There’s never been anything like virtual or augmented reality before, and production studios in particular are learning hard lessons in how to deliver virtual experiences, according to Brian Frager (pictured), VR/AR creative producer at Technicolor SA.

“It’s about a lot of playtesting to get early iterations out into users hands and see what their instinct is,” Frager said, who spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile live-streaming studio, during the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. (*Disclosure below.)

Frager and Frick discussed he state of virtual reality and what’s to come.

VR can be a new way to tell stories

Early VR systems, even in this modern wave, are built around a fixed point of view. They’re restrictive in how people can interact with the space. New models are focusing on real-time rendering, allowing the user to go around the whole room, Frager explained. This gives the user a lot more freedom to explore.

That freedom makes it difficult to set a series of events, like in a movie. Instead, these VR experiences must be crafted to deliver a narrative while the user is moving through an open world. This changes the way media tells stories. “There’s this whole spectrum of experiences,” Frager said.

VR and AR recreate reality sense by sense. Humans are wired for vision, so that’s been the opening for most virtual development. Now, the secret is to bring other senses into the virtual world or to extend the virtual into the real world. The next wave will add a whole new level of immersion by mixing virtual and physical elements together, according to Frager.

Right now, what’s holding VR back is the isolation of going in alone and the friction of setting up a good system. It’s not a seamless experience yet. Those issues are being worked on, however, and the goal is to make such systems easier to use than making a telephone call, Frager concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of the NAB Show. (*Disclosure: Western Digital is sponsoring theCUBE’s coverage at the show. Neither Western Digital nor other sponsors have editorial influence on content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE