Walk-in Theater
A BodyNav VR App
Let Your Proprioceptors Be Your Guide
Walk-in Theater unveils a new cinematic form – the Walkie. Departing from one-way, linear cinema played on a single rectangular screen, a Walkie is a virtual environment where visitors move through multi-channel video in a 3D sound space. With nothing more than a head-mounted display and natural body movement, this dynamic experience lets the world reveal itself and invites discovery. Walk-in Theater provides richer, more intimate connections with characters and content.
Hands-free VR
navigation
With no need for a joystick, keyboard or gamepad, BodyNav sets a new standard for freedom of movement in virtual environments.
Evolved
interaction
Body-based navigation brings vitality to virtual experiences. Participants tilt, turn, and lean into richer, more intimate connections with characters and content.
Relief from
motion sickness
By synchronizing visuals in VR with one’s body in physical space, Walk-in Theater minimizes the sensory imbalances that impair equilibrium.
How It Works
Walk-in Theater uses MONKEYmedia’s patented, body-based navigation technology, BodyNav, to put users in control of their movement through virtual space. Without any custom hardware, BodyNav relies on the smartphone’s sensors for first-person view (FPV) navigation free of hand controls. Viewers simply lean forward (using either their head or torso) to advance in space; lean back to reverse; tip left or right to sidestep; and rotate in place to look around. The more you lean, the faster you go. Because the interactions were designed to respond to natural bearing and balancing instincts, coordination is immediately obvious to adults as well as to children.
Traditional VR headset interfaces use multiple sensor axes (e.g. rotate left/right, pivot up/down, tip left/right) to establish viewer orientation, and require handheld controllers (e.g., joysticks, gamepads, keyboards, etc.) for locomotion. BodyNav decouples and remaps headset axes to create intuitive hands-free interactions. This frees viewers from sedentary limitations, and allows developers to place active participants at the center of their virtual universe. Available in the App Store, Walk-in Theater showcases a library of 3D Walkies from notable media artists, including Rachel Strickland, Ai Wei Wei, Deborah Hay and the Blue Lapis Light Aerial Dance Company.
“Fundamentally, you’ve solved a really important problem. It doesn’t require a joystick and you don’t get motion sickness. It has a very natural feel and seems to solve vestibular dysfunction. An outstanding solution. Really great.
Richard Garriott de Cayeux
Legendary video game pioneer and private astronaut
Tackling Motion Sickness
Motion sickness has long been a complaint among virtual reality gamers who wear head-mounted displays while using handheld controllers to move through space. While sitting in front of a fan, wearing a sea sickness bracelet, skipping meals, and eating ginger may provide a brief reprieve for those wishing to stave off motion sickness, these “hacks” are neither a universal nor a long-term fix. BodyNav relies on the body’s innate center of gravity and equilibrium to drive movement, rather than an auxiliary mechanical controller. This body-based navigation technique outsmarts and eliminates the sensory imbalances that can cause dizziness, nausea and other symptoms of motion sickness. As a result, players stay comfortable, engaged and entertained.
Patented Technology
BodyNav, Walk-in Theater and Teleport are covered by US Patent 9,563,202, US Patent 9,579,586, US Patent 9,612,627, US Patent 9,656,168, US Patent 9,658,617, US Patent 9,782,684, US Patent 9,791,897, US Patent 9,919,233, US Patent 10,596,478, US Patent Application 16/793,056 and other patents pending.
Applying BodyNav to Your Content
BodyNav technology can easily be adapted to modernize your user experience. It will enhance your first-person gaming, multi-camera performances and sporting events, video conferencing and telepresence applications, control of remote vehicles, street-view maps, augmented reality, architectural simulations, and 3D user interfaces for browsing documents and images.
Contact our team to learn more about how our technology can enhance your products.
Copyright © 1994-2023 MONKEYmedia, Inc. All rights reserved. MONKEYmedia, SeamlessTV and BodyNav are registered trademarks of MONKEYmedia. Walk-in Theater, Teleport, Seamless Expansion and Seamless Contraction are trademarks of MONKEYmedia. BodyNav, BodyNav Test Drive, Walk-in Theater and Teleport are covered by US Patent 9,563,202, US Patent 9,579,586, US Patent 9,612,627, US Patent 9,656,168, US Patent 9,658,617, US Patent 9,782,684, US Patent 9,791,897, US Patent 9,919,233, US Patent 10,596,478, US Patent Application 16/793,056 and other patents pending. Seamless Expansion is covered by, US Patent 6,393,158, US Patent 9,185,379, US Patent 9,247,226 and US Patent 10,051,298. Seamless Contraction is covered by US Patent 6,177,938, US Patent 6,219,052, US Patent 6,215,491, US Patent 6,335,730, US Patent 8,381,126, US Patent 8,370,746, US Patent 8,370,745, US Patent 8,392,848. BodyNav tutorial game soundtrack courtesy of De La Soul. The Teleport App has been tested using DJI Phantom 4, Mavic Pro and Spark drones. iPhone, iPad and iOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. DJI, Phantom, Mavic and Spark are trademarks of SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. HTC VIVE is a trademark of HTC Corporation. Oculus and Rift are trademarks of Facebook Technologies, LLC. Samsung, Sony, TiVo, Rovi, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Paramount, Walt Disney, Buena Vista, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel are trademarks of their respective owners. All other product names, logos and brands are property of their respective owners.