Makers of The Metaverse: Stefan Hauswiesner Of Reactive Reality On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
I believe immersive technology will further increase the popularity of online commerce and one thing that concerns me is the effect on the physical shopping industry. Weakened by the pandemic, the traditional model of retail is already struggling to compete with online offerings. It’s imperative that brick and mortar stores find new ways to attract consumers, such as the adoption of AR technologies themselves.
The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Stefan Hauswiesner, co-founder and CEO of Reactive Reality (www.reactivereality.com).
Stefan graduated from the Graz University of Technology with a PhD in Visual Computing and Augmented Reality. Addressing the growing need for in-store experiences and higher levels of customization in E-commerce, he is now at the forefront of a retail revolution providing the immersive technology for a new, online world for both retailers and consumers. As co-founder and CEO of AR company, Reactive Reality, Stefan is changing the way in which consumers interact with fashion by offering them the ability to accurately try on virtual outfits on their own personalized avatars (accurate to body measurement and appearance) via online retailers.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
I grew up in Austria and discovered my love for computer graphics at the age of 14 in the form of computer games. I always wanted to know how they worked. I learned programming at age 15, and started to work for a small software company in my town at the age of 16. I then began to develop intranet applications for big companies and graphics engines in my spare time, while still attending school. It was clear I would study computer science and eventually graduated at the Graz University of Technology. Following this, I began my research and PhD studies in Visual Computing and Augmented Reality also at the Graz University of Technology.
Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The idea of virtual try-on can be traced back to a movie called “Clueless” in 1995, featuring a wealthy teenage girl with a virtual dressing room on her computer. The idea looked simple, and valuable. As a consequence, there have been numerous attempts at cracking the problem of virtual fashion try-on. However, most companies underestimated the complexity of the technology required. It requires a combination of advanced AI, AR and computer graphics to work this out on a larger scale. A very influential book is “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. It first described the Metaverse, and even coined the term. A Metaverse like Neal Stephenson envisioned requires personalized avatars and virtual fashion to become a reality.
Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the Augmented Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.
During my time at the Graz University of Technology, I became interested in the concept of a virtual fitting room. I designed my own one which was essentially a room-sized box with multiple cameras which allowed users to step in and see themselves wearing virtual outfits on a large TV screen. Around this time, I met my co-founders Philipp Grasmug and Philipp Pani. We all saw the huge potential in this type of AR technology, which at the time was geared primarily towards laboratory use and was far too expensive for wide-spread adoption. After finishing my PhD, me and my colleagues identified the need to scale up the technology, bring the functionality to mobile devices, and lower the bar to entry for e-commerce businesses of all sizes. This is why we created our company, Reactive Reality.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?
The most interesting story we have to tell is something fascinating we have learnt about consumer behavior. We set out to solve the return rate problem of e-commerce, caused by online shoppers being unable to try on and experience the products before buying, leading to return rates of up to 50%. Our virtual try-on solution, PICTOFiT, helps to solve this problem of high returns by letting shoppers pick the right size and styles, leading to lower returns; however, what we hadn’t anticipated is how fun and addictive consumers would find this. As soon as PICTOFiT became available publicly to users, they started to mix & match thousands of outfits and spent hours doing so every month, leading to significant increases in sales, user loyalty, and engagement. This ‘fun factor’ was a big surprise to us back then, and has now become a major focus for us. We now know that a frictionless, fun experience is just as important as accurate size recommendations, for example.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When starting with an idea and transforming it into a functional offering, one is bound to face many new and different challenges. Reactive Reality’s beginning was dominated by technical developments and a lot of testing, and when working with early adopters of our technology, we learnt that, often, their creativity knew no limits. People came up with hilarious combinations of clothes, such as putting a swimsuit over a coat, to see what was possible. Naturally, this really stretched the technology’s limits and triggered intense development cycles. Often, it was challenging but also funny. In the end, all this helped us to make PICTOFiT what it is now — a robust solution scalable to millions of products and users.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Professor Dieter Schmalstieg, head of the Institute for Computer Graphics and Vision (ICG), has been a long-term supporter of our development as a company and of our invention of new technologies, and is a real inspiration to all of us. He is a world-renowned researcher in the field of AR/VR, who has been awarded for his achievements, and is the author of the definitive book on AR. We still work closely with Dieter and the institute on solving some of the most challenging problems in computer graphics, vision, and deep learning.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are working on exciting developments all the time. For example, advanced rendering methods which can reproduce the appearance of products at an unprecedented level. It shows the reflections on a shirt button, and complex reflective materials like satin and leather. Another great example are interactive user avatars, which can not only be used in virtual try-on applications but even in 3D teleconferences, gaming, and health & fitness (together now referred to as the Metaverse). The world is fast becoming more and more digitalized and people will increasingly look for personalized, virtual embodiments of themselves for communication and interactive shopping experiences.
The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?
Over the past few years the VR, AR and MR industries have experienced astonishing advancement and growth. What excites me most is the impact these technologies will have on the fashion industry. We are already seeing that big brands, such as Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, are already embracing the Metaverse. However, I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. At Reactive Reality, we have multiple projects helping brands and retailers present their collections at virtual fashion shows, virtual shopping malls, or directly in online e-commerce shops. For example, our PICTOFiT platform enabled the digital shows of young fashion designers during Milan Fashion Week.
