Old things

In one of its first deliverables, the Working Group has published a sneak peek at the upcoming guidelines by releasing a high-level summary of the topics that will be covered—including file formats, coordinate systems, geometry, materials, textures, lighting and publishing targets. This summary has been published in Markdown on GitHub under the CC BY 4.0 license. Khronos is inviting feedback, suggestions and contributions from the industry to help guide and improve the full guidelines..

GitHub document

Khronos 3D commerce text about it

Link to Podcast

IKEA (INGKA Group) acquired Geomagical Labs, a leading US-based development company of 3D and visual AI solutions for interactive home furnishing inspiration, based in Silicon Valley, California.

Bloomberg Interview

IKEA news link

Geomagical Lab link

TechCrunch article

 

Today IKEA announces Studio Mode – a new upcoming feature for IKEA Place that will harness the capabilities of Apple’s new iPad Pro to create a more personalised and realistic home furnishing experience. IKEA Place is already one of the most popular AR apps available today. Studio Mode takes it to the next level by interpreting users’ existing homes to render home furnishing solutions that complement their space and style. See also IKEA joins Khronos Board and Deep Learning jobs at IKEA Digital Lab!! Apple Ipad Pro video More info in the press-release here

IKEA Communications AB is now a member of the Khronos Board of Directors.

Khronos does royalty-free open standards for 3D graphics, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Parallel Computing, Neural Networks, and Vision Processing.

IKEA joins the Promoter members: AMD, Apple, Arm, Epic Games, Google, Huawei, Imagination Technologies, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony, Valve and Verisilicon.

Read on Khronos site here

We now have 3 new position open to work with cutting edge Deep Learning (AI) in the field of Visual data science at IKEA Digital lab. Building future solutions needed to support Spatial Computing experiences that is the Lab’s focus.

Deep Learning Specialist – Lead Visual data science

Deep Learning Specialist – Visual data science

Deep Learning Engineer – Visual data science

Please forward/share this to help us find the talents that might find this interesting!

The Zigbee Alliance, an organization of hundreds of companies creating, maintaining, and delivering open, global standards for the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that IKEA has joined its Board of Directors. Read more here

Had a really nice time talking to students at Domus Academy in Milan this week. First remote lecture I have ever done. Looking forward to meet the Master’s in Interaction Design and Master’s in Fashion Styling and Visual Merchandising students  remotely again in January..

https://www.domusacademy.com/news-and-events/ikea-case-studies-in-ar-and-3d-commerce-lecture-by-martin-enthed

An article about the 3D Standardization efforts that among others IKEA participate in! If you are in retail then join the group and be part of shaping the future of 3D Commerce!

https://www.furnituretoday.com/technology/technology-the-importance-of-3d-standardization/

IKEA Digital Lab is looking for a someone with experience in software engineering and software architecture, that can represent our interest in securing standards within 3D graphics in the area of spatial computing, and have deep interest in IP and Patents within the Lab.  We’d love the customer interface to become more three-dimensional and are participating in standardization groups like Khronos Group in topics that will enable it. Think you know someone who is interested? Please pass this job ad forward! We call this role Standards Leader, read more about it via the links below.

Read more on LinkedIn here
Read more at SmartRecruiters  here

The Digital Lab is right now looking for a Game Developer with knowledge within XR Development. In this position you will use your technical expertise to explore, evaluate and transfer innovation insights. We’re on the lookout for passionate doers, idea makers, creative thinkers – people who want to find answers to everyday problems in people’s lives, for society and the planet.

Link to ad on LinkedIn here
Link to ad here

Please share this post and forward it to anyone you think could be interested!

 

I was talking about spatial computing and how IKEA can use it in the future at IKEA DGTL 2019 yesterday….so much fun things this company can do when we decide to do it together ….to reach the many….the future will be magical!

Moved my vacation to be able to participate at IKEA DGTL but then the event was moved ?…….got home yesterday ? and are now going to CPH today to talk about “Innovation is magic” on the last day at the event!

Some images from my presentation at the event below:

I leave SIGGRAPH with a feeling of excitement. No other year have it felt like people talk so much about what’s close at hart for a retailer like IKEA when it comes to CG.

• Make Material move between render engines, define once render anywhere.

• Open, collaborative standard for 3D scenes like USD.
• Better High end materials, for offline use as well as compressing it to real-time renderable.
• Focus on retailers like us as the 3D commerce group in Khronos

Suddenly you don’t feel so alone anymore……as we did presenting the first time publicly at SIGGRAPH in 2013.

Feeling good leaving SIGGRAPH 2019….but already miss the energy during these 5 days meeting brilliant people….. looking forward to next year already!

PS..Thanks for bringing back the “Geek Bar”at SIGGRAPH …..it’s simply the best?

/Martin

3D Commerce Initiative Becomes Khronos Working Group; Call for Participation …we (IKEA) is already on board.

Read more here on the Khronos press site

https://www.khronos.org/3dcommerce/

Join us at the Inaugural 3D Commerce Birds of a Feather Session at Siggraph!

We will discuss our efforts to align the retail industry’s 3D assets and specifications to optimize workflows and minimize distribution costs in the retail sector. The BOF will provide insight into the goals and directions of the 3D Commerce group so that interested parties can judge if they want to get involved. Join and help us lead a disruptive change in terms of product digitalization and pushing e-commerce to the next level!

Thursday, August 1, 2019
10am – 11:30am
Los Angeles Convention Center
Room 507

Read about 3D Commerce here!

Will be talking at “the pipeline conference” on the Sunday and “CG in Europe at the ACM Siggraph theater” on Tuesday.

