Seven Bavarian VR Companies Everyone Should Know

An corporate video for Audi Sport – The camera moves towards a racing car and captures the rims and sides of the vehicle in a very elegant way. At first sight, this seems like a familiar representation of tension, power, dynamics, and all the other things we associate with motorsport. The Munich-based production company Schwarzbild Medien shot the film with a 360-degree camera that has been installed on board a 610 hp Audi R8 V10 Plus, attached to the right side of the vehicle. On the left, behind the steering wheel, we can see Tom Kristensen, the nine-time winner of the Le Mans race.

The viewers sit in the vehicle next to Tom Kristensen and have a mouse in their hands or, more likely, a virtual reality headset on their heads. Thanks to the 360-degree technology, they have an all-round view of the cockpit. They can look for the next corner entry or listen to the screeching of the ten-cylinder engine as the speedometer needle inches towards the 300 km/h sound barrier.

Sports broadcasts and documentaries feel even more intense when they tear the viewers out of the observer's role and put them into the center of action. Modern media formats such as virtual and augmented reality can contribute to that and industrial companies already use VR and AR for training and development.

In the meantime, the costs for hardware and software are decreasing and the market is more and more accessible with market observers expecting a steady growth. SuperData Research estimates that the turnover with VR hardware and software was at $ 9.6 billion in 2019 and will amount to $ 19 billion in 2021.

Seven studios from Bavaria have known the potential of technology early on:

Schwarzbild Medien

Live at a vehicle crash test, a refugee camp in Bangladesh, or the "Long Night of Architecture" – Thanks to 360-degree cameras and VR/AR technologies, the media agency Schwarzbild takes the viewer out of the 2D comfort zone and puts him in the center of action. With a VR headset on, he can take a close look at the scene and become an eyewitness. Airbus, Audi, and other renowned customers rely on the quality of image, editing, and performance.

K5 Factory

From linear storytelling to real-time immersion - that is the focus of the K5 Factory team. The Munich-based company is a well-networked subsidiary studio of the K5 Media Group. With the VR game for the French science fiction thriller "Anon" from 2018, it has shown how virtual storytelling can work.

RealtimeLabs

The Franconian media designers focus on the construction of virtual worlds with the popular modular system, "Unity3D", that is especially well-known among game designers. The Nuremberg-based company creates affordable 3D and VR animations for trade fairs,  Siemens, Playmobil, and other well-known customers. Apart from that, RealtimeLabs develops user-friendly catalogue apps with a complete product range and child-friendly control apps for controlling RC vehicles via smartphone.

punchin.pictures

The Munich-based production company consults, designs, develops, and creates image and advertising films for KUKA, Bosch, and other well-known customers. The team specializes in the high-quality integration of virtual objects in real scenes. The images are created with render farms, VR systems, and motion-capturing technologies in a studio that can also be rented on request.

DEXPERIO

The Munich-based consulting and digital agency DEXPERIO works with modern smart devices and is also an expert of related ecosystems. The company builds apps for wearables, virtual reality applications for smartphones, and foldable starter cases that involve the user's smartphone and turn it into an inexpensive augmented reality headset.

VR-Dynamix

The founder of VR-Dynamix, Jürgen Dudowits, has been dealing with virtual reality applications for over 20 years. Since 2013, Dudowits has been pooling his vast experience in his Munich-based full-service agency, which offers a complete range of services (consulting, design, and implementation) for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality projects. VR-Dynamix can refer to a number of examples, including VR projects for the German Museum, the Bavarian Palace Department, and the House of Bavarian History.

Milkroom

A creative agency focusing on gaming software and virtual reality applications can hardly have a better address than Geiselgasteig. Milkroom sees itself as a "Multiplatform Production Team" which creates big names and brands on behalf of clients like Munich RE, Hot Wheels, and Filmstadt Atelier that stand for high-quality VR, games, and app experiences.