A recent festival of Swiss literature has given rise to an unprecedented event. Indeed, it was demonstrated a VR experience to “dive into a book”. While literature is opposed to cinema, virtual reality and reading could go hand in hand! Imagine reading a book and then finding yourself in a 360 ° universe inspired by the content of the book?
Carry the reader
The Züri Liest Literature Festival in Switzerland has recently taken place. As an RTS article published on October 26, 2019 explains, a project called Los360 ° VR allowed to experience immersion in a book in virtual reality! It was Los, a book by Klaus Merz, a renowned Swiss writer.
To develop this VR experience, the creators used 360 ° film cameras. The goal? Create ambiances and atmospheres to accompany the text while avoiding to compete with it. For Roman Vital, co-creator of the Los360 ° VR project, there was talk of preserving the identity of the book. However, the images and sounds of virtual reality can carry the player and add more.
A very personal experience
For Sandro Zollinger, the other co-creator of the experiment, this is another dimension compared to adaptations to cinema or theater. According to him, the virtual reality allows a total immersion of the reader, and this without any disturbance of elements coming from the outside. He also feels that this is a very personal experience, as can classical reading. At the festival Züri Liest, the project Los360 ° VR had given a preview. So, no doubt we will still hear about this experience, and why not with the adaptation of other books!
In China, the book revolution is also preparing. On the other hand, it is not a question of virtual reality but of virtual avatars. As part of a first experiment, the very realistic avatars of two Chinese authors were presented. However, they proved to be able to borrow their voice to read their books! However, this experiment has an economic purpose, since it is clearly intended for the audiobook industry – currently enjoying great success. Observers believe that this market will be close to the billion euros in this country from next year.
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Ben has been listening to the technology news for quite some time that he needs just a single read to get an idea surrounding the topic. Ben is our go-to choice for in-depth reviews as well as the normal articles we cover on a normal basis.
