Image Credit: Mindshow
My ears pop in the elevator heading to the 43rd floor of a Los Angeles highrise. When I get out I find a little metal plaque marking my destination. Between the offices of people who have very straightforward jobs in very normal offices is one that’s quite a bit different — “Mindshow.”
Their office is adorned with lively cartoon characters and figurines. With a big U-shaped smile, Mindshow CEO Gil Baron takes me straight to their mixed reality demo area. I enjoyed my first visit to Mindshow when the software was revealed in August at the huge VRLA conference, and like that first demo with Baron he gets straight to business. First I’m going to put on a headset and visit the latest version of the world made by his team, then I’m going to chat with him.
Rediscovering the wonders of childhood
For those unfamiliar, Mindshow is a VR animation and cartoon creation tool transforming visitors to its virtual world into a variety of characters. You can embody a doctor, airline pilot, cat or even a humanoid twinkie, among many other possibilities. The software records your voice along with hand movements and head movements to animate the characters.
What’s changed since that August debut is a dramatic improvement to the process of unlocking a visitor’s creativity. It is one thing to teach a person “how” to create something in VR. Tilt Brush does this well as few people have trouble figuring out how to sketch in the air using Google’s software. Deciding “what’ to make is something else entirely. It is easy to stare at a blank canvas or stage and feel overwhelmed. That’s the magic of Mindshow’s latest additions. It draws out creativity and silliness — activating any child-like playfulness that…