Making Virtual Reality Real with Duncan Ransom

The potential of virtual reality for applications across art and entertainment has been anticipated for decades, although the experience has never quite lived up to the hype. However in the past two years virtual reality finally seems to have come of age and this transformative technology is now beginning to disrupt many facets of traditional business, media, art, design and social communications.

One of the leaders in this this technology is New York–based UNSW Art & Design Academy Award winning graduate Duncan Ransom. 

Duncan is the Founder and CEO of The Endless Collective, a full-service production studio specialising in virtual/augmented reality applications, photo-real digital sculpting and high-end 3D pre-visualisation. Before establishing The Endless Collective, Duncan served as a computer-generated story artist and animator with acclaimed animation studio, Framestore CFC, where he and his team won the VFX category at the 86th Academy Awards in 2014 for Gravity. 

His animation work has also been seen in other visually stunning films including Edge of Tomorrow, 47 Ronin and Clash of the Titans. 

Duncan is currently focused on using immersive technology tools to help improve and redefine aid in the healthcare, environmental, medical and recreational therapy industries. Briefly back in Australia, he is contributing to the upcoming VR Masterlasses and Executive Briefings in Sydney and Melbourne organised by X Media Lab (XML). Other speakers at these events include Sunny Dhillon, founder and partner at Signia Venture Partners in Silicon Valley and Sydney-based VR pioneer Mark Pesce, co-creator of VRML.

UNSW Art & Design, X Media Lab and Cousera are currently collaborating to present the free online course Transmedia Storytelling: Narrative worlds, emerging technologies, and global audiences which launched this week and also offers insights into the ways VR is changing how we can create, innovate, share stories and experiences. 

X Media Lab is seeking to change the world by teaching the core advanced skill sets of the new innovation industries - data-driven storytelling using visualisation tools and Artificial Intelligence software. XML is one of the world’s most prestigious digital media events. Over the past 13 years, XML has run major international conferences and workshops in 22 global cities including Sydney, Melbourne, London, Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Mumbai and Singapore.