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12. July 2023

Swing VR

An immersive VR-experience

Image of a woman sitting on a swing wearing a VR headset

Partner

prefrontal cortex

Project date

since 2015

Awards

Newcomer Award for New Media 2015, 3rd place
ADC Newcomer Award 2016, Bronze

Website

www.swing-vr.com

SWING VR is a playful VR installation that makes the dream of flying come true through an innovative combination of swing and virtual reality – a poetic, breathtaking and unforgettable experience for young and old. With every swinging movement, you float higher and higher – over roofs and trees, through the clouds and into space. The intensity of your own motion influences the virtual experience inside a watercolor paper world.

As an art installation SWING VR excites over hundred thousands of users and awakens positive impact on the human psyche. It has been exhibited all over the world in galleries, events and festivals. The VR content is customizable to other worlds, for example city marketing context.

SWING VR innovates in a number of areas. Combining VR technology with physical interfaces is a largely unexplored, especially combining physical motion with virtual sensations. That leads to interesting questions regarding the medical impact that carefully designed VR experiences can have on humans and their physiological and psychological state. We found that a lot of people reported being delighted and more happy after having the sensation of flying through the fantastic world that SWING provides.
Also, SWING gives a wide audience of people easy access to the new medium Virtual Reality – not only in a technical sense, but seeing what experiences can be achieved using this new art form. Altogether, about fifty thousand people all over the world tried SWING by now: most of them had the first contact with virtual reality.

Book SWING VR for your event and surprise with an unforgettable show.

Whether as an eye-catcher at company events or for longer exhibitions in galleries and museums: you can easily book SWING VR for your purposes. Tell us when you would like to exhibit it and we will make you an offer according to your individual needs.

Request for booking

Christmas event for Dell 2016

Photo of man wearing a VR headset and trying out Swing VR

SWING VR for the city of Chemnitz at ITB Berlin 2017

Individual content for your brand experience

You would like to see your own content in SWING VR? Sure! We customize the virtual world for you. Do you want to fly over your city, point out touristic highlights or demographic data? Or float through an abstract world of your corporate claim? Many kinds of information are possible. Just ask for it and take the opportunity to offer your customers a unique and long-lasting brand experience.

Request for customization

Exhibitions

2023

imPOSSIBLE? – Grimmwelt Kassel, Germany
Days of Light – Selux Light Summit, Berlin, Germany

2019

Tincon Hamburg, Germany
Tincon Berlin (re:publica), Berlin, Germany
Open day of the city of Halle (Saale), Germany

2019

Tincon Hamburg, Germany
Tincon Berlin (re:publica), Berlin, Germany
Open day of the city of Halle (Saale), Germany

2018

Oslo Night – House of electronic Arts Basel, Switzerland
Electronic Art in the disruptive age – FILE Belo Horizonte, Brazil

2018

Oslo Night – House of electronic Arts Basel, Switzerland
Electronic Art in the disruptive age – FILE Belo Horizonte, Brazil

2017

The Future of Making Things – Autodesk University Germany, Darmstadt
Electronic Art in the disruptive age – FILE Brasilia, Brazil
Perception is Reality – Frankfurter Kunstferein, Frankfurt, Germany
Animated Hybridizations – Render Festival, Lima, Peru
Bitkom Summer Event, Berlin Germany
Touch here – FILE Vitoria, Brazil
Don’t let the wave slip away – FILE Sao Luis, Brazil
ITB Berlin – World’s leading travel trade show, Berlin, Germany

2017

2016

Dell Christmas Event – Emotion Works, Halle (Saale), Germany
RAW Festival – Days of Industrial Culture, Chemnitz, Germany
Ruhrtriennale – Festival of Arts, Bochum, Germany
Big Tech Day 9 – TNG Technology Consulting, Munich, Germany
Media Convention 2016, part of re:publica TEN, Berlin, Germany

2015

Spektakel Digital – Burg Giebichenstein, Halle (Saale), Germany
FILE Anima + Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Push conference, Munich, Germany
Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle (Saale), Germany
Clujotronic – Electronic Art Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romsania
The new e-motion – FILE Sao Paulo, Brazil