Looking forward to meet brilliant people and be amazed as always at SIGGRAPH! If you see something that should interest me/IKEA the just give me a “ping”!

A leader role with 3D background!!

Link to more about the position

Right now we’re looking for a 3D Artist with passion for action, speed and creativity! Do you want to be part of showing how to make the many people’s dreams come true, working together with Interior Designers, Photographers and Retouch Artists producing world class 3D Communication.

Link to application

Please join this…..we are in 😉

“The Khronos 3D Commerce Exploratory Group is investigating the creation of standards and guidelines for the production and distribution of real-time 3D representations of products, so they can be experienced realistically and consistently across all platforms and devices”

Read it all here

9-14 of April in Milan

A year ago Chaosgroup released this video on how we work with 3D at IKEA. It’s been played 50K times now….that’s a lot for a 9min interview-stile thing!!! I’m so proud of being part of this at IKEA, with so many talented people at work!

(Some of the tech is already replaced by newer and better ways, but the team and the results are still stunning 😉

I’m off to a week at GDC, packed with meetings every day! Really looking forward to meet some really brilliant people!

And take a tour on the expo floor. Anything special you think I should look at then send a DM.

The technology behind GUNRID is both unique and innovative. It consists of a mineral based, photo catalyst coating that is applied to the textile. When activated by light – both indoor and outdoor light – GUNRID breaks down common indoor air pollutants.

More info here

Listen to the interview in the link below…on Swedish news site Aftonbladet… but interview in English!

https://tv.aftonbladet.se/abtv/articles/279246

Wired article about IKEA smart home, and the new blinds!

Read the article here!

The plan is to take renewable forest raw material and regenerates the cellulose into a textile fiber …. and use it in future products! Cool!

“It’s fantastic to see how the idea of utilizing forest resources for a more sustainable textile has developed from lab stage to a commercially viable product in just a few years,” says inventor and entrepreneur Lars Stigsson. Read more here

Confusing Coordinate systems….just love Tim’s comment! UE4 alone using Left hand and Z up axis 😉

Link to tweet here

The IKEA & Sonos collaboration SYMFONISK will launch in 2019 and Björn Block emphasises that this is not a one-off collaboration, but a long-term partnership. Read more here at ikea.today

Right now we’re looking for a Pipeline TD, someone who’s always on the outlook for media and 3D pipeline improvement. Someone with the talent of leading and developing technical requirements. We would like to find that someone with innovative mind and lateral thinking, who could ensure that major changes to system are successfully delivered.

Link to job here (switch to english in the top right of the page)

Nathan Fariss from PIXAR talked at IKEA Communications Days event in Älmhult today. Nathan Fariss, Sets Supervisor, Pixar Animation Studios talked about “Story-Tellling Sets: The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of Building a Digital World”.

Amazing how similar things can be even if we are in totally different industries. It’s a lot of hard work with talented people, working together, to be able to make it look great!

I met Nathan at SIGGRAPH 2012 and was invited to present at the PIXAR office in 2013. This is still one of the most fun talks I have done working for IKEA to date. We have talked about having Nathan at IKEA for several years…finally we made it happen.

Images from my last talk at the Khronos Group glTF ….. meeting. The discussions after where really positive in favor for my proposal…let’s see what will happen the next year?

(Thanks for the images Pär W)

SIGGRAPH 2018 tech papers….looking forward to learn more in Vancouver in a week! see you there!

Open standard ‘VirtualLink’ Connector for Next-gen Headsets backed by leading players!

Looking forward to more of these standards for VR/AR, good work!

Fun: IKEA ChairPlane…if you just want to see if it fly then go to 7min into the film!

Cloth simulation with contact and friction in a new way….

Autocomplete Sculpting….looks really cool!?

https://youtu.be/wcQy42XWTnA

A really good talk by Vlado at Chaosgroup, letting us in behind the scenes of the development of VRAY. Even if you use other renderers this gives an insight in what it takes to create and maintain one!

The job you have to do to incorporate new things, that did not exist when VRAY started, into the new versions to gain render speed. And the problems you have to solve when artists/users insist on doing not physically accurate things …?

I really loved this talk! I wish more developers would take after Vlado and share things this way!

Link to PDF with slides

Sweden is the best in the world at pretty much everything…..read article here or here

IKEA to use Altered’s patented technique and together develop an affordable water saving nozzle that can be fitted to all common taps, enabling customers to reduce water use by over 90 percent. 

Read more here

Expanding the offer of affordable home solar solutions to 29 IKEA markets by 2025This is one of 7 commitments to become to make IKEA become people and planet positive by 2030!!Read about all commitments here…..

And article about it here….

IKEA + Lego collaboration announcement at Democratic Design Days!

IKEA + Adidas collaboration announcement at Democratic Design Days!

As well as the keynote at 9:00 tomorrow!

“Keynotes – Chaos Group & Special Guests from IKEA, Google Cloud, NVIDIA and Render Legion”

So now it’s time to head of to China and IKODE@Shanghai and our internal Tech Festival. Looking forward to see and meet everyone, and have a talk!

Chaosgroup visited IKEA Communications AB and made a video and article  a while ago, and here it is! Link to article at Chaosgroup

 

Ikea’s Place app is now out for the latest Android phones….also added ‘Visual Search’. Link to article at Engadget.

An article about our friends at Grokstyle, Sean and Kavita. Kavita I have known since Siggraph 2013 and Sean I met at the same event in 2015. I’m really happy that we finally done something public together!!

