Burning Man, a week-long festival in the Black Rock Desert that showcases the weird and wonderful, will be getting a VR Camp—an enclave of VR enthusiasts that should find themselves at home among the unbound imagination and psychedelia that often shows up at the annual festival.
VR Camp organizer and long-time VR evangelist Shannon Norrell will be there along with founding members of Silicon Valley Virtual Reality (SVVR), who will construct the camp and host demos throughout the August 30th to September 7th festival. Over 60,000 people visited Burning Man’s temporary city (dubbed ‘Black Rock City’), which yearly becomes Nevada’s third largest in population.
VR Camp at Burning Man Kickstarter
Two 40-foot expo tents covered in silver reflective tarps to keep out the harsh desert sun will both feature interior airlock antechambers to further reduce the possibility of sand making its way in to foul up the camp’s delicate equipment.
The VR Camp is naturally featuring an impressive number of VR headsets: Google Cardboard, several DK2s running on their 15 computers provided by nVidia and HP, and with the very strong possibility of an HTC Vive so that ‘Burners’ can get a chance with the highly sought after ‘room scale’ VR headset. Art installations at Burning Man are free of cost, and VR Camp will follow in the tradition to offer demos of the latest VR tech including Leap Motion and Perception Neuron.
With previous experience working on Burning Man’s yearly effigy, including The Trojan Horse in 2011 and the Alien Siege Machine in 2014, Norrell wants to make VR Camp a yearly installation, and maintains that the camp’s first year will be critical in determining if it can go forward.
Although a lot of the footwork is already done, including vehicle registration, tickets, and general VR equipment, Norrell has launched a Kickstarter campaign with $10,000 goal to ensure the funds to put up the camp’s big screen, which will feature Perception Neuron’s motion capture suit that will control a Godzilla and Mechanoid avatar.
Since a single generator is needed for every two computers, the camp will require at very least 8 generators running simultaneously just to power the computers alone. More will be needed for projectors, lights, and basic camp services. Funding will also go to fuel, projectors, concert-style scaffolding (box trusses) for the big screen, truck rentals, and construction materials.
VR super fans who want to get into The VOID, the yet unopened VR theme park in Salt Lake City, can choose a special $1,000 funding tier which will get 10 lucky fans a pre-launch sneak peak at The Void’s ‘beta center’. This tier includes airfare, rental car, and dinner with the creators.
Already a 30-person endeavour, there’s plenty of room for more dedicated volunteers to help set up the camp and run VR rigs. Anyone interested in volunteering or supporting the project in any way can contact Shannon Norrell at shannon@bmanvr.com
Funding Tiers
- Pledge $5 or more VRCamp 3-D printed and custom painted beer bottle opener. These super-cool (and super useful) openers are great conversation pieces. Each piece is 3D printed and hand-painted.
- Pledge $25 or more EXPERIMENTAL VR EXPERIENCE A virtual reality film made by VR Camp artists at Burning Man 2015. See it before everyone else and get your name on the credits list.
- Pledge $50 or more LIMITED EDITION VR CAMP PENDANT The mark of a true VR fan. Super high-quality pendant necklace in antique nickel plated brass that GLOWS IN THE DARK. This is the reward that everyone is going to remember.
- Pledge $100 or more BURNING MAN ESSENTIALS A survivors kit with high quality goods. One stainless steel mug, one great bandana and one 3d-printed bottle opener all signed by VR Camp. Pick it up at our camp and come and hang out.
- Pledge $400 or more VR CAMP GOLDEN SVVR TICKET A shimmering all access 2-day ticket to SVVR Conference & Expo in Silicon Valley, May 2016. The SVVR Conference is attended by everybody who’s anybody in VR and this pass gives you exclusive access to all panels.
- Pledge $1,000 or more THE VOID Did you also see the mind-blowing trailer for this virtual reality madhouse? Were you also bummed out when you heard that they open in 2016? If you pledge this much we promise to get you inside before everyone else. We also promise you a flight ticket to Salt Lake City and a sweet rental car. If you pledge this much we even promise you a great dinner before you enter *play epic music* THE VOID!