2016

2015

7. May 2023

Songs of Cultures

A musical journey for kids across all devices

Website

songsofcultures.com

Awards

Games4Change: Games & SDG Summit 2023
Finalist Deutscher Computerspielpreis 2022
Unity for Humanity 2022, Imagine Grant Winner
Media Award LEOPOLD interactive 2021

Funding

EFRE – European Fonds for Regional Development
Art Foundation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt

The world is growing closer together than ever and our society faces challenges. Different countries have different customs, songs and rituals. To promote a better understanding of languages, cultures and empathy for each other’s perspective we need to apply design thinking and social entrepreneurship towards technology.

“Songs of Cultures” unfolds as a symbol of unity and intercultural dialogue. As a user-friendly WebXR experience, it offers more than just an interactive game – it is a bridge connecting languages, cultures and hearts. Here, children embark on a musical journey around the world. In captivating 3D songscapes filled with charming animal bands, kids not only learn about cultural nuances through singing and dancing but also foster openness and respect for life’s diversity. The app extends learning beyond the screen by providing creative materials such as sheet music and cross-media coloring pages. This offers the opportunity for valuable follow-up communication, significantly supporting the social integration of children and migrant families.

“Songs of Cultures” represents not only emergent gameplay but also a powerful manifesto for education and social solidarity – a clear stance against the storms of intolerance and an anthem to the colorful diversity of our world. The entire game is free and accessible as a browser-based WebXR experience in numerous languages, regardless of the device. It can be played and shared via a link, without the need for app downloads, on devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, or VR/AR glasses. Thus, it becomes a handy tool in families, daycare centers, schools, or women’s shelters.

As a non-profit project born out of collaboration between educators, musicians, parents, and creatives, “Songs of Cultures” combines playful learning with the promotion of core competencies of the 21st century: social, intercultural, and digital competence.

Recommended age: 3-10 years

Highlights

Popular songs from Vietnam, Syria, Ukraine, Germany and Great Britain
Music for children – by award-winning artists such as the children’s songwriter Toni Geiling & the Lotus Ensemble
Inspiring animals sing & play authentic instruments
with music sheets & coloring pages
Helps with integration – for children, parents and grandparents carefully tailored to cultural characteristics

Sing along with us in Karaoke mode
Vocabulary-Mode for listening, understanding & repeating, with translations
Augmented Reality: Bring the animal band to your room, take funny photos & share them with family and friends
Child- and Grandparents-friendly Interactions
App languages: German, Vietnamese, English, Ukrainian, Arabic

Screenshof of the Songs of Cultures app showing the song gallery

Screenshot of an iPad showing an digital animal in augmented reality next to a girl

turtle with speechbuble including its name in vietnemese and english

It was easy to understand how the app works. Everything is easy to use. The characters and worlds are child-friendly and well-designed. The vocabulary mode is very cool, allowing kids to learn simple words in a foreign language.

Coding Kids

Magazine for digital understanding

Yes, we need ideas, energy, imagination and a vision to shape our future! Songs of Cultures is definitely an innovative, creative and groundbreaking language learning app. Absolutely worth seeing and experiencing!

Prof. Dr. Matthias Ballod

Professor Didactics of German Language and Literature

Behind the scenes

Funding

The development of the first app in the “Songs of Cultures”-Series is supported by the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE) within the context of the Digital Creativity funding programme of the Saxony-Anhalt Investment Bank. App Realease is expected to be completed in December 2020.

Funded by the Art Foundation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the Kloster Bergesche Foundation.

Signet Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt Kloster Bergesche Stiftung

Explore Songs of Cultures and bring your kids the love for music, languages & cultures.

Explore the WebApp

Discover all Songs on YouTube

8. February 2023

Warship Mars

interactive archeology & museum of the future

Partner

prefrontal cortex, Ocean Discovery, realities.io

Co-Financing

Where to see?

