At last, the meetup has reached the point of no return – we can’t be bothered with roman numerals any longer! So, EEVR 8 took place on february 13th, once again in Tartu, Estonia. This time we were welcomed by Tartu Art School 3D Designers. Of course, many other professions were also present, be it developers, scientists or enthusiasts. The event was a first in many ways: it was the first time one of the two main organizers was absent, the first time we had international speakers and the first time no-one brought their own PCs on site! What exactly went down is detailed below.

First we had a video bridge with Kyra Hendrix and Diana Skopina from MSI, who took us through their line of “VR ready” products. We heard about the latest graphics cards, gaming technologies and also had the change to ask the MSI reps some questions. One big suprise for many was the fact that MSI “VR Ready” laptops were the go-to hardware for many VR demos in this years CES and that said laptops can power the giants like HTC Vive for hours, without being plugged to the wall! MSI also sent a nice swag-box for the event participants, so nobody was left empty-handed. You can check the video here (first video in english, rejoice!)

Next up was Haver Järveoja from Luna 3D (and Wolfprint and many other interesting projects), talking and showing 3D scanning via photogrammetry. Basically they have constructed a self-operated scanner that people can use in a public place to scan their portrait. In a few hours, the mesh can be sent directly to the customer or it can be “planted” on a pre-made character, depending on the context. For example, in the sea plane hangar you could become a virtual pilot. Many developers in the audience showed interested in high-resolution scans and Luna itself is also looking for talented modellers to construct more characters for “faceplanting”. Check it out.

Last one in the spotlight was again Madis Vasser, a true EEVR veteran. This time he spoke about a little fieldtrip abroad, visiting one “leading company in VR knowledge transfer” in the UK. He came back with mixed feelings, but these are best left discussed in the video.

The bottom line – VR headsets are the future, no other technology even comes close.

The demo sessions were fun as always. As the art school provided PCs, all that people had to do was to bring their headsets. And so we had a nice row of HMDs lined up, from a DK1 to many DK2s, and also some mobile systems. Content wise people had the chance to try out EVE:Valkyrie alpha, I Expect You To Die, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and also some local stuff, such as the University of Tartu rollercoaster by PsychoBus. The good times were also captured on video.

Pics from the whole event can be found here.

Until we meet again in april!