In Ethereal Engine's recap of Summer 2022, we take a deep dive into how the team's mission to unleash the power of the immersive web has evolved.
The mission is simple: make it easy for developers to build web-based immersive experiences that run on any platform, at any location. We have achieved significant milestones in this area throughout our history and are continuing to work toward even greater things as we move forward. We've accomplished much since our launch—from our automated asset optimization pipeline for artists creating 3D content at scale, to our collaborative 3D studio enabling new ways for developers to create richer worlds with less effort—all integrated into what we call the Metaverse Control Plane, allowing effortless deployment and scaling of social spatial websites. We’ve also revolutionized eCommerce with spatial social shopping, giving brands access to the industry’s best customer acquisition costs, and bringing brand experts and customers together in shared immersive spaces, facilitating complex buying decisions like never before.
In June, Ethereal Engine was showcased at AWE, with our partners at Wild Capture, demonstrating high-fidelity 3D digital humans on the web.
Our friends at Wild Capture showed off WildCapture.Live, a volumetric capture virtual performance stage for music, performance art, fashion, and more—all powered by Ethereal Engine. We were happy to be a part of this event and share our technology with other developers who are interested in bringing their creations to life.
In July, we launched our first volumetric concert series featuring Wild Capture, bringing Ethereal Engine to a broader audience.
The event series featured music performances by talented artists, via high-fidelity volumetric capture provided by our friends at Wild Capture, demonstrating the power of Ethereal Engine's volumetric rendering technology. The experience was amazing—we had people from all over the world coming together to celebrate their love for music and art in a way that only virtual events can achieve. You can experience the concert venue for yourself here. Optimizing this experience for mobile was no small feat!
In August, we enjoyed a week in the woods at DWeb Camp, sharing and learning about the decentralized web and self-sovereign identity.
We gave one talk on building spatial web communities that are scalable, open and decentralized; and another talk on the future of Personal Digital Memories. We also ran a workshop where we taught attendees how to build their own regional micro metaverse using the Ethereal Engine Control Center, a self-contained metaverse-in-a-box, i.e., our desktop application for managing a metaverse cluster.
In keeping with the DWeb Camp theme, we also demonstrated how decentralized identifiers, identity web wallets, and verified credentials can be powerfully leveraged in Ethereal Engine to enable an entirely new paradigm of frictionless portable identity that champions user privacy and dignity.
After tent-camping at DWeb, we stopped in Silicon Valley to celebrate the Oculus 10-year anniversary at the SVVR meetup, where we presented our vision of the web as the one true metaverse.
We strongly believe that building on the web is our best bet for a federated yet connected network of immersive applications linking people, technologies, companies, and nations together.
Also in August, we worked with an all-star team from Big Rock Creative and MIT Reality Hack to create a mixed reality metaverse installation at Burning Man.
The "Within the Window" installation was designed to bring together people from across the globe who may otherwise never meet. It was created for Burning Man, bringing together physical and virtual attendees through a window that served as a bridge between the physical playa and a virtual playa.
These burners serendipitously discovered the installation, and spontaneously organized and promoted their own hybrid physical/virtual event!Finally, in September, we announced our 1.0.0 release candidate, along with a number of worlds featuring social augmented reality, immersive shopping, and immersive entertainment/fashion.
We’re proud of the progress we’ve made leading to our first big release, and we plan to continue developing, refining and adding new features to our platform. We hope that you’ll join us on this journey as we build a more connected world together!