Leaders in Virtual Reality

Rob Bryanton, the owner of Talking Dog Studios, has always been excited about the innovative use of new technology. The company started off as one of the first recording studios to become fully digital, moved into programming augmented reality experiences and in 2016 they opened the second virtual reality arcade in all of Canada (thegridvr.ca).

Their work in augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality has captured the attention of some of the largest brands in the world. The Mayo Clinic used Talking Dog to create an exhibit about the human body that opened in the Mall of America. People could hold up cards and see themselves holding highly detailed interactive views of various body parts, as programmed by the team.

Talking Dog also created a unique augmented reality experience for the announcement of the Legendary Pictures film Godzilla at Comic-Con which received worldwide attention.  When you viewed the T-shirt through a webcam at the event, Godzilla's “atomic breath” could be seen shooting out from his mouth and into the air in front of the person wearing the shirt.

“Virtual reality is becoming more mainstream, but we’ve been working in it and related technologies for years.” shares Bryanton.  “These projects are part of the ongoing process we’ve been working through and because we have been working on it for a while, our learning curve is not as steep.”

The group has designed interactive AR and VR experiences for provincial clients such as SaskTel, SaskPower, Tourism Saskatoon, Mosaic, the RCMP Heritage Centre, The Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Saskatchewan Cattleman’s Association.

“We are also moving into mixed reality and adding physical elements to make people feel like they are truly in some other reality. An example is sitting on a saddle and feeling it thump while experiencing the RCMP Musical Ride,” continues Bryanton.  “For another virtual reality installation we're using automated fans to help convince people they're flying in different directions. Our extensive experience in sound design is also crucial to the creative process for these projects.”

Within the past year, Talking Dog created the sound and music for a number of feature films, including one starring Wesley Snipes, another starring Nicolas Cage, and one co-starring Christina Ricci and John Cusack. These also have shorter VR movies attached to them for which Talking Dog is providing fully spatialized audio soundtracks. “We're grateful that Creative Saskatchewan provided funding to the film producers to help support this kind of post production work being done here in the province,” says Bryanton.

A high level of service is also important to Bryanton. “Customer service is number one. We really pride ourselves on making sure our clients are getting exactly what they are looking for.”

He finishes with a smile. “Work without ego. If your client doesn’t like it, you fix it.”

VR Demonstration

Founder: Rob Bryanton

Incorp Date: 1995

Employees: 8

Website: www.TalkingDogStudios.com

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