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education took him to Los Angeles where he

VISUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY spent 10 years in the visual effects industry, working on Oscar winning flms such as Life of Pi and Golden Compass. After seeing the visual effects industry struggling despite award- winning success, McMillan returned to Houston where he considered falling back on his engi- neering degree, but eventually turned to media, fnding FuelFX instead.

Changing realities The company is testing the latest gadgets on the market such as Google Glass, Epson

Moverio (a Google Glass competitor), as well

Oil and gas companies are as the Oculus Rift, to see which creates the best overall user experience, and determine turning to new high-tech what will work best for a client’s needs. While gadgets for workplace these devices are more closely associated with solutions. Audrey Leon consumer-focused video game experiences and next-wave socializing and computing, they can spoke with Houston-based be used for more.

FuelFX to see how this new

McMillan says with the younger demographic coming into the oil and gas industry, it is impor- reality can be implemented.

tant to reach them on their terms. “Building simulations that are built upon video game technology increases retention value,”

McMillan says. “Right now, there’s very little interaction in training. It should be immersive and interactive.”

With the Oculus Rift in particular, the user is able to see a 360° view of a virtual environment. The scene can be an offshore drilling platform, with specifcations provided by the customer, with the various obstacles and views tailored to that specifc platform.

MacMillan says the company is not focused on any one single peripheral, and has conducted tests on quite a few. However, he fnds that Google Glass is the most problematic for the type of industrial use that oil and gas companies need.

FuelFX’s Oliver Diaz demonstrates the Oculus Rift system. n order to reach the next generation of engineers, the oil and “Google Glass is a neat peripheral, but it has a lot of limita-

Photos by Audrey Leon/OE.

gas industry will have to speak their language by using high- tions,” he says. “Google doesn’t have the processing power for

I

Rolls-Royce, and GE all offer solutions for DP course training tech gadgets, apps, and even video games. 3D and overlay that were important to us, and for AR.” (OE: May 2014), for example. This type of immersive and inter- “It takes 10,000 hours to be an expert at something,” says Other limitations FuelFX found were poor battery life, over- active training can help adapt workers to the facilities on which Oliver Diaz, president and CEO of multimedia and design frm heating and Google’s lack of development toward fxing those they will work, before they ever set foot on an offshore rig or FuelFX. “Most young adults have played over 12,000 hours of technology limitations, McMillan says.

before they every get behind the controls of a crane that may lift games by the time they are 21. What are they experts in?” While investigating what other types of wearable technology a two ton topside module into place. Reality in the oil and gas industry is already changing, and were out on the market, FuelFX found Epson’s Moverio glasses,

FuelFX is one company aiming to help translate the oil it’s getting more virtual. In 2013, Maersk Oil launched its web- which McMillan says gives Google a run for its money.

and gas industry through use of 3D modeling, animation, and only video game “Quest for Oil” with the purpose of making the “If you look at Google Glass – it was developed for consum- motion graphics solutions that can be displayed through apps oil and gas industry more ers, individuals,” he says. “It wasn’t the best for a Business to created for portable devices, such as tablets or smartphones. It accessible. Maersk Oil CEO Business (B-2-B) or industrial solutions. is also developing training simulations that can be run through Jakob Thomasen told OE “Epson didn’t try to be the consumer solution,” he says. wearable peripherals, such as glasses. The peripherals utilize last August that the com- “It was a use-case solution. It had more power, more process- augmented reality (AR) technology, which allows the user to see pany’s goal was to inform, ing, and a lot more interactivity. They were developing for the both the real-life environment and also the scenario designer educate, inspire, engage and industrial aspect.” wants them to see. create a dialogue. “We hope Some of the technology available in FuelFX’s laboratory

FuelFX, which began in 2007 as Bullfghter Design, that a game like this can cre- included an iPad app that showed real-time recognition of rebranded in 2013 with the industry in mind. FuelFX’s Vice ate some awareness about objects in a simulated refnery. The app shows what tasks the

President of Business Development Gavin McMillan says the industry and how excit- user will have to complete, and will also warn of dangerous 80-90% of its current business is from oil and gas. And the ing it is to work here, that objects, and inform the user of how to avoid them.

company has already worked with BP – helping to illustrate we have jobs in the future, The app, called Scaffold, is the company’s AR-integrated

Macondo – Nabors, and Schlumberger. and that you can have the rapid e-procedure development tool. McMillan says it allows

McMillan, himself, studied mechanical engineering at the world as your playground.” the customer to build a target and build a procedure.

University of Texas at Austin, before pursuing a master’s degree Many companies cur- “In the enterprise version you can upload that procedure and in visualization science from the Texas A&M University. rently provide simulated target, edit and then push it back out,” he says. “That essen-

FuelFX CEO Oliver Diaz shows

Laughing, he says, “I had a very renaissance education. I training options. Kongsberg tially allows you to run Nested procedures with measures of of one of the company’s custom studied pretty much everything under the sun.” That varied Maritime, Maersk Training, video and text.” iPad apps.

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