Your FirstStage for Immersive Learning
Affordable VR-based content production, with you in control
The FirstStage virtual production studio is ideal for the fast and easy creation of immersive solutions, across all areas of learning, whether education, vocational training or business onboarding, to effectively teach health and safety, job skills, curriculum subjects, or more.
Simple VR-based training scenarios can cost five figures and more when provided as a service, but these solutions put creation control in the hands of technical consultants, instead of your educators, and can be costly to adapt over time as regulations or learning content change.
Simply create learning experiences driven by user interactions
Due to tens of years of research into natural user interfaces, we have developed an intuitive VR-based tool that enables your experts to adapt existing learning into immersive flexible experiences that can be updated at any time, without on-going dependency on costly external services.
We are also here to guide you every step of the way, with an engagement process and client journey that can seemlessly takes your experts from advisors to creators, and liberates your costs down to just an affordable FirstStage subscription fee.
Contact us today to learn how you can simply and affordably adapt your learning solutions into engaging video and immersive experiences.
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Convert your learning content into engaging gamified experiences that educate and test
Put content creation into the hands of the educator, with an easy-to-use suite of tools for the creation of gamified immersive learning, output as video or VR experiences.
Why FirstStage for learning solutions?
XR (extended reality) is without doubt with us and staying. Whether augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) or virtual reality (VR), industries are now getting serious about using the technology, because it works!
For industrial companies, it is increasing efficiency, safety, and productivity, saving time, and reducing error-rates. In film and TV, it is making the unreal real, and de-risking production through the advent of virtual production, and in all forms of education, whether in schools, adult learning or organisation training, it is proven to substantially increase knowledge transfer, whilst engaging users. And there is good evidence for why that is happening.
Learning retention
Data that suggests that XR training yields a 75% learning retention rate, with lectures and reading at just 5%–10%
Greater productivity
VR training programs improve productivity by an average of 32%
Supercharged learning
VR gives learners enhanced capabilities, tools and confidence
Lower cost at scale
Increased accessibility as learners do not need access to real world assets or need to travel
Remote collaboration
The pandemic and climate change have exacerbated the need for real-time productive global teams
Adapt and reuse
Scenarios can be endlessly adapted, and training assets can be repurposed to create new scenarios
Sense of place
A revelatory fun experience, learners ‘live’ a subject and learn by doing, making memorable experiences with increased retention
Creative development
Technology increases opportunity for students to be creative
Reduced training risk
Virtual scenarios allow safe fail states without real world repercussions
It is in this context that FirstStage is delivering an affordable and accessible open-ended platform for you to take full control of your first steps into immersive learning solutions.
Watch a 3 minute player experience of a fire training democreated in FirstStage
How easy is it to use?
FirstStage has been developed out of a four year European R&D project into natural user interfaces for creative production.
Interaction isn’t acheived via deep menus and complex timelines, it uses the visual benefits of VR to deliver a 3d virtual world with intuitive natural interactions, whilst taking advantage of virtual world opportunities.
- Natural movement
- Three button games controls
- Virtual tablet
- Realtime 3d timeline
- One and two handed interactions
- Carousel Asset Library
- Handheld or fixed cameras
- Collaboration interactions
No matter what technical skill level, this is a tool for anyone to naturally use, and enjoy the benefits of a physically active software interface.
Whether a tool customer or a service client, you can depend upon us
"We have been using Moviestorm since 2010 for a reason. Not only do they publish great tools but they really support their customers, and when you need something unique, will deliver affordable, high quality and timely bespoke solutions."
Jezz Wright
Future Learning Strategist
What can you do?
Quickly create beautiful sets
FirstStage offers a number of frictionless ways to build dynamic environments for learners to explore.
We appreciate that often when creating scenes, progress can be hindered by a lack of available content to put on stage, so FirstStage provides a number of solutions to avoid such frustrations and keep you working.
First of all, anything put on stage is recorded in your Asset Repository, and they can be seemlessly replaced if better models become available. This allows users to quickly draft scenes with placeholder asset and prove they work before committing to expensive original 3d prop creation.
On top of that, FirstStage offers multiple ways of accessing 3d models, so you should never be stuck waiting on technical assistance.
Asset Library
Subscriptions come with a broad selection of 3d models in the Asset Library, all supplied with full commercial rights and categorised for easy access.
3d Sketching
FirstStage has a easy-to-use modeling and texturing tool, so users can quickly create assets from handheld props and furniture, to vehicles and buildings.
Import 3d models
If you have your own models, or you have bought low cost models online, simply import them into your Asset Repository via Unity, and place on set.
Block and layout out your scene in 3d
Good immersive learning puts the user into virtual sequences that teach and test, but also entertain. FirstStage is a storytelling tool, so great for enacting training scenarios without requiring actors or film crews.
Again, speed and ease is the key so that ideas can be quickly tested before detail is added.
As well as 3d models, the asset library contains placeholder 3d characters that can be used as placeholders to quickly choreograph the scene. But at any time, high quality 3d character models from places like Reallusion Character Creator can be imported to seemlessly replace the placeholders or use from the get-go.
There are also multiple ways to animate that enable you to create exciting scenes.
Posing
If you are just after images to support your learning content, then characters can be simply posed to quickly compose scenes.
Mocap
FirstStage supports partial mocap using just a headset and controllers, full mocap with additional trackers, and the Rokoko Smartsuit.
Import animation
If you have your own animations, or you hjave bought low cost animations online, simply import them via Unity and add to a character's timeline.
Add triggers and multiple choice decision trees
FirstStage allows you to easily convert scenes into sequences that can be triggered by an event, such as time, location or action, so that the learning can be paced by both the story and the user, and progress monitored.
Real-time and offline collaboration
The opportunity to jump onto the stage with your colleagues and create content, play and test ideas, and share everything in real-time, anytime you want, for as long as you want, is huge. Timelines are shortened, quality is increased and team satisfaction is raised.
But its not just that. There is little point everyone being there watching one person do all the work, as happens with so many technically complex production tools. FirstStage's natural user interface allows all abilities to be productive and contribute in VR ... but of course you can just use a 2d screen to watch and instruct if you want!
Export into your workflow
FirstStage offers the opportunity to create layouts for approval, that can be shared live in VR, or via a live feed into a shared video conference, or via storyboards created from exported stills, or via animatics using the Shot Sequencer - a simple editing tool to output your sequence ideas.
Then once everything is approved and your sequence is ready, you can export it all and create the final quality that you are seeking using your preferred 3d animation tools.