We recently assisted Momentum South Africa with one of the biggest High-End Virtual Reality experiences (20 x HTC Vive Systems in the same room). This was as far as we know a first for South Africa. Momentum was launching their new partnership with Saray Kumalo the first black South African to summit Mount Everest. As part of the ambassador launch Momentum invited some key people from the media to celebrate the partnership.
As part of the experience and media launch, they wanted the media to experience Mount Everest in Virtual Reality. They wanted the media to experience what it was like for Saray Kumalo to climb mount Everest and while they were inside Virtual Reality she shared some of her own experiences with the media.
We setup 21 HTC VIVE Virtual Reality Systems in the same room, allowing 20 people to experience Mount Everest in high-end virtual reality as if they were at Mount Everest.
Virtual Reality Custom Stand Build
As part of the Virtual Reality experience, the client wanted people to feel like they are at Mount Everest and required a custom stand build to give people that feeling. This was quite a challenge due to the complexity of setting the HTC VIVE virtual reality headsets. The HTC VIVE virtual reality headset uses outside in tracking and the base stations are not using encrypted technology which means you can only setup 2 base stations in a 5 x 5 meter radius which is not enough to run 20 x HTC VIVE systems in the same room.
We had to come up with a clever way for the base stations not to see each other, and not allow the infrared light from the base stations to reflect off the headsets and confuse the other HTC VIVE virtual reality headsets.
Above is two images showing how we planned to place the HTC VIVE virtual reality headsets for the event and some of the props we planned on using to make the experience more authentic.
Images from the Setup prior to the Virtual Reality Event
Below is some actual images from the Mount Everest Virtual Reality experience.
Images taken during the Virtual Reality Media Launch
Below is some images of the media and people whom attended the Virtual Reality part of the launch.
Images of Saray Khumalo
Saray Khumalo is a Zambia-born South African explorer and mountaineer. In May 2019, she became the first black African woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