Link to article in TechCrunch with Kavita and Sean at Grokstyle and Michael at IKEA

An update of IKEA Place app finally adds a brilliant image based AI (Neural Network) search!!!

Join IKEA Hackathon in Shanghai – I will be there 😉

Link to info

IKEA – Top 10 innovative Companies – Design! Link

IKEA – Vegan Hot Dogs Later This Year! Link to an article about it!

The ones in bold (3,4) is in the IKEA Digital Lab!

1. Project Leader (Regular) – http://smrtr.io/asKJuA  (NEW!!!!)

2. Project Leader (11months) – http://smrtr.io/JAxGNg (NEW!!!!)

3. Technical Project Leader – http://smrtr.io/kxfSUA

4. Game Developer – http://smrtr.io/luq65w

5. Production Responsible – http://smrtr.io/UrFqmg

6. Solution Architect – http://smrtr.io/HDyLPQ

Other skillset ? Please contact icom.recruitment@ikea.com.

Reminder: We are hiring Project leader for IKEA Digital Lab…..please share this to anyone you think should be interested! Want to join the IKEA Digital Lab?…. look at links below about role and apply, looking forward to meet you!

Link to description at LinkedIn and also at the recruitment site!

How cute isn’t this…toy train in VR!

Link to article….

IKEA USA Gifts 14,000 Employees VR Headsets For Christmas..??

Link to VRScout article…

We are hiring one more Project leader for IKEA Digital Lab…..please share this to anyone you think should be interested! Want to join the IKEA Digital Lab?…. look at links below about role and apply, looking forward to meet you!

Link to description at LinkedIn and also at the recruitment site!
(we still also are looking for one more Game/Tech Developer, link here)

IKEA and Sonos is making sound for the home together….link to more info

IKEA Place Christmas trees 😉

Recording on VIMEO of my talk “IKEA VR/AR/MR and meatballs” and the Lab that I held in Vegas 14th of November. If you want to know more about what we do these days and the 9 focus areas at the IKEA Digital Lab…then watch this.

It’s also the same I did at the VR Conference and VRST the week before.

Link to recording at Vimeo here!

CG Simulating Materials is always fun to watch 😉

Nice publication….

We are looking to hire so ……Don’t miss IKEA talk and booth at Exhibition at SIGGRAPH Asia next week. Talk is Wednesday 29th at 9:15.

Link to IKEA talk

Link to who is hiring at Siggraph

IKEA winner speech at VR awards ?

Interview here…

Full room and waiting line for IKEA VR/AR/MR and meatballs talk at AU in Vegas yesterday….now leaving Vegas!

(Image by lejla @archbim)

Talking at AU on Tuesday morning…hope to see you there!

On my way to US now!

Had really fun making two talks about “IKEA VR/AR/MR and meatballs” this week. One in Malmö at VR Conference and then in Gothenburg at 23rd ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology. Thanks for all nice feedback!

(Image by Petr Legkov)

(Image by Sarah Hill)

IKEA’s smart lighting now officially supports HomeKit and Alexa….

Link to article

Just now we are hiring Game Developer for IKEA Digital Lab! People who know why robots and pie go well together and why pointclouds on a sunny day does not matter at all. And it does not hurt if you like meatballs 😉

Link to Job description!

IKEA leading the way to secure IoT? according to Mikko Hypponen (F-Secure) !!! Wow….if you don’t believe it listen to what he says at about 17min in!

Good work by the dedicated team lead by Björn Block!

IKEA Place #1 downloaded non game ARKit app worldwide!!!

According to SensorTower…Link to article with more stats

IKEA winner at VR Awards!!!

At the VR Awards event tonight in London (Monday9th of October) IKEA won the category “most creative use of marketing in VR” categoryamong the 10 nominees. This for the “IKEA VR Experience “ launched on steam in April 2016. As I have been part of this project from birth to last update I felt really proud stepping up on stage receiving this on behalf of IKEA Communications AB!

Link to all winners!

Going to VR Awards in London! IKEA nominated….

Link to press release!

Read article about the campaign and the charging range here

Link to an Article in TechCrunch

My IKEA College Andreas will have a talk at Etail Nordic Event in Copenhagen early October! Titel ” Pushing the boundaries: How to gain an ROI from Virtual Reality in retail”

Link to event!

 

There is a lot of talented people involved in this….! Hat of to Michael holding it all together! 

Link to article in ArchitecturalDigest

Link to Time article

Link to CNBC

Link to Mashable

Link to Boredpanda

UE4 support for ARCore announced!

Link to article

Google also want to be in the camera based AR game with ARCore…coming later this year according to CNET.

Read more here….

How to make your own GoT Night Watch costume! 

Link to article about “Ikea responds to revelations that Game Of Thrones’ Jon Snow’s cape is actually an Ikea rug”

My talk & panel at AU this year! It will be a busy Tuesday 😉

Link to more info about Talk!

Link to more info about Panel!

“IKEA VR Experience” shortlisted in the “Most Creative use of Marketing in VR” category for the VR Awards! Link to full list

IKEA takes on Tesla by launching its own home battery….read more here

Do you want to work in a really creative/innovate environment at IKEA as Business Analyst then  check this position out at IKEA Communications AB.

 

Link to job description at LinkedIn

SIGGRAPH soon… my #1 event each year!Off to SIGGRAPH on Saturday, and looking forward to see new things and meet a lot of old friends from the CG Industry all next week. Will also have a bunch of IKEA colleagues joining this year.

I hope to see you there.

Will make a small appearance at a Panel held by Kim Bauman Larsen link here

 

 

 

 

 

I’m off for 3 weeks of vacation and then it’s almost time for SIGGRPAH 2017….hope to see you there!

Link to podcast!

Dip Transform ??? to scan an object!

Looking forward to see more new ideas at Siggraph!

IKEA Australia made a part of the store so you can walk it! Try it out at the below link!

Link to page (looks best in Chrome Browser)

Spending a day at IKEA Democratic design days! I’m so impressed by the organizers have really done a fantastic job!!! Super nice graphics and well designed room and stage. Interesting lineup of news! So impressed! (And they captured me on camera, talking with Göran Nilsson at InterIKEA)

See more about the event here

Recording of the broadcast here

IKEA China is hiring a tech project leader to work with projects for IKEA Digital Lab in Shanghai/China. Hiring manager is my dear  friend at  innovation leader at IKEA China, Jerry Wu. 

If you are fluent in Chinese as well as English and have a VR/AR/MR tech interest then this perfect for you!

Link to application here!

(This image is from my visit in China a month ago….but it is just here to drive interest!  The last post with this image  was my number one most spread post ever ;-)

Depending on what your startup is focusing on, could be anything from new products , production methods, materials or new ways of meeting the customer in VR/MR you are more than welcome to apply. You will get a senior global IKEA business leader as mentor as well as access to tailored mentorship & advice from both IKEA and Rainmaking’s global network of serial entrepreneurs and experts.
Link to article about it! And in the article you find a link to the applications!

Democratic Design Days 7-8 June with a lot of new IKEA things announced this year! Stay tuned!

Link to more info from the event!

Steam release today – IKEA VR Pancake Kitchen

Welcome to the IKEA Virtual Reality kitchen experience published on steam, where you can make some virtual pancakes. Our IKEA kitchen specialist will guide you through some of the key apsects of a well-planned kitchen. And look out for the instructions that will help you to prepare those perfect pancakes. This is the VR experience we have been running in 4 IKEA stores in March/April/May (read about it here).  Well done Jimmie and Andreas and our  friends at Emissive!

Link to steam store page here
Link to press release here

It is our second release on steam following the “IKEA VR Experience” last year on steam here if you missed it!

12 Siggraph 2017 tech YouTube papers looks promising?



This will be interesting to see more of at SIGGRAPH this year – HoloLens glasses. Are you joining this year? We will be there!

IKEA Trådfri smart bulbs to support Alexa, Google and Apple HomeKit this summer….read CNET article here and here at New York Times

Data-Driven Synthesis of Smoke Flows with CNN-based Feature Descriptors …..just loved the title….and the idea of Smoke sim using Convolutional Neural Networks ?

If you are a startup working on solving the Big Problems, we want to invite you to apply for the IKEA Bootcamp program. If your team are one of the ten selected startups, you will spend three months in Sweden, at the heart of the IKEA Range & Supply Democratic Design center, working together with IKEA and Rainmaking to accelerate your startup. Link here

Björn Block talks “smart homes” at IKEA in this really good podcast! Well done Björn! More is coming!!!!

Link to podcast IKEA starts about 26min into it

Story about our pancake kitchen…from our Creative team! When they made the storyboard for the IKEA VR Pancake Kitchen! 

Link to 6 takeaways from designing a VR story 

10 years at IKEA….not a rookie anymore 😉 

Preview of tech papers Siggraph 2017 in LA …see you there!

Vive Eye Tracking – Just tested it in Beijing…. worked really well, at least the demos I tested ?!

Link to article about it!

Understanding MR/VR development in China in 5 days…..I’m going to try as I fly there now. My first time in China. Have all days packed with meetings, in different cities every day, almost. This will be interesting…..

IKEA Trådfri: Internet of Things done right Link to Review home-assistant.io

Beautifully rendered Humans….

Look at more images on this link!

Haptic Helpers…. 😉

Ikea is getting into home automation with a new smart hub. Read TheVerge article about it here…

Amazon buys Thinkbox! The makers of Deadline and Krakatoa!!!!

Link to article about it!

IKEA Smart lighting….so cool!

Link to press info about it!

USD support in UE4! This will be interesting to try…

Link to article about it!

OpenXR, an open standard for VR/MR…It would make life so much easier!

Link to article about it!

IKEA Canada Invites Customers to Flip Pancakes in New Virtual Reality Kitchen.  Tests will also run in Sweden and Belgium!

Link to article about it!

I will be going to to Gothenburg to talk Computer Graphics and new VR stuff from an IKEA perspective the 2:e of March. Both at Visual Arena/Lindholmen together with the friends from Volvo Cars and later that day at Monitors Afterwork at Hardrock Cafe. 

Please join….especially if you are interested in our positions that still are open at IKEA Communications AB. 

Link to Visual Arena Event

Link to Monitor Even

A very nice CG 360 Video is hidden in the extended content for the current IKEA Catalogue 2017. ( If the “360” button does not show then try another browser)

Link to page in the US catalogue that have a “360” button on the lower right. Press that button and it starts!

Still some positions open…. IKEA: Need to hire brilliant Game VR/AR/MR techies!
Just send it in, links below!

Please spread/Share this to anyone that you think could be interested!

Link – 4 Technical VR/AR/MR developers – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications, Älmhult

Microsoft acquires Simplygon….congratulations guys!

Link to Microsoft Blog about it!

VR/Tiltbrush used in a Nissan ad …3D painting!

Link to 3D artist job at LinkedIN

Live/work in Sweden!