Västerviks Museum / Sweden

Celebrating the pursuit of joyful discovery and the power of connection, ‘Warship Mars’ is an interactive treasure trove of maritime archaeology. After an epic 20-year quest, the Ocean Discovery team finally unearthed the secrets of the Mars shipwreck, nestled 80 meters beneath the Baltic Sea near Öland, Sweden. As custodians of this extraordinary heritage, we embraced the challenge, turning to immersive technology as our preservation tool of choice. In collaboration with our partners at Prefrontal Cortex Teaming and realities.io, we crafted a digital photogrammetry twin of this majestic battleship. The result? An interactive time capsule, enabling all to explore the depths of the Mars without ever leaving their homes.

‘Warship Mars’ invites you on a deep-sea expedition unlike any other. Armed with a virtual diving scooter, you’ll capture the whispers and wonders of the Mars, later decoding your discoveries in the comfort of a virtual research lab.

With ‘Diving Mode’, you’ll become an underwater archaeologist, navigating the ruins of the Mars. In ‘Research Space’, you’ll transform into a historian, sifting through your artefacts and stitching together stories from centuries past. Bolstered by VR Quillustrations and evocative audio, each 3D artefact becomes a portal, guiding you deeper into the annals of history.

Together with Meta (former Facebook), we have interwoven this experience into the fabric of the Global Historical Archive. Specifically designed for the Meta Quest, ‘Warship Mars’ dissolves the barriers between past and present, technology and human.

3D rendering showing underwater expedition

Explore the sipwreck in diving mode

3D scan of the shipwrack optimized for mobile VR

Reseach space: analysing artefacts and explore exciting photographs curated by scientists with background information

Left: 3D modell of a ship in the ocean Right: Explosion Warship Mars

Scenic VR illustrations showing more about the ship’s history

30. December 2022

Sustainability AR-Rally

immersive marketing in WebAR

CLIENT

Deutsche Bahn

Partner

prefrontal cortex, Victor Stockert

Project date

July – September 2020

Try it yourself

Sustainability AR-Rallye

In the Sustainability AR-Rally, everyone can experience Deutsche Bahn’s sustainable initiatives as playful virtual miniature worlds on their own mobile device in augmented reality. We transformed five of their most exciting ecological topics into vivid and engaging animated stories that invite you on a journey of discovery.

Explore the 3D scene on seamless mobility connection. Drag to move around. To experience in augmented reality, open this site on you mobile device.

With over 150 green activities, Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s largest passenger transport and logistics company, is committed to greater sustainability and climate protection. Unfortunately, rail passengers have little insight into these measures and don’t always have the time or willingness to learn more about them. Therefore five topics were selected and transferred for immersive marketing in animated miniature worlds as an entertaining experience for on the go. The worlds are spread across Halle (Saale) Central Station and can be easily started by scanning a QR code on posters with smartphone or tablet.

The Suytainability Rally acts like an app, but can be launched via native WebAR in the browser. This is cutting-edge technology and a huge advantage compared to traditional apps, that need to be installed on the devices, and is extremely efficient and user-friendly when travelling. As playful experience it encourages travelers to explore the train station as well as gives entertaining access to information and interesting facts about sustainability at Deutsche Bahn.

Close up of a 3D model railwail showing a woman sitting on a bench

Close up of a 3D model railwail showing a shepherd with his sheep

3D modell of model railroad for Deutsche Bahn Sustainability AR Rallye

9. December 2022

Bauhaus Digital

playful learning of design principles

Photo of a Woman touching Bauhaus geometric forms

CLIENT

Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

Partner

Marcel Wiessler, Felix Herbst prefrontal cortex

Project date

April – August 2019

Where to see?

Bauhaus Museum Dessau

“Bauhaus Digital” is a transformative experience at the Bauhaus Museum Dessau, reinventing historical art lessons in the digital age, making them engaging and inclusive for visitors of all ages.

Visitors step into a digital playground where they create 3D compositions with a simple touch. This hands-on approach allows to explore design basics effortlessly—by experimenting with geometric shapes, materials, colors, and compositions to design an unique digital masterpiece. The results can be shared via email and visualized as augmented reality sculptures.

This experience offers an unforgettable journey back to the roots of design, helping internalize its fundamental principles. It’s not just about creating art; it’s about living and participating in the world of design in the digital era, all in a contemporary and playful way.

