Here are some VR Pioneers & Influencers I have been following that are doing some really neat projects in mixed reality. This list ( in no particular order) has a range of thought leaders, problem solvers, and artists in the VR & mixed reality space.
I want to hear from you! If you have any thoughts, comments, or other influencers you are following tell me about them, I'd like to know. My email is Shawn@Basereality.co. Cheers!
Angela Haddad - Founder & VR Creative Director of One Third Blue. She creates beautiful watercolor 2D art and turns them into VR experiences. They are very stylish and chic. Her work can be used for digital marketing, sponsored brand placement, retail store-based VR experiences etc. You can watch her paint with Tiltbrush in VR here.
Jennifer Duong - Co-founder of Women in Virtual Reality & SH/FT; an organization that highlights female and minority voices in storytelling. She is a VR specialist with lots of experience ranging from VR directing to post supervision. She's worked on projects like Vice's Beyond the Frame: Chasing The Dream Series, and is also an instructor at Upload.
Malia Probst - VR Evangelist, is the Director of Brand Development for VRScout. She also hosts two podcasts: the Real Virtual Show which has discussions with other influencers and leaders in the VR/AR industry, and the VRScout Report Podcast, a weekly news wrap up on VR/AR industry.
Christina Heller - CEO & Co-Founder of VR Playhouse, a creative studio based in Los Angeles that provides VR/AR production services and creates original content. Some of VR Playhouse clients include Pepsi, the NBA, and Toyota. She is also on the Board of Advisors for SH/FT.
Cosmo Scharf - Co-Founder of VRLA & Mindshow. VRLA was founded in 2014 & started out as a small event for VR enthusiasts, developers, and hobbyists to get hands-on time with new games and demos. It has since grown to one of the premiere VR events in the US, with over 10,000 attendees this past April. Mindshow is a VR story creation software that makes storytelling in VR more accessible to anyone.
Kent Bye - Creator of the Voices VR Podcast. He has interviewed and published 500 interviews with VR developers and pioneers in the VR industry. He establishes a nice rapport with the guests since he has a background in technology. If you are a fan of podcasts that are more than once a week he is just for you, he releases 3-5 episodes a week.
Job J Stauffer - Head of Creative Communications at Telltale Games, and has over a decade of gaming development experience. A VR health & fitness advocate, and now paving the way for showing others how they can use VR for fitness and workouts too. He lost over 65 lbs in the last six months from playing Soundboxingvr, and now even incorporates weighted body vests and wrist weights when he plays.
Aaron Pouzey - A Technical Director at Denki, and also another VR fitness enthusiast developed an app for Samsung's Gear VR headset. CycleVR essentially allows users to bike in Britain in VR through google street view. It uses a Bluetooth cadence sensor that tracks how fast users pedal that communicates to the app when to change the panoramas go give a movie effect based on pedaling speed.
Estella Tse - Google VR Tiltbrush Artist in Residence, and collaborated with the Tilt Brush development team. She creates amazing VR/AR content, and can view her painting in VR bringing Groot to life from Guardians of the Galaxy here and the metamorphosis of a butterfly here.
Reggie Watts - He has done several stand-up shows in VR which also include him beatboxing. His performances are semi improvises and consist of him singing, rapping, and just being silly. He was also the keynote speaker at last years VRLA. When he is not doing stand up in VR you can catch him on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Shafia Ahmed - A virtual surgeon and technology futurist. He is the CMO of Medical Realities, which offers medical training products specializing in mixed reality & games. This technology can reduce the cost of training, and educate medical students in a safe learning environment. You can watch a 360 video of one of their training videos here.
