Since the beginning, we have had our eye on collaborative solutions. The first applications we made were created within the boundaries set by the coolest new tech, the at the time brand new Augmented Reality glasses, Microsoft’s HoloLens. With an uncomfortable amount of the code version of duct tape, the application succeeded in gathering remote participants around virtual machines and maps. Everything was interactable and information was shown in a beautiful UI we had created ourselves. Sadly, as the story goes, the HoloLens was perhaps a bit too expensive for our general audience, and the development process might have been a bit fidgety for comfort.
For the next version we went to the other extreme and chose a gadget everyone has, the humble mobile phone. As we learned and grew, we realized that the end use of our applications could be anything, so long as collaboration could help enhance learning outcomes and retention. We also realized that with immature tech such as the early days of Virtual and Augmented Reality, we needed to make device-agnosticism a priority.
From project to platform
When the Covid pandemic hit just after, we burrowed to work on strategy, planning and research. As the world slowly emerged from quarantine, we had our goals set and a new name for the company and the product.
Fynd Reality is a name that resonates with our ambitions. A more or less obsolete Norwegian word, fynd means “power”, or “powerful”, which in turn sums up our main goal: to enhance learning and increase productivity through the power ofimmersive extended reality.
Fynd CORE is a collaboration platform for distributed procedure training and education. With this platform, we cater to all training and educational needs. An ambitious goal for sure, but not without merit. Read on to learn how!
The building blocks of the platform
When a user starts a multiplayer session, they can invite others to joint them. The participants don’t need usernames or passwords, they only need a PIN!
They can join using the device of their choice. Fynd CORE runs on PC, in VR-glasses, on mobiles and tablets. Soon it will be available in App Store and Play Store as well for easier installation.
The platform consists of an invisible layer of functionality and a visible layer of 3D-models, 3D-environments and the user interface.
An environment is a static 3D-modelled world that encompass the user. This can be simple environments like meeting rooms, entire construction sites with lots of rooms, or large outdoor areas. In the program, the user who started the session can change the environment during a session without changing the available 3D-models for the participants. Interactive 3D-objects in such an environment can be anything form tools to vehicles. All objects can have animations and special functionality as well. Both the environments and3D-objects can be found in subcategories in the main menu.
When a user chooses objects from the object library and places them into the environment, the result is called a scene. Scenes can be saved to a user’s PC locally and uploaded during a session later. Scenes can be saved at any point during the session. These files contain information about the environment and the 3D-objects and saves their relative coordination within the scene at the time. This way, the scene can be opened and read by others with access to the same objects as the user who saved it, which makes the program both flexible and secure.
The scenario builder – a visual program for complex scenarios
To really enjoy the benefits of the system, we’ve built a visual programming interface. To say it a bit simpler, this means that the users who can’t program themselves still can make complex scenarios by choosing different blocks and dragging connection between them to decide what happens in the scenario. Here the scenes saved earlier can be gathered and create the foundation of complex decision-making training on all levels!
When the scenario is ready it can be saved to the computer easily and be shared with others. It can be changed, updated or expanded as the requirements changes.
As if that wasn’t enough, Fynd CORE also contains a system for administering access, users and sessions, so that larger organisations easily can manage their licenses and users.
We will continue to develop the system this fall and we look forward to updating you all on new functionality in the scenario builder.
Under you can see a recording of our launch webinar 30th of August where you meet Bjørn Morten Steimler (CCO), Kristine Kvam (CTO) and Ole Midthun (Unity Developer).