Die Anwendung war ein großes Highlight im Bauhaus Museum.
Meine Kinder haben mindestens 40 Minuten an dem Touchscreen verbracht und sie wurden sogar von viele Besucher umrundet, um zu sehen was sie kreiert hatten. Es hat ihnen sehr viel Spaß gemacht und sie fanden es sehr toll wie man mit den Fingern so gut in 3D Objekte kreieren kann. Es fehlte nur eine Anbindung an ein 3D-Drucker, und dann wäre es der Hammer! :-)

3D animation of geomatric forms changing materials

To bring museum art to visitors’ homes and to be remembered as a museum in times of pandemic, we developed a WebApp. For this, visitors can view the artwork they have created and proudly show it to their friends using augmented reality technology and share it on social media.

2. November 2022

Emotional Landscapes

Human emotions from the perspective of an artificial intelligence

CLIENT

Intel

Partner

prefrontal cortex

Project date

2020

Where to see?

Intel’s headquarters lobby in Santa Clara

Science fiction novels and films usually paint a very one-sided picture of how rationally calculating and cold an artificial intelligence works. In fact, however, AIs are already an important part of our daily lives and it is therefore essential to actively shape the future of and with AI. So how about a new, positive vision of artificial intelligence in which an emotional dialog is created?

The user, in turn, sees both his own image and the AI’s interpretation at the center of the composition and can playfully experiment with his expressions. In this way, a dialogue, an exchange, and a mutual learning of emotions and scenic expression are created.

A set of cameras scans the active viewer’s face for 5 pre-trained emotions – happy, surprised, angry, sad and neutral – and adjusts the visualization on the wall according to the result. A laughing face sprouts colorful flowers, while a rage-distorted expression fills the scene with sharp and dangerous shapes. The facial recognition AI also reacts to “mixed emotions” in real time and merges different colors, lights and organic shapes on the canvas. This is made possible by Intel’s Open Vino Toolkit, which uses specially trained deep-learning models to recognize and process emotions on dedicated hardware.

Photo of Felix Herbst sitting in front of a desk testing Emotional Landscapes

16. October 2022

The Gaudy Woods

A virtual forest walk with kinetic interface

CLient

Computerspielemuseum Berlin

Partner

Robert Frentzel

Project date

2012

Awards

Most Amazing Game Award Finalist 2013
German Game Award 2014, 3rd place

“The Gaudy Woods” is a realtime game with unique kinetic interface made of recycled tires and raw steel. You walk on wheels to move forward. The wheels are attached to an arc you control with your arms to change direction – full body experience! In this highly immersive game the player dives deep into an overwhelmingly colorful and psychedelic forest. On the top it also trains the sense of balance while playing.

Game Design

The game invites you through an extraordinary trip with peculiar residents who communicate in their very own way. Most of them sing in choirs, snore or trumpet your way. Their funny characters will join you on your journey through abstract polygonal nature aesthetic. But you will have to train your body and balance in order to make it!

Even if there are no points to collect and goals to achieve, “The Gaudy Woods” promotes physical fitness in a playful way and enables a highly interesting and wonderful gaming experience.

Interface

In contrast to conventional input devices such as keyboards or joysticks, the interface improves the immersive effect of the application on the one hand, and addresses the entire body and trains the sense of balance on the other. The construction of the interface consists of four recycled tires on which the user walks forward. The body’s leaning angle controls the direction and speed of the steering movement.
The translation of the inclination is done by an acceleration sensor, which is connected to the computer by a microcontroller. A standard optical mouse attached to the side of the tyres is used to read in the running movement.

Photo of Binh Minh Herbst using The GaudyWoods Rig

1. May 2022

Tree Potential Project

Interactive Web App helping to plant trees

Partner

prefrontal cortex, Microsoft, SilviaTerra LLC

Project date

December 2018 – April 2019

CLIENT

Tea & Water Ltd.

International Earth Day is used annually to raise awareness and appreciation for nature’s diversity and beauty. With the Tree Potential Project, Microsoft wants to contribute to this by making data collected from forests in the United States available to the public.

Together with Prefrontal Cortex, Tea & Water Ltd., Microsoft and SilviaTerra LLC, we have created an online tool to innovatively visualize and explore tree populations.

