Virtual reality, once just a dream of science fiction writers, now has merged into part of our daily lives. Multiple headsets are now on sale to consumers, further blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
As these remarkable VR gears become more affordable, the upcoming years will certainly bring more growth and innovation to the industry.
While the VR technology is first used for civilian purposes and popularized in the gaming sector, explorations in VR technology in science museums and exhibition halls began a decade ago.
Founded in 1997, Shanghai Hantu Technology has an industry-leading VR interactive technology development team, VR enhancement technology and panoramic photographing CG synthetic technique.
Besides, it has also made explorations in virtual tourism, exhibition, virtual online education, panoramic sports broadcasting and VR panoramic movies.
"VR has been in existence for decades worldwide, and for more than a decade in China," said Qian Deyu, Deputy GM, Shanghai Hantu Technology.
"In the past, we called VR multimedia, such as a spherical screen or virtual driving or city roaming, which are what we called VR, until Zuckerberg launched the device of Oculus, and everybody thought it might be mature and scrambled to work on it. Now it’s renamed as VR. In fact, it has existed in China for more than a decade. "
Hantu technloogy are putting more efforts on VR product creation with the coming of VR year. So far Hantu has created a number of VR works by using the GoPro panoramic photographing, including Chang’e No.3 as well as the VR video of Shanghai Broadcasting Building. Director Liu Chenguangdemonstrated the process of VR panoramic photographing.
"We’ve erected 7 GoPro cameras on the platform. We piece together these 7 different images into a 360-degree panoramic screen," said Liu Chenguang, VR director, Shanghai Hantu Technology.
"I’m holding a GoPro synchronizer right now. This is the very device that enables the seven cameras to turn on synchronously. Here is a small infrared synchronizer. When I turn it on by pressing the red button, the 7 cameras receive infrared signals and turn themselves on simultaneously. Now they are already on."
According to Mr Qian, the figure of VR volume of Hantu increased 2-3 times than last year. However, content producers like hantu have always been puzzled by the unmaturetechnology of VR as well as the way of making money from it.
"To be honest, given the status quo of VR, there are no banner holders or voice makers for VR; those launched remain in the conceptual stage," said Wu Shenghao, GM, Shanghai Hantu Technology.
"It may now be faced with an issue: the initial year of consumption may have begun, while its prospect of future growth remains unknown in the 3 to 5 years to come. "
The popularity of VR reflects the fact that many giants are seeking a new engine of growth in a sector of exploration, and entrepreneurs need more reasonable thinking about the bubble. While it becomes the love potion for many entrepreneurs, its spring still looks far.
The good news for entrepreneurs is that the news of VR startups raising significant funding keeps going on.
In April, Moojing acquired USD 10 million funding from investors like HuayiBrothers, Telling, Aisidi and Green Pine Capital.
Such examples grow with time, such as the USD 30 million round-A financing acquired by the VR vertical portal 87870, Sequoia Capital investing in ANTVR, Thunder investing in Deepoon VR, APUS and Fenghou Capital investing in Fireworks, and Tencent investing in Zanadu.