I have posted a lot of IKEA job positions this fall and gotten a lot of questions about working/living in Sweden…I have collected a few links below! (If you know some more links then please tell me and I will add)

20 things to know before moving to Sweden
5 reasons to work in Sweden
10 things about family friendly Sweden

IKEA:Hire a manager….Someone that understands that assembly instructions is the building of a brand.

Link to Job …

The VR Experience in IKEA Highligts for 2016 ?

Link to IKEA Highlights

Reminder…. IKEA: Need to hire 4 brilliant Game VR/AR/MR techies!

We will keep this open to the 2nd week of January….so it’s not  to late to apply.
Just send it in, links below!

Please spread/Share this to anyone that you think could be interested!

Link – 4 Technical VR/AR/MR developers – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications, Älmhult

 

VRX was really good…especially the first day! You get a good overall idea on the progress and the struggles companies have in VR/MR/AR/XR/MR, so many new “R”, soon we just stop saying it and it will be part of reality ;-)….2017 will probably be a really interesting year !

​​
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Tim Sweeney on stage talking about metaverse……at VRX!

VRX starting in an hour….looking forward to an inspiring day…

Off to represent IKEA at VRX in San Fransisco…and as always meet new inspiring people all week..and some familiar faces. See you soon!

Reminder…. IKEA: Need to hire 5 brilliant VR/AR/MR techies!We will start looking at the first responses during next week….but it’s not  to late to apply so just send it in, links below!

Please spread/Share this to anyone that you think could be interested!

Link – 4 Technical VR/AR/MR developers – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications, Älmhult

Link – Technical Project Leader – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications , Älmhult

Happy Holidays update of “IKEA VR Experience” just available!

In this update you will find a “Happy Holidays” mode and also added our tasty cinnamon buns to prepare and eat ;-). Available on steam now!

This is the final planned update for the small “IKEA VR Experience”. But as there are so many around the world that still have fun in this little 5 minute VR experience we will keep it available on steam as long as we see people playing!

Hiring a leader for all our 3D Artist, Modellers, Informative Communicators, and others, together contribute to some of the best CGI produced.

Your chance to bring your passion for 3D, communication and leadership skills to the most influential small town in the world.

Link to ad…and more detailed job description

Reminder…. IKEA: Need to hire 5 brilliant VR/AR/MR techies!
Send in response latest Sunday 4th of December follow links below!
I will be attending VRX in San Fransisco next week…if you want to connect!

Please spread/Share this  to anyone that you think could be interested!
Link – 4 Technical VR/AR/MR developers – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications, Älmhult
Link – Technical Project Leader – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications , Älmhult

Sweden officially the ‘goodest’ country in the world, study says….

Link to article about it!

IKEA: Need to hire 5 brilliant techies –  Can you help me spread the word?

Right now we’re looking for Technical developers within realtime 3D/game engine (VR/AR/MR) for our IKEA Digital Lab. People with innovative minds and lateral thinking.  People who think virtual worlds are cool and helping real people is even better. People who know why robots and pie go well together and why pointclouds on a sunny day does not matter at all.

Please spread/Share this  to anyone that you think could be interested!

Link – 4 Technical developers – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications, Älmhult

Link – Technical Project Leader – IKEA Digital Lab, IKEA Communications , Älmhult

Preliminary Deadline 4th of December….

 

“Merged Reality” by Intel…how many realities can their be 😉

Link to long article about it!

Stay tuned – need to hire 4-5 brilliant people for new assignment for IKEA!!! Ad coming in a week or two I hope! It’s in 3D/VR/AR/MR area and future realities ……help me spread the word when it comes!

Had a trip to the Future…with Dr Ian Pearson this week!

Link to an article about his thoughts here!

New Lego HQ…I just love that company!

Presented at “VR on the lot” at Paramount pictures a few days ago….IKEA #1 apparently… 😉

Image taken by @Da_vfx_chick , posted on twitter…



VR…. already at the IKEA Museum! 

Link to more info About it….

Interesting use of wonderful Tiltbrush….building worlds…

Link to article about it….

Nerd³ Plays… IKEA VR Experience…..Starts at 7:39… after starwars…..jump to 14:28 if you just want to see the fun CAT-mode part. One of my new favorites 😉

So happy that we have been able to support this development by Marco Fratarcangeli, nice work!

Link to article here

 

Another “IKEA : Exploring VR” presentation done at GTC Amsterdam! Full room with people standing in the back 😉

Here it is. Your chance to bring your passion for 3D/CG and leadership skills to the most influential small town in the world as 3D Artist Manager at IKEA

Link to jobb description

I will also have a presentation there “IKEA : Exploring VR” Link to event!

This is the first day for the “SVÄRTAN” collection at the IKEA store in Malmö/Sweden. I happened to be there when the store opened at 10am on a Friday, and people was waiting just to get a chance to buy this limited edition. I was told that it was almost all gone during that first day 😉

Link to more info on the collection…

Soo cool from PIXAR about realtime and USD from Siggraph on Vimeo link below! I have been looking at USD for a time and it looks very promising…..

Link to Vimeo

IKEA REGOLIT Floor lamp… hacked to use with an HTC Vive 😉

 

Find the product here….http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60103854/

 

Run it in the YouTube app to see it 😉

Here is an unwarped version…

For the first time ever, experience the IKEA catalogue 2017 in VR: the front page and selected spreads of the largest print production in the world are now available on Steam in the “IKEA VR Experience”.

Link to Update Announcement

How trees talk to each other…TED talk!

Link to paper

A behind-the-scenes preview of the new 2017 IKEA Catalog, including an introduction of this year’s catalog theme, “Goodbye expectations. Hello you!,” which is about inspiring people to live a life free of traditional expectations.

