#Birdly Virtual Reality Flight Simulator at NEXT FEST 15

#Birdly Virtual Reality Flight Simulator at NEXT FEST 15

07 Aug, 2015

Birdly, a flight simulator that was showcased in the New Frontier category and exhibit at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival is coming to Sundance NEXT FEST ’15 this weekend. At the exhibit earlier this year, crowds gathered around the simulator with people lining up to strap in and give it a try. The virtual reality simulator is a full-body experience, which allows you to feel like a bird in flight.

We caught up with the artist/designer of Birdly, Fabian Troxler, last January and asked him how the idea came about, as well as what he and his team were aiming to accomplish through this innovation. Here’s what he said:

Dig In Magazine: How did you come up with the idea for this Birdly simulator?

Fabian Troxler: Actually it’s quite a funny story, because we’ve been interested in all this VR stuff for a long time. And suddenly there was this technology [where you could] immerse yourself. And we’re from the University of the Arts in Zurich and in the field of interaction design. [We were] especially interested in full embodiment–using your full body as kind of an interface and as a controlling element–controlling, in this case, the simulator. We always had this idea to make a full-body experience, not just the visual or auditive stuff, but also the motions and the tactile feedback, [as well as] smells.

There was a question from a birdlife nature habitat. They had a special anniversary exhibition [and] they asked us if we could provide something for that on the topic of the fascination of flight. And we thought, it would be the best thing if you could fly like a bird. That was the foundation for our first prototype. We were quite lucky to get the money, because we are from the art school and we didn’t have the kind of money to produce something this big.

DIM: Where do you see the future of using something like this?

Fabian: Of course there is a lot of potential in the gaming industry, but not really for the end consumer or private person. It’s not really that kind of thing, because it’s a huge machine. But it would be more for science museums or exhibitions where people can really experience the flight dream and get into problems that birds have–like [flying into] windmills or power supply lines, which are a danger for the birds. It is a good thing to experience this yourself.

Our inspiration was the dream. Thinking about the dream of flight. People have flying dreams and were inspired by this old human dream of flying.

Visit Sundance NEXT FEST this weekend and learn to fly with the Birdly virtual reality flight simulator!

About the author

Cindy Maram

Cindy Maram is a Dancer, Public Speaker and our Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the entertainment, fashion and arts publication, Dig IN Magazine. She is an accredited film critic for Cannes Film Festival in the South of France, Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, SFFilm Festival and CAAMFest, as well as a runway fashion photographer and editor for London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. She also serves as a professional sports photographer and writer. She is a prolific art critic providing media coverage for Art Basel Miami Beach and surrounding Miami Art Week fairs. As a creator, Cindy is a writer, vlogger, podcaster, social media strategist and manager possessing a Bachelor's Degree from UC Davis and Master's Degree completing graduate work in Mass Communications + Popular Culture Studies with an emphasis in Film/Marketing/Writing from Cal State Fullerton. Further, she is producer of independent feature length and short films, and is committed to supporting the visibility of underrepresented groups in the media and film industry.

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