Boston VR Newsletter - February 2025 Edition

The organizers and volunteers of Boston VR are continuing our monthly socials at TimeOut Market.

*Please bring your laptops, as this is a hands-on demo.

Watertown Public Library, Room: Lucia Mastrangelo Meeting Room

Description:

This event is run though the Boston Virtual Reality Meetup Group. At the February meetup, Erik Nelson will show us how to use basic mesh editing tools, such as Edge Loop, Extrude, Scale and Inset along with the Subdivision Surface modifier to model a simple dog from a cube. We will then add fur to it by using particle systems. If time permits, we will animate it and create more animals.

Erik Nelson is a six-year veteran in Blender 3D.

After the demo, people will have a chance to develop the project on their own, collaborate and network.

For those participating who are new to the world of Blender please-

• Bring your laptops and preferably a '3 button mouse'

• Download and install the latest version of Blender: [

https://www.blender.org/

• ](https://www.blender.org/)

• NOTE- You do not need to create an XR scene in Unity prior to this tutorial, this will only cover Blender.

DUE TO THE LIMITED SPACE PLEASE CHANGE YOUR RSVP IF YOU CAN NOT MAKE IT

Host: John Gagan

🥽 HarvardXR 2025 Conference (https://www.harvardxr.com/) will be happening Saturday, April 19th, 2025 at Harvard University. This year’s theme is augmented self, focusing on human augmentation, robotics, AI and XR.

🎟️ Secure your spot and get an Early Bird Ticket: HERE (http://bit.ly/harvardxr2025)

🤝 Join as a speaker/sponsor/volunteer by signing up HERE:(https://forms.gle/GeMUBPrpCmmBtgQv7) by February 28th, 2025.

❓For any inquiries, don’t hesitate to reach out at info@harvardxr.com.

For this month’s newsletter, I had a chance to interview with one of our local XR developers, Gregory Osborne about his dance-interactive VR album that you can try on Steam or the Meta store.

Chris: What is Rave Gazebo and how did you come up with the idea?

Gregory: Rave Gazebo is a dance-interactive VR album that uses your controller’s movements to remix songs in real-time. I wanted to split the difference between the accessibility of Beat Saber and the complex musical creativity of more advanced VR audio creation tools like Exa Infinite Instrument or Patchworld. I was excited by the possibility of letting non-musicians feel control over the music and the environment, where no matter what they did everything still sounded good.

Chris: What challenges did you face in bringing it to life and what has been the reception from users?

Gregory: The hardest part of the development was encouraging users to move. I playtested the app at nearly every game and XR meetup in the Boston area and learned a lot about VR onboarding. One key lesson: nobody reads text instructions! The most effective way to guide players was to show an animation of someone or something else performing the desired motion in front of the player, paired with audio narration to encourage them to imitate.

Chris: What advice would you give to someone just starting in XR development and what's next for you?

Gregory: My biggest takeaway from Rave Gazebo is that music is meant to be shared with others. Single-player VR users often expect a clear end goal or challenge, and many became anxious when the tutorial ended, not understanding there were no further requirements—just freedom to dance. In multiplayer experiences, however, the focus naturally shifts to enjoying time with others, making it easier to explore and play with a virtual sandbox of tools. Moving forward, my projects will center on shareable, multi-user music experiences and performance tools.

Try out Rave Gazebo on Steam or the Meta store!

https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/rave-gazebo/3779499565478673/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2676750/Rave_Gazebo/

Watch Gregory’s series of behind-the-scenes videos and deeper technical dives on his website: https://www.gosborneaudio.com/rave-gazebo

Gregory is an XR Development Instructor who teaches adults and kids how to create their own XR experiences. He strongly believes in the power of XR to let people use their bodies to control music in real time, and loves working on any interactive audio projects.

From the publisher’s website:

One of the Washington Post's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022

A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it.

Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already.

Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis.

Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.

Northeastern’s Master of Science in Extended Realities (XR) is designed to bring students a deep understanding of the processes, skills, and knowledge needed to craft impactful XR experiences. The groundbreaking program partners with multiple Northeastern colleges to provide a breadth of theory, technologies and interdisciplinary perspectives.

QQs=Quality Questions (worth pondering)

1. If you perceived this year as a hero’s journey within the world of XR (you as the hero), who would be the sidekick, the mentor, the comic duo, the love interest, and the villain?

2. If the ability to smell were included in the next generation of headsets, what experiences would you most like to explore with this added sense?

3. How can you enhance your ability to recognize patterns within the fields of XR, AI, and _____________?

4. What if the Super Bowl halftime show could only be experienced through virtual reality headsets?

-Chris von Spitzer

For more QQs to enrich and enhance your creative thinking, follow me on X @letsaskqqs

Boston VR is committed to fostering a welcoming and innovative community for XR enthusiasts and professionals.

Whether you're a developer, creator, researcher, or just plain curious, we're excited to explore the future of XR with you.

For more detailed discussions and to share your thoughts or experiences, don't hesitate to join us at our next meetup or reach out through our community channels.

See you in the virtual world!

To join, click here

Email Casey We need help with marketing, event planning, dev jams, sponsorship, and more!

AMXRA is the premier medical society advancing the science and practice of medical extended reality, https://amxra.org/.

AMXRA has generously committed to being a premium sponsor for Boston VR over the coming years. We are immensely grateful for their support and partnership in exploring the forefront of XR technology.