Another aspect of the VR, AR and MR industries that excites me is their capacity to enhance consumer experiences. As a response to the pandemic, we really started to see more and more companies begin to implement consumer engagement technologies like AI, AR and VR into their online offerings. At Reality Reality, we collaborated with Microsoft and the London College of Fashion to create the Digital Human Stylist. It was a lifelike digital twin of the online shopper, animated and voice-controlled through AI, which understood what the shopper needed to make their daily outfit decisions, not only in terms of fit and size but also taste, style and occasion. As we move towards the mainstreaming of the Metaverse and Web3, consumers will come to expect and enjoy similar immersive experiences when browsing online.
One final thing that I look forward to is the higher levels of customization and creativity that VR, AR, and MR technologies are going to enable. Personalized avatars with digital clothing will become a fundamental aspect of the future online landscape as the Metaverse is an “embodied internet” where people will want to express themselves through their appearance, just like in real life. Immersive technologies are the ultimate instrument for expression and creativity, as they are not confined by real life limitations. At Reactive Reality we are poised to facilitate a smooth transition into this new, online world allowing users to experiment with limitless combinations of clothes on their own to-scale avatars.
What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?
I believe immersive technology will further increase the popularity of online commerce and one thing that concerns me is the effect on the physical shopping industry. Weakened by the pandemic, the traditional model of retail is already struggling to compete with online offerings. It’s imperative that brick and mortar stores find new ways to attract consumers, such as the adoption of AR technologies themselves. For instance, retailers could implement digital mirrors which allow customers to view & try on clothes that are not currently available in store. We often see in fashion retail that the adoption of new technologies is rather slow. I hope that retailers can adapt to this new landscape and achieve their own innovation.
Another concern that I have, as users begin to delve deeper into the Metaverse and live increasingly through their digital identities, is their perceptions of their own bodies. Users may become more attached to their digital representation than to who they are in the real world; however unrealistic and unattainable this version of themselves might be in reality. I see a strong need for technology such as PICTOFiT in the Metaverse which would allow for photorealistic to-scale avatars allowing users to maintain realistic and positive body images.
One final concern that I have about the application of immersive technologies is that they will become integral to daily life whilst remaining inaccessible to many people. It is possible that technology such as AR glasses could become as important as a smartphone to the average person. How soon and how important immersive technology will be in our daily lives in the future is yet to be seen, but what is certain is that it will cost money. The barriers for entry must be low as it’s essential that potential users are not priced out of the Metaverse. One thing I fear we will see in the future is the struggle for the democratization of immersive technology.
I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?
The whole purpose of Reactive Reality is providing scalable visualizations for the consumer. However, this can apply to the modern workplace as well. In a world where many meetings are virtual, AR/VR has the potential to add an immersive element to remote collaboration tools. For instance, videoconferences will become fully immersive in 3D! Participants will share a virtual space where they can interact with digital objects while at the same time establish eye contact with others, show gestures and express their personalities with their photorealistic full body avatars. This will greatly enhance a meeting or presentation and feel more natural than today’s videoconferences.
Technology such as AR glasses could also be used to train employees in immersive sessions, building skills and knowledge without actually having to leave the workplace all through adding artificial stimuli to the employees’ real environment. Even manufacturers and architects, for instance, could use this technology to visualize to-scale components, rooms and buildings during the design and construction processes. VR, AR and MR technologies have many applications which can improve processes and cut costs for all sorts of businesses.
Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?
In addition to providing a fun and interactive experience, Reactive Reality’s AR technology can help consumers lower their carbon footprint by eliminating the need for returns. The past decade has seen a huge boom in the E-commerce industry and consequently an astronomical increase in the amount of online returns. Consumers are now deliberately purchasing several of the same item in different sizes and turning their bedrooms into fitting rooms. This shift in consumer behavior is clearly unsustainable and has a negative impact on the environment as evidenced by the billions of kilos-worth of returned items which end up in landfill. With PICTOFiT, we are preventing the need for consumers to over-order by enabling them to create avatars of themselves together with true-to-life products that can be tried on in a virtual fitting room, giving a clear indication of what a product will look like when worn by the consumer. According to customer surveys, our technology is highly effective in enabling frequent and well-informed purchase decisions.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?
I think there is an urban myth about Metaverse companies wanting to monitor and control people’s lives. This is obviously cynical and not true. Technology providers like Reactive Reality are genuinely interested in enabling people to shop, work and communicate more naturally and accomplish tasks in AR/VR/MR more efficiently than in real life. A true Metaverse, just like today’s internet, is not controlled by a single entity and allows users to choose whichever services they like best while maintaining a high level of privacy.
What is needed to create a highly successful career in the VR, AR, or MR industries?
Obviously there is a very high skill bar to be met when developing applications for AR/VR/MR. Usually it takes a team of experts in human computer interaction, computer graphics, computer vision and machine learning to create a truly unique experience. At the same time, it’s a highly rewarding field to work in. There is still a lot of room for creativity and small teams can create something unique. The more mature any industry becomes, the harder this becomes and the more it’s dominated by big players. AR/VR/MR or the Metaverse is still young and exciting.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would start my own global movement to connect researchers, experts and businesses in the world of VR, AR and MR so they can share ideas and experiences and ultimately advance the field of immersive technology. There is a lot of talk about how the Metaverse is going to shape the future, but we still have a very long way to go. It is going to take a huge amount of work and from my own academic experience, I believe that through shared learning and pooling together we can bring this new world into fruition.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Meta and Snap are leading the development of immersive technologies right now. We’d be honored to speak to Andrew Bosworth and John Carmack of Meta, and Eitan Pilipski and Evan Spiegel of Snap.
Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!
Makers of The Metaverse: Stefan Hauswiesner Of Reactive Reality On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