In this short film (link below) you find out how the Wedge Dowel came into being, how designers such as Knut and Marianne Hagberg are integrating it into their designs and how the suppliers have been able to innovate to increase levels of production. Truly impressive!

Link to film about it!

Here it is. Your chance to bring your multiple post production skills and ability to contribute to global motion media communication to the most influential small town in the world.

Link to job description

Leaving the most intense SIGGRAPH ever and I have been at a few! Thanks all brilliant people that I have meet, it has been fun 😉

Last day now before leaving for LA and SIGGRAPH. It is the event of the year for me, with exibitions/talks/presentations and last years become filled with planned and add hook meetings with the brilliant minds and companies in CG. This year it will be filled with VR/AR/MR and realtime graphics like never before! 

Hope to see you there…among the 10,000 visitors 😉

Foveated rendering …so cool…and so needed for next steps in VR/MR…Nvidia will show things at Siggraph next week according to UploadVR.

Animation Dominates U.S. Cinemas For Five Straight Weeks!

Link to article

Pokémon Go is really super big in the world right now, passing both “sex” and “news” as most used search word on Google. 

Not bad for an “augmented reality”/map based game….this is only the beginning…and a fraction of what a MR games will do to the world in a few years 😉
Link so you can check for yourself 
Survey monkey also show crazy data on downloads and retaining players. It’s passing everything and fast…Twitter and Google maps already and slowly reaching snapchat. 

Read all at Survey Monkey

Link to all Nvidia Talks

Sub millimeter jitter and about 2 millimeter accurate positioning in full volume …..the Vives Tracking system tested! 

Link to article…

Sweden is once more the EU innovation leader, followed by Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.

VRAY days at SIGGRAPH…always good talks from real productions! And if you have not listened to Vlado lately then he will do “Vlado in render land” 3-4pm on Thuesday 26 in Room 205A!

Link to program here

Learn to speak “IKEA”…with Michael Ydholm…
And then play with Ellen – “IKEA Furniture, Swedish Curse, or Game of Thrones?”

  
Swedes are the extremist in the world ;-)….at least if you plot it in these two axis.

link to Wikipedia about it!

Search trends say something about popularity ….

Read more about it at RoadToVR

Wanted: An ace photographer ….

Link to job

ARCHITECTURAL 3D AWARDS 2016 – 7 categories with beautiful artistery from all the 35 nominees…..

Link to nominees!

In the late summer of 1990 I was invited to the Autodesk office in Gothenburg by Lars-Åke Moreau and he showed me the below two movies. After seeing them I was totally hooked and just needed to find a way of working with CGI….so I started as a reseller for 3D studio. I only saw these movies ones….and never more…until now when I thought of searching for them on YouTube….26 years later. 

I remembered them being MUCH better quality 😉   But never the less they sparked my passion for CGI, so I’m forever greatful to the creators!!!

(At the end of the last one you also get the spec for a 3D computer in 1990….3MB ram …;-)

“The Corner Stone” by Tom Hudson

Better version: https://vimeo.com/11036263

“Bored Room” promotional video for 3D Studio 1 (Dos version)

Here is a video showing the early interface by Tom Hudson: https://vimeo.com/9652184

Side not….found this old thing too

Animator from 1990 was a 2D animation software that could do 320×200 pixel animations in 256 colors…much like animated gifs ;-)….this was my introduction to animation and I actually earned money holding a course in using it… Spring 1990….and got me into the conference room at Autodesk where I got to see the two movies above…

Link to article about the meatball roadshow

Link to article at VR Focus

(Thanks Robert for the link!)

Off on “Swedish” vacation…now ….see you at SIGGRAPH!

Link to video at Vimeo https://vimeo.com/171196684

Daniel Pero took a lot of photos at the event….it gives you an idea on what the event is all about. 

According to his tweet…..

Link to Paul’s tweet

A lot of nice comments, connections and proposals for solutions to our problems afterwards. Thanks all!

See you there! 

And about “Ikea VR Experience” they say:

-“Yes, it’s basically just a virtual Ikea showroom where you can cook virtual meatballs, but do you really need any more? It’s a weird, charming, and unique little experience.”

Link to The Verge article: Should you buy an HTC Vive right now?

There is no real public stats available anywhere. But this was sampled from user sites at steam, and put together a month ago. IKEA #5 ;-). Link to article below!

Steam Gauge: What VR games are popular with HTC Vive’s early adopters [Updated]

Link to more about the event yesterday!

Link to page about it!
Link to drawer on US IKEA page!

Link to chart

Link to talk at 4pm on wednesday

Ever dreamt about leading one of the world’s largest creative production companies into the future?

Link to job description….

Link to video at Vimeo

Link to above announcement…

Link to store page…

A nice article about sleeping habits in the Chinese IKEA stores 😉

  Link to all images …looks great!

Link to article

Lytro Cinema link

  
Link to more …

Thanks John Garshnek for showing me 😉

Press Release here….

Steam Store page here…

Link to job description….

  
Looking forward to it….@Develop3D Live in Warwick.

  
Link to article and more pictures…

  
Over 1500 people joining so it’s the biggest crowd I have ever spoken to at the same time…this will be fun! 😉

Link to program..

  
Link to article

PowerVR is used in all phones…so why not…even if it’s only rumors, it is not crazy 😉

Link to article at BitTech

Link to article about it…

….but I think I would get motion sick moving like that…;-)

….they where inspired by this “old” animation from animusic “pipe dream”

…..very techy… 😉

Pre-order at 4pm CET….today!

