COVER PAST / VR STORY HISTORY
Q&A The innovator Paris-based artist Nicole Stenger is credited with creating the first totally immersive movie, Angels, between 1989 and 1992 How did you first experience virtual reality? In 1989 I went to Boston, where there was a SIGGRAPH [Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques] exhibition. I had a recommendation from MIT for an animation which I was working on at the time. While I was at SIGGRAPH I met Jaron Lanier, who was quite a colourful character. We were both waiting in line and he was very nice to me, letting me go first to buy my ticket. I attended his talk and realised that this was real, that [VR] was really happening and that you could use it. I decided to turn my 3D animation into a VR movie, which became Angels.
not very practical. But it was very advanced. They [VPL Research] had a haptic glove that they called a Dataglove. They also had a bodysuit with sensors, which you also see today. At the time the suit cost between $45,000 and $90,000, and the whole VR gear cost close to $250,000. Nothing was mainstream at the time. The VR software I use every day now, Unity, is free; at the time, the software from Wavefront
Describe the equipment that you used. It had a similar helmet to what you’d use today, except it was heavier and
“The VR software I use every day now is free; at the time the software was worth over $50,000” 16
Technologies was worth over $50,000.”
What are you doing now? I just ordered the Oculus Rift, specifically because Angels is being re-done completely inside the new equipment that should be available this year. After that, my last movie, The Wish, which was launched in 2015, will also be ported into Oculus. That should be available by the end of this year, too.
BELOW: Renowned artist Nicole Stenger using virtual-reality equipment developed by Jaron Lanier