Enklu Launches San Francisco’s First AR Maker Space
Memberships and day passes are now available to west coast developers and players.
The city of San Francisco will be getting its very first dedicated AR maker space thanks to Enklu, a cutting-edge company that approaches traditional venues and transforms them into modern experience centers using immersive AR technology.
The interactive space, dubbed E.den, is a large-scale social immersive playground that gives players and creators, both professional and amateur, access to community-developed mixed reality experiences as well as the tools and resources to develop and share their own.
E.den members are given access to a Microsoft HoloLens headset running Enklu’s AR platform that they can use to create open-floor mixed reality experiences. If you are not well versed with HoloLens technology or need some help getting accustomed to Enklu’s platform, there is a staff of experts on hand offering training and support to help members begin creating and exploring.
“The tagline is ‘play, create, share.’ It is that. You go there to play, start creating stuff, and at the same time be sharing that with whoever’s in the space and get real-time feedback on experiences. It’s an excellent collaboration tool,” said Leila Amirsadeghi, Strategic Advisor to Enklu, during an interview with VRScout. “The CEO of Enklu often refers to it as “Google Docs for AR” because of the ease of collaboration and file-sharing.”
“At Enklu we focus on applications and use cases of technology that are socially inclusive and lead to more authentic human connection,” said Chief Executive Officer, Ray Kallmeyer, “in social reality, users can maintain eye contact and presence within their environment, which for the first time opens the door to shared experiences with digital technology.”
E.den offers a variety of ways for you to access their virtual space. You can pay a monthly membership fee, with prices starting at $35 a month, that will give creators access to their workspace during open hours, a Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset, time with Enklu developers, unlimited access to Editor & Platform, and free entry to special E.den events. For less frequent visitors, $20 will give you a single experience pass that grants access to multiple experiences throughout a single day.
To add some extra value, E.den will host a number of premium interactive multiplayer AR worlds, such as ‘The Unreal Garden’, ‘Mystic Grove’, and ‘Dark Matter’—all of which featured at E3, Outside Lands, and Onedome throughout the year. Just check their calendar. In addition, E.den will host experiences developed by the creator community offering artists a new way to monetize their content and share it with the world.
“No matter how many experiences are on the platform at that time you can come back and forth all day long and try out multiple immersive AR experiences,” added Amirsadeghi. “The idea is once you get more users into the system, they’re going to start creating their own content and experiences and put them out there and price them.”
The mission of Enklu’s E.den is to not only introduce people to a new concept of entertainment, but empower creators with inclusive technology in the hopes of establishing a thriving development community that fosters creativity, collaboration, and communication.
“Enklu is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in immersive mixed reality, and with E.den, they are opening up their platform to the world and enabling anyone to create in this exciting and emerging medium,” said Jo Ryall, Head of Marketing at Microsoft Reactor.
E.den is open to the public now on the 4th floor of the Dome in the city’s Westfield San Francisco Centre at 845 Market Street. Tickets for E.den can be purchased here.
Feature Image Credit: Enklu
https://vrscout.com/news/enklu-san-franciscos-ar-maker-space/