The visualization is based on satellite data, collected and evaluated by SilviaTerra LLC using Microsoft AI, which is used to manage forestry operations and conserve forest resources. We process this data to create a multi-layered sculpture that combines the fascination of Big Data with generative design.

Every forest has a story. It is often as amazing as it is individual and can be defined by different tree species, creatures, raw materials or climatic conditions. The Tree Potential Project aims to tell these stories and shows us how we as a society can contribute to the preservation of the forest and its special characteristics.

Select one of the 20 available National Parks on an interactive map and get detailed information about the local tree species, their percentage distribution and average growth height as well as trunk circumference. In addition, each forest contains a “story layer” that visualizes the area’s specific characteristics, such as a high carbon content or the habitat of a rare bat species. Together, this information results in a modern data display that enables exciting navigation through the layers of the forest.

In the end of each forest page the user also has the opportunity, with the support of Microsoft, to donate to the non-profit nature preservation organisation The Nature Conservancy. This is to ensure that the stories of the forests are not only told, but can also survive.

22. March 2022

VoirVR

Voir VR

Pioneering the future of collaborative product development in VR

Partner

University of Technology Chemnitz, VRENDEX

Funded by

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action

Project date

2021–2023

What if the future of product configuration wasn’t limited to the physical world, but transformed into an active, collaborative space where you and your clients could customize designs right to their individual needs? Welcome to VoirVR: a cutting-edge collaborative visualization tool, redefining engagement, creation, and innovation in the metaverse. It provides an immersive and collaborative VR experience that goes beyond the screen while reducing user strain. It allows users to dive into virtual worlds and bring digital prototypes to life. They can engage in live and asynchronous idea exchanges from anywhere in the world, creating in a pleasant atmosphere for collaboration.

For this research project, our scope was to create an intuitive and low-barrier UX & UI design for a holistically engaging user experience in Virtual Reality. Through our partnership with the Chemnitz University of Technology, we refined our concepts and designs based on user feedback, achieving the highest standards of usability and joy of use. The result: VoirVR is characterized by its excellent hedonic quality and overall user experience. As a prototype, it lays the foundation for a future platform for creative collaboration in VR.

Goals & Highlights

Gamified Spatial Interfaces

We aimed to design elements with physically touch. By combining skeuromorphism and contemporary design, VoirVR provides a natural and explorative user experience with gamification.

Immersive Configuration & Visualization

Configure products and view them in realistic use cases, full size or miniature. Gain an intuitive understanding of size, proportion and functionality.

Global Multi-User Collaboration

Distance should be no longer a barrier. Teams spread across different locations and time zones can collaborate in real time or asynchronously in a virtual space, anytime, anywhere.

Comfortable Atmosphere

Designed for comfort and creativity, the environment revolves around the product being discussed and provides a distraction-free, pleasant engaging space for product development.

Research & Development

Product Configuration

The heart of our application is an interactive table where users can explore, customize and visualize products. Interactive workstations circle the table and allow the configuration of different components- materials and colors directly on the product model. In addition, different environmental scenarios can be switched, bringing the product in animated visualizations to life.

animation of user interface configurator voir vr

First Layouts in Microsoft Maquette as VR Sketches

Interactive Table

The interactive table presents the product as a miniature model and encourages detailed discussions and explorations. In addition, users can teleport into a 1:1 scale view, enhancing their understanding of the product’s true size and spatial impact. This immersive teleportation feature not only enriches the user’s perception of the product’s dimensions and aesthetics but also invites detailed examination.

Collaboration

Collaboration in VoirVR is based on real-world interactions, making teamwork in VR intuitive and effective. Tools like pens and microphones, used by actions such as pulling a pen from “behind the ear” or holding a controller like a dictaphone, enhance user experience. These familiar interactions allow users to collaboratively create and save screenshots, 3D sketches, and audio notes for future sessions – synchronous and asynchronous.