This shows some of the potentials of VR. But it needs a special setup to run today…I tried a simpler version at Siggraph last summer and it is amazing to be able to interact with someone and have real live props that exist in both worlds. 

Thanks Nicola for sending me a link!

  Link to site about it!

  
I just need one…;-)

  
Link to article and more images…..

Link to job

https://youtu.be/XxwrXacMe6Y

Will be interesting to see…

  
Link here

Link to article with evidence! 

 Successful VR with HMD for non gamers is all about two things.

• Room scale tracking with high accuracy without blind spots, made for standing experience  ( at least 1,5×1,5m or 5×5 feet on floor and over  2m high or 7 feet)
• Fully tracked hand controllers, in the same space. 

If you are a non gamer, or aming for non gamers with VR/MR/AR these are the most important things. If you have this, the respons from non gamers is awesome. 

Of course you have to cover the basics with good resolution in the HMD, with stereo and the right IPD, and good enough render power to handle what ever you want to show in at least 90 frames per second. Most of the high end HMD’s, that will come to market 2016, handle that with almost the same specs. 

The reason why you need the above is that non gamers can instantly grasp how you move around, as they walk/lean/kneel/turn to move their view. And when they want to interact they move the controller with their hands/arms as they are used to in real life, and it just works. 

I have seen it work. Non gamers get totally immersed after 15-30 seconds, with a big smile on their lips ;-).  And they do not feel motion sickness during or afterwards as all movements  gets the correct respons in the HMD, via the eyes to the brain, as it would in the real world. 

If you are skeptical about VR for non gamers, and have not tried VR in the above setup, then please do! I promise you, you will be convinced that it will work! 

Link to article here

Link to an article here

Below parts of the Article that is about the future:

2020

Magic Leap hopes to master “mixed reality.” The VR startup’s light-field displays could eventually enable viewers to interact with both the real world and a virtual object projected on it.

2025

The haptics problem—recreating touch and pressure in VR—could be solved by stimulating nerves with electrodes, building on research into muscle-propelled force feedback at the Hasso Plattner Institute.

2030

Streaming data could allow VR to render any physical location in real time. Office spaces might all go virtual.

2035

Artificial intelligence and VR will dovetail, so people could develop bonds with virtual humans. At least that’s the speculation of Hunter Hoffman, lead designer of Snow World: “The brain is pretty open to buying into that.”

 

Link the hole article

  
Link to Article about Global Illumination

  
Link to article about it

Link to article

Are you interested to learn IKEA product names 😉 then this the game for you ….made for IKEA co-workers….

The game named “Matcha” is available for IOS and Android.

Link to AppStore!

  
Link to article at Geekwire

I would guess that more of these will see the day during 2016-2017…

The void promotion Video

thevoid.com

  
The new HTC Vive link

All these demos are really impressive in the device! My personal favorite is Tiltbrush…..

Link to more info here

  

Link to article here

OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Their goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.

Link to openai

  
Link to article about VR/AR

Webpage here:fantasticcontraption.com 

  
Link to post

Link to story

  
A good article about it and the tech here

Great work guys!!

   “We think AR will be very important for people’s lives,” said Shen.

If HoloLens is delayed until 2017 for consumers, then ASUS could be the first to market with an augmented reality headset.

Link to article

  
Link to article here

CCP raises $30 million to make more virtual reality games.
Link to article

  
These guys are good…read about them here!

  Link to article

  
Link to article

  
Link to Article

  

Article Here

  
Universal Scene Description that Pixar is releasing as open source summer 2016 looks very promising. I will certainly look into it in more depth.  If it really works, it can be a game changer for many companies who have  3D assets and scenes they want to reuse in their pipeline.  As long as you can make it support the tools you use. 

Link to it here

  Link to article

  
I really love this project!!! An article and more image here

I’m on my way to spend the week on the US west coast (San Fransisco and Seattle) meeting amazing companies, super exited talking 3D and innovation all week 😉

Chet from Valve!

Intel owned Havok sold to Microsoft according Microsoft blog!

Link to info

We’re looking for a 3D Specialist who knows the many faces of a polygon, the shady side of a material, and the reason why teapots are still considered cool. Someone who can tame a python and wrangle a farm, is fluent in C# and script to the max. Someone who thinks virtual worlds are cool and helping real people is even better. 

Link to job

We’re looking for someone who loves taking big and small ideas all the way from early testing to the hands of our creative users. We need someone who has great business/production sense and truly understands the needs of users.

link to job

Link to story here

  Read article here….

  
link to article and tech specs

  
Link to article

  
Link to article

  
Link to job description ….

  
Do you want to create high quality textures and shaders for IKEA 3D models.

Full time, permanent position starting 1st of October. Link here

Link to article

  
Link to page at Khan Academy

  
Link to zdnet article

  
Read more here

Mashable link to article

Google Tango use Intel Realsense camera….

Read about it here

  
Link to article at mashable here

I saw a presentation about this at SIGGRAPH, truly amazing….and I loved the movie!

  
Film here…
Article at gizmodo….

Link to their homepage…. only for occulus at the moment!

  
Read article at Gizmodo

  
Link to article at gizmodo

I must take a closer look at UDS…

read more here

HTC Vive headset gets nominated for ‘Best Hardware’ award at Gamescom  
Read more here

  
The event of the year for me is SIGGRAPH and it starts in two days in LA…so I’m starting my traveling tomorrow. 

This is the only event where I always learn new things and meet the most brilliant people. If you will be there and want to meet then connect in whatever way you want 😉

What is SIGGRAPH….read below….

