John Gaeta, often associated with his groundbreaking special effects within The Matrix trilogy, is currently working with xLab, Industrial Light & Magic’s arm dedicated to interactive media experimentation. He’ll be joining the live VR show Gunter’s Universe as a guest Friday the 24th of June.
Gaeta’s role at ILMxLab includes experimenting with new forms of experiential entertainment including virtual cinema, sensor-based human interfaces, and immersive ‘theaters’. Having helped paint the concept of virtual worlds onto our collective minds with The Matrix, it seems appropriate that he will be a guest on Gunter’s Universe, a virtual talk show in which the majority of viewers are ‘jacked in’ with VR headsets to experience the show as though they are actually there in the audience. Gaeta will join the show, which is hosted within VRChat, as a guest on Friday June 24th at 7:00pm PT (your timezone here).
The timing for this event comes on the heels of an announcement that ILMxLab have been collaborating with Magic Leap, a company shrouded in secrecy that is promising revolutionary augmented reality technology. Magic Leap has wowed industry experts who have been lucky enough to try their tech behind closed doors and has received some $1.4 billion in funding. In conjunction with the latest announcement a new video was released by ILM which shows Star Wars assets, including R2-D2 and C-3PO, through the lens of Magic Leap’s AR tech.
Earlier this year we gave a hands-on report of ILMxLAB’s public showing of their Holo-Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival in which attendees were able to step into the Star Wars universe using a CAVE type system and positionally tracked stereoscopic glasses. At that time the team described how they envision the tech being used for interactive group cinematic experiences, education and more.
While it is unclear what Gaeta is allowed to discuss regarding the Magic Leap collaboration, we are sure to be entertained as we journey into the mind of a man who is helping to define the future of interactive entertainment.
See John Gaeta on Gunter’s Universe Live
When: Friday, June 24th @ 10:00pm EST / 7:00pm PST
Where: VRChat to join live with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or monitor. The show will also be streamed on twitch at twitch.tv/gunter444
How: Download VRChat www.vrchat.net When launched you can set up your profile and avatar. Arrive early as seating is limited. See controls here.