Comfortable Environment

VoirVR features a Launch Room for private onboarding and a Creation Space for collaborative product configuration. The environment blends futuristic designs with natural elements promoting concentration and creativity. An on-site study by Chemnitz University of Technology proved our environment to be much more pleasant and relaxing than conventional VR spaces (industrial hall, holodeck or grid scene). This validates our approach of creating a workspace that not only fosters productivity but the well-being.

Early Design Draft

Additional Ideas & Concepts

Headspace Interface

Funding

Research, prototyping and evaluation of VoirVR was supported by ZIM for a funding period of 2 years (11/2021-11/2023). ZIM stands for “Central Innovation Programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)”. It is a funding programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action that aims to promote the innovative capacity of SMEs.

24. February 2022

Bybassos AR

Augmented reality tool for archaeologist

CLient

Meta AR, Silicon Valley, USA

Partner

Felix Herbst (prefrontal cortex)

Project date

2016–2017

Bybassos AR expands the view to complex data. The AR application visualizes archaeologically explored terrain and building structures in an area over the course of time. During their virtual inspection, researchers can navigate through the settlement history and examine selected architectural fragments in the form of 3D scans. In this way, Bybassos AR combines insights into the past while showing perspectives for the working world of the future.

Complex data sets of archaeological inspections are visualized in an investigation area of more than thirty square kilometers around the ancient city of Bybassos. These come from a variety of sources – including geodata, locally recorded survey points and photogrammetry – and are made accessible concurrently. For this purpose, we developed a classic desktop application in 2011 in collaboration with the Philipps-Universität Marburg.

A leap forward in technology led us to expand the tool in cooperation with the Silicon Valley startup Meta to a room-filling visualization for the augmented reality glasses “Meta 2”. This technology enables simultaneous viewing of content and working with maps and discovered objects in a team with other scientists. In this way, results can be evaluated and discussed together. By means of natural movements the user navigates through the virtual landscape, measures heights and distances or looks at individual fragments in detail.

The presentation of visual data through AR not only simplifies the documentation and interpretation of complex historical developments. The results can also be presented vividly in lectures and exhibitions. Bybassos AR thus explores the classical research discipline of archaeology as an exemplary field for innovative technologies and shows how these can be integrated into tomorrow’s scientific day-to-day work.

Contact

Ready to start your project? Reach out to us!

For job applicants: Thanks for reaching out to us! Due to the high volume of applications, we may not be able to respond to every message individually. If you have not heard from us within 10 business days, please understand that we cannot follow up on your proposal at this time.

Mail

Mo–Fr: 10:00–18:00 CET
hello@amuse.vision

OFFICE

Designhaus Office 106/107
Ernst-König-Str. 1
06108 Halle (Saale)
Germany

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More about us

Presskit

Swing VR

An immersive VR-experience

Partner

Project date

Awards

Website

Book SWING VR for your event and surprise with an unforgettable show.

Individual content for your brand experience

Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Songs of Cultures

A musical journey for kids across all devices

Website

Awards

Funding

Highlights

Coding Kids

Prof. Dr. Matthias Ballod

Behind the scenes

Funding

Explore Songs of Cultures and bring your kids the love for music, languages & cultures.

Warship Mars

interactive archeology & museum of the future

Partner

Co-Financing

Where to see?

Sustainability AR-Rally

immersive marketing in WebAR

CLIENT

Partner

Project date

Try it yourself

Bauhaus Digital

playful learning of design principles

CLIENT

Partner

Project date

Where to see?

Emotional Landscapes

Human emotions from the perspective of an artificial intelligence

CLIENT

Partner

Project date

Where to see?

The Gaudy Woods

A virtual forest walk with kinetic interface

CLient

Partner

Project date

Awards

Game Design

Interface

Tree Potential Project

Interactive Web App helping to plant trees

Partner

Project date

CLIENT

Voir VR

Pioneering the future of collaborative product development in VR

Partner

Funded by

Project date

Goals & Highlights

Gamified Spatial Interfaces

Immersive Configuration & Visualization

Global Multi-User Collaboration

Comfortable Atmosphere

Research & Development

Product Configuration

Interactive Table

Collaboration

Comfortable Environment

Additional Ideas & Concepts

Funding

Bybassos AR

Augmented reality tool for archaeologist

CLient

Partner

Project date

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