SIGGRAPH is attended by 20-30 thousand people during 5 days. Hundreds of talks/panels/papers and other events all happening at once….

SIGGRAPH is short for Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques a chapter within ACM. 

Most of the graphics industry is represented and normally release new stuff at the event, like PIXAR premiered its first short films in mid 1980’s and later here…

 The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is an international society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world’s largest scientific and educational computing society. It is a not-for-profit professional membership group.

VRMark is under development, read more here

  

Link to article at TheVerge

  
Link to article here….

Link to Vimeo movie here

…available for download if you got a Vive to play with!

  
Link to Gamasutra article…

If you think that “consume vertical studios” is easier to communicate/remember than “52.45434 23.4566” and if you have the need to tell where you are or give directions for a meeting place somewhere on earth then read on…this idea/app is for you.

What3Words have divided up all of earth in 3×3 meter patches that all got a unique 3 word identifier. They also have an app and a webpage to translate the words to a position of he map and vice versa…You can actually have the words in other languages than English.

So consume.vertical.studios is actually the spot outside the entrance to my workplace at IKEA in Sweden. If you ever come for a visit this is where you go! Cool isn’t it 😉

embodied.quality.twitchy is the Louvre in Paris

always.flash.buyers is the entrance to the SIGGRAPH convention in LA next week.

What’s the words of your spot on earth?

…..check it out at map3words.com

  
At Gizmodo here

At Mashable here

 No tech specs or anything yet…article here!

Showing IKEA from 1970’s to today…you will recognize a lot of products 😉

Link to the special catalogue here….

Link to Schedule and Register

article here

Article at TechCrunch here!

Link to “20 Cool Decorating Tricks + Finds from the 2016 IKEA Catalogue “

  

#3DBenchy is a 3D model specifically designed for testing and benchmarking 3D printers. It is a small recognizable object that you can download for free, make and share.
Link to site where you can get object and measurements!

  
Link to article at IKEA Hackers…

  
According to gizmodo article it stores everything you see and hear..and then you should be able to make queries about the past. How it makes sense of what it sees and hear is not explained 😉

Link to article at GIZMODO

Look at the YouTube film where the talented colleagues of mine talk about the production of the IKEA catalogue 2016 (that is coming out now) on YouTube…above!

You will see glimpses of our office/tools and work environments along with interviews…enjoy 😉
Be sure to get the digital catalogue with extended content like film/3D/360/….. IoS App Store link here

  
still not much info about it. You can find more images and text about it at Mashable.com

  
Link to VRAY days at SIGGRAPH

  
Link to article

  Article here….

Tuesday at SIGGRAPH…Link to more info

Link to schedule here…

Colorblind guy “see” color for the first time, less overlapped than he normally sees them…the world is beautiful in color 😉

It sets a filter to block parts of the spectra in a few places ….Link about the glasses here

Facebook’s Oculus Confirms Acquisition Of Pebbles Interfaces To Grow VR Footprint (And Fingerprint)

Read at techcrunch…

It’s starting this fall and will propably be everywhere in 5-10 years…maybe faster 😉  
Article here…

a nice demo of the possibilities with AR…don’t believe that is more than that ….yet!

  
-“CICADA launched from balloons at altitudes as high as five miles and 30 miles away, landed within 15 feet of their intended targets. CICADA has no propulsion source. Because it glides to its destination solely by receiving GPS, it is nearly undetectable. CICADA itself is merely a printed circuit board and the laboratory touts future systems as able to carry acoustic, magnetic, chemical/biological or signals intelligence sensors.”

Read more here…

Link to article…

  
Article here….

  Link to article and schedule…

  
Link to article

Emerging tech at SIGGRAPH in a month…

Interesting part starts at 12:20…

Thanks Paulo Kiefe at CT for sending this to me…

New features in Phoenix by Chaosgroup…

A device that combined with a VR headset will make you feel like flying..and do a workout…at the same time….or something 😉

Read more about it here at their website ….

An article about it here

Showing HTC Vive and Oculus and other things in the video….VR is coming 😉

I like that they show the potential of VR/AR…but I wonder how close they are to having a shipping product…I love the demo though…;-)

Nice to see the actors performance move over so nicely to the robots…

  
Read about it here…

In the time where we start to experience VR…what is reality 😉

 

Article at Gizmodo

Read the story here…

Interesting podcast about V-Ray Cloud and V-Ray App SDK…..you find it here

Lenova smart cast prototype shown in this clip … Gives you new ideas 😉

The “glugging” simulation is really beautiful 😉

Just adding and removing DR servers on the fly is a killer feature…wonder where they got that idea from…

Using google cardboard in a school environment to go on field trips…

Article about it here….

an article about automation and jobs in the feature…read it here

assemble furniture …in a game… Available at steam. Here it’s playd by PewDiePei.

YouTube by PewDiePie…

The SixthSense thing that was presented the first time 4-5 years ago is still an interesting thing as i becomes a shared augmented reality experience……..

Gizmodo: Get Ready for Official IKEA Furniture Hacking Kits

Techcrunch writes :

When asked by TechCrunch, Apple responded with its standard reply it gives as confirmation of acquistions, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.

Read all at Techcrunch…

Article about neo4js…..

Link to article…..HDR movies sounds promising!

Article about it:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/20/epic-games-big-data-vr-challenge/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-19-sony-sets-up-north-west-studio-to-work-on-project-morpheus-games

 

For some reason this is interesting 😉

Technical papers at SIGGRAPH 2015…. I look forward to see this in LA!

Added Instagram and LinkedIn link…wont do more now… 😉

Just restarted this page….don’t really know what I will put here…