LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vortex VR, Inc., an emergent leader in virtual reality technology, today announced the launch of VRTX I, a lightweight VR Mobile phone case and Head Mounted Display (HMD) device with a 100⁰ field of view, tailor-made for the new LG G3 Quad HD smartphone. The company developed the technology in partnership with GameFace Labs and 3D Systems, which 3D-printed the headsets using its Selective Laser Sintering process.

The inventors of 3D printing, 3D Systems has a nearly three-decade track record of innovation. The company produces leading design-to-manufacturing solutions in all seven of its print engines, empowering users to bring digital files to life in more than 100 print materials, including titanium, nylon, full color, ceramics and chocolate. 3DS is pioneering a high-speed, continuous 3D printing and fulfillment platform, in collaboration with Project Ara, Google’s modular smartphone initiative, and has recently entered the virtual reality space through the key healthcare acquisitions of Medical Modeling and Simbionix.

“This is an exciting project for 3D Systems, one that combines the power and flexibility of 3D printing with the incredible advancements in virtual reality and wearables,” said Cathy Lewis, Chief Marketing Officer, 3D Systems. “This has the potential to change how we design, manufacture and interact with these exponential technologies forever.”

According to KZero, over the five year period from 2014 to 2018, Head Mounted Virtual Reality Display (HMD) penetration is forecasted to grow from 0.05% to 8.8%, HMD unit sales is forecasted to grow from 200k to 38.8M, and cumulative unit sales by 2018 is estimated to be 83.3M. Input control device unit sales are expected to grow from 2k to 10.2M and cumulative unit sales of input devices are estimated to be 17.7M units. HMD Revenues are estimated to grow from $70M to $3.8B, with cumulative HMD revenues estimated to reach $11.6B. Input Device Revenues are estimated to grow from $600k to $766M, with cumulative input devices revenues estimated to reach $1.6B. Software revenues are estimated to grow from $960k to $4.6B, with cumulative software revenues estimated to reach $8.4B. This leads to an overall addressable market of over $21B for the years 2014-2018.

“This is the mobile VR experience everyone has been waiting for, and with our technology partners, GameFace Labs and 3D Systems, we have been able to rapidly bring to market a mobile case and device with technology that has been developed to best leverage the Android OS, along with the powerhouse of hardware within the LG G3,” said David Haines, Chairman and Interim CEO, Vortex VR, Inc. “This is our inaugural product and we will be following up with products and services that will cover the entire ecosystem and value chain in the coming months. Our ecosystem will include a focus on an open and scalable Android based platform to enable content developers to directly engage with the largest base of consumers, clients and partners in the VR community.”

“It is great to see that Vortex VR selected our latest flagship smartphone, the LG G3 for its VR device. The LG G3’s 5.5-inch Quad HD display enables nearly double the resolution of any mobile or other available HMD today,” said Chang Ma, senior vice president of North American marketing, LG Electronics MobileComm, USA. “The LG G3 smartphone features a 2560x1440 display panel, which is over 75% more pixels than the current generation of VR Devices. This increased PPI creates added detail and better picture quality, providing a much more intense virtual reality experience.”

About Vortex VR, Inc.

Vortex VR is an emerging virtual reality technology company. The company has developed a revolutionary virtual reality (VR) smartphone device, the VRTX I, and is developing and bundling studio quality games and cinematic content for the android marketplace. Vortex HMD products feature perfectly configured optics, ergonomic designs and integrated controllers. Consumers can now use their smartphone as a virtual cinema, talk to other VRTX users in a virtual chat room, and get immersed into the virtual gaming world. Vortex VR is headquartered at Raleigh Studios – Hollywood. For more information, please visit www.vrtx.io;Press inquiries: pr@vrtx.io; Ed Mason: 323.445.9814.

About 3D Systems

3D Systems is pioneering 3D printing for everyone. 3DS provides the most advanced and comprehensive 3D design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced custom parts. Its powerful digital thread empowers professionals and consumers everywhere to bring their ideas to life in material choices including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. 3DS’ leading healthcare solutions include integrated 3D planning and printing for personalized surgery and patient specific medical and dental devices. Its democratized 3D design and inspection products embody the latest perceptual, capture and touch technology. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods with improved results and reduced time to outcomes. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, plan, guide, prototype or produce functional parts, devices and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future.

Leadership Through Innovation and Technology

3DS invented 3D printing with its Stereo lithography (SLA) printer and was the first to commercialize it in 1989.

3DS invented Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printing and was the first to commercialize it in 1992.

3DS invented the Color-Jet-Printing (CJP) class of 3D printers and was the first to commercialize 3D powder-based systems in 1994.

3DS invented Multi-Jet-Printing (MJP) printers and was the first to commercialize it in 1996.

3DS Medical Modeling pioneered virtual surgical planning (VSP) and its services are world-leading, helping many thousands of patients on an annual basis.

Today its comprehensive range of 3D printers is the industry’s benchmark for production-grade manufacturing in aerospace, automotive, patient specific medical device and a variety of consumer, electronic and fashion accessories.

More information on the company is available at www.3DSystems.com.