses mostly the rumble of the controller for haptics, such as changing the rumble based on the terrain of the region viewers are hovering over. Because at the moment there is not a unified set of haptics they would rather wait until it is more further developed. However with the haptics they do use it is very subtle, people almost do not notice but it creates a greater connection.

Narrative

Having a coherent narrative is another important aspect. Realities is currently in the transitioning phase from doing more tech demo type work to adding in more elements of narrative. That is not to say however that they are a storytelling company, they are not currently interested in storytelling but world building, “Our goal is not a linear narrative or a game but keeping true to exploring a space and finding pieces of info throughout a scene.” An example of how they are adding this to their work is their Death Valley piece. In this piece they hid cassettes around the space adding a bit of a gaming element to it but still keeping it true to how people explore in real life, wandering around, looking at what interests them and listening to the cassettes only if they choose to listen. These elements of narrative are ways to convey a little extra information, to add in short anecdotes, and to just add a little more to the piece.

Collaboration

Realities is big into collaboration. They are beginning to collaborate more now with documentary film makers and journalists who travel to crazy and exciting places who want to tell their stories. An example of a collaborative project Realities worked on is After Solitary, scanning the prison scene.

Process

The process of making a piece is fairly quick however, one of Realities goals is to try to optimize the time it takes as well as streamline the process so that more can be done by people out in the field. An example of the time frame of a project is their Death Valley experience. There were six locations and one person spent three days on the road scanning the scenes. Each scene takes a few hours to scan using normal DSLR cameras as well as sometimes a drone. Putting the scene together takes longer; it took three people about four weeks to put together the six scenes.

Business

Right now Realities is venture backed so they are able to operate without making money right away. Sproll explained that the VR market is currently tiny and if they want to do well in the long-term it is better to not worry about the money at first and put all of the effort of the company into getting their work out there and receiving feedback. Also they want to keep many of their experiences free especially world heritage sites since those “belong to everybody.” Their goal is first to create something people love and to then find a way to live off of that. They are exploring different ideas such as featured content and product placement for the future.

Future of VR

Sproll see the future of computing as breaking out of the box, literally. He believes that technology is going to continue coming out into the world in the form of AR and VR, into spaces people can enter as a part of the “trend of computing engulfing us and becoming more human in its interface.” Additionally Sproll expects that there will no longer be a distinction between mobile and desktop VR since it will free people from being stuck to an expensive computer. He also thinks the distinction of AR and VR may disappear in time, that there will be a way to decide how much of reality you want, that there will be an option to change the transparency. However Sproll also believes that it is hard to speculate but that we are definitely in for interesting changes.