As brands and marketers dive head first into creating immersive virtual reality experiences that consumers can watch from the comfort of their home, two Geneva, Switzerland based companies are encouraging consumers to use their bodies and actually move in a real/virtual world environment.

Kenzan is developing what they are calling their “Real Virtuality” platform with motion capture partner Artanim. Through the collaboration of engineers, visual artists, and motion capture experts, they are working to combine a virtual reality headset with a house-size motion capture installation.

Their latest project shows what it’s like to walk through a pharaoh’s tomb wearing an Oculus Rift DK2 to visualize the virtual space installation. In this latest tomb experience, the brave explorer slowly walks through dark hieroglyphic tunnels, actually holding a torch in hand, and opening a secret door by placing a real-world object into a keyhole space on the wall.

Throughout the entire installation, motion capture devices on the explorer’s body, items, and walls help capture the body movements throughout the experience and allows users to physically explore and interact with the virtual environment.

“We would like to explore something different, we would like people to get off their sofa and use their bodies to move in virtual reality. This is what we are trying to achieve here by combining virtual reality technology along with motion capture.” Vincent Trouche, Managing Director of Kenzan, explained about their “Real Virtuality” experience.

The latest project from Kenzan and Artanim shows a future virtual reality experience that can help address limitations of some of the current VR applications, where sometimes you just want to stand up, walk around, and reach out to touch something.

Sylvain Chague, Co-Founder & Technology Director of Artanim, shared his belief that motion capture “will no longer just be a tool to produce video games or feature films, but it will become a new medium that will allow yourself to be immersed in a virtual environment and become the actor of your own experience.”

The potential future applications of motion capture virtual reality installations could help elevate museum experiences, event-activations, and theme parks in a way that would provide a more effective level of education and immersion. I for one would love to see this integrated into theme parks and haunted houses.

What are you most excited to see VR installation experiences used for?