My Unity project is inspired by Jersey in the Channel Islands that’s why I’ve attempted to make an island type world. I downloaded all of my models from sketchfab and just drag and dropped them into unity. The models were easy to set up but more difficult to texture. I had trouble getting the play feature to work however once I added in the programming for the character movements it started working. That was my main challenge for this artefact everything else ended up being pretty straightforward.
This lesson we looked at different examples of VR, experimental VR and the ethics of VR. Then we moved on to an introduction to Unity. I’ve never used this software before and felt it the most o overwhelming to use so far. We used pre made files and models to start understanding how to use the tools but I was still left really confused after this lesson.
How will people adapt to countless hours of immersion?
I think people have already naturally adapted to immersion b because most things these days can become immersive. Even listening to music on your own in the bedroom can become an experience so I don’t think people will have any trouble. The older generation may have a slightly harder time adapting because of the lack of technology they grew up around, however my generation is thriving from the use of technology and I believe that the world will be fully immersive in the year to come.
Today in our groups we started the filming process of our 360° videos. To start we made a quick plot diagram that could be used in an interactive film.
Video Plan
The image above shows the plan for where all our hotspots will be throughout the video. Includes 8 different locations but has 10 pathway options as some of the are repeated. We managed to film all of our footage in one session. The videos are too large to upload to the blog.
Screenshot from one of the videos
The filming part was really quick and straightforward to film, they just took really long to upload onto the computer to start editing because of the size.
Had a look at virtual environments and the first attempt at VR – The Sensorama.
Sensorama
The Sensorama was a machine that is one of the earliest known examples of immersive, multi-sensory technology. This technology, which was introduced in 1962 by Morton Heilig, is considered one of the earliest virtual reality systems.
I was really looking forward to the introduction on 360° film making. We looked at how to create interactive film using a website called Stornaway.io and another software called eevo.
Then we looked at setting up a 360° camera which connected to my phone through an app called THETA which was easy to set up and use. Once we knew how to operate the equipment we recorded a quick clip of the class room so we could start learning how to do simple edits on Adobe After Effects. Unfortunately I can’t find the video to upload it to the blog 🙁
The introduction to After Effects was quite brief but luckily I’d already used this software in the past otherwise I think it would’ve been a challenge. Even knowing how to use it I still struggle with it sometimes. The lesson covered how to add shapes and colour so we could set up hotspot buttons in interactive videos. Then we looked at how to create walls using squares so we could set up a whole room only using after effects.
We briefly looked at 3DoF and 6DoF (Degree of Freedom).
The number before it shows how many different axes are being tracked. 3DoF is enough for 360 video, while 3D VR requires 6DoF. If you want to make use of 3D environments, a 6DoF headset is necessary. It allows for the tracking of your physical movement.
After we looked at the…
5 simple rules for 360° filmmaking
1. Think of your camera as a character
2. Mind the stitch
3. Don’t forget the sound
4. Move with caution
5. Fill your scene
Lastly we looked at how to branch narrative to work for an interactive film. In small groups we then started to plan a quick narrative structure so that we could start filming footage for our next artefact. A video of the different locations throughout the university.
We got set our first modelling assignment which was to:
I started my research off by making a mood board of a guide line of all the elements I wanted my fantasy environment to have.
Mood Board
Then on Procreate I played around with the hue and saturation to turn it into my preferred colour palette.
Edited Version
I also gave a short presentation to the group of all of my previous work so everyone could see each others art styles which was nice to see. I can’t wait to see how everyone’s work develop and was so inspiring to see what people already knew how to do.
While creating the mood board I came across 3 useful artists:
Syd Mead
Ralph McQuarrie
Craig Mullins
And finally we looked at an overview of 3D animation which I’ve never really had a look at myself. The sort of origin of animation. George Melies, Edwin S. Porter, Emile Cohl, Windsor Mckay and Lottie Reinige. We made a group pallet with a dump of all of the research that we found.
This lesson was all about how to put together a story, looking at what elements are needed. We had a small investigation into this in small groups and ended up looking at a painting and attempted to make the story work for VR. We also looked at the importance of narrative and the difference in storytelling from narrative. A story is an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment, whereas narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events.
We looked at the structure of a plot:
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Plot Diagram
Group exercise:
‘A picture can paint a thousand words’ Reportedly first used by Frederick R. Barnard, an advertising manager
who used it in an ad in Printer’s Ink (December, 1921)
Refers to the notion that one single image can convey a story as effectively as a large amount of descriptive text.
Thousand Hands Man – Lumli Lumlong
Portrays a representation of the frontline protestors in the
pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Thousand Hands Man – Lumli Lumlong
In our groups we had to quickly draft a rough narrative for what happened in this painting and then act out to the class our ideas. I didn’t really enjoy this activity and don’t feel like I benefited from acting it out. Especially as it was about a protest, trying to act it with such a small group of people didn’t really work that well.
During this lesson we looked at 7 different famous paintings that have become digitalised either through VR, AR or animation.
These paintings were:
Guernica – Pablo Picasso
Girl with the Pearl Earring – Johannes Vermeer
Starry Night – Van Gogh
The Garden of Earthy Delights – Hieronymus Bosch
The Great Wave of Kanagawa – Katsushika Hokusai
The Scream – Edvard Munch
Omni – Aweiwei
Out of all of the ones we got shown in class, Guernica was my favourite because it was the one I was already the most familiar with.
Video of the 3D Model of Guernica (Actual version is 3D model on Sketchfab)
It was really nice to see a classic painting get transformed into a digitalised version. It brought the painting back to life and created some good ideas for my project. I already enjoy painting so it would be interesting if I could experiment with the two mediums myself.
This was our first introduction to the course where we had a short briefing to what immersive media and mixed reality actually is. First we spoke about what immersion means to us and how it could be achieved; as a class we constructed a mind map of our views on immersion.
It was helpful having everyone contribute to ideas at once and interesting to see the way people view immersion. This opened up new ideas on how things could be seen as immersive because I’m always thinking about it in a digital format.
“What is immersion? All about that feeling of being there. Having that impression/illusion that the environment you are in is real, that you are present in a place and time. Other words for immersion: presence, illusion. Achieved through different mediums and around since centuries. Technology today just allows for easier and stronger forms of immersion.” “At the end of the day, immersion is the act of forgetting that the medium we are using is there. It is about forgetting the surface of the painting when looking at one. It is about being so invested within the story that you are reading or watching that you forget it is not real. It is about forgetting that you are wearing a virtual headset when you are experiencing VR”
In small groups we came up with different ideas on how we could make our own immersive experience. My group came up with the idea of this domed room where we would project images of flowers and other plants which appear as you walk through using motion tracking equipment and create this jungle themed experience. We also considered using water to create mist and a sort of light spray effects to add a further level of immersion. To complete the experience and make it as immersive as possible we’d fill the room with essential oils or other smells and have sounds of nature playing in the background.
4 Types of Immersive Media Today:
360 filmmaking
Virtual reality
Augmented reality
Mixed reality
What is reality and do these technologies actually reproduce reality? According to Google reality is “the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.” So in a way yes they do reproduce it because virtual reality is a real thing however the objects within in don’t. The objects themselves are also an idealistic version of the real thing so in that sense then no it doesn’t reproduce reality. In order to be fully immersed you need to end up forgetting about the medium being used and I feel like the technology we have right now is still too bulky or heavy for you to forget about it while you’re using it. In my opinion, until it becomes more convenient to use it won’t have much of a chance of becoming fully immersive.
Next we looked at the ‘Virtual Continuum’ which shows you the range of the different mixed realities.
Virtuality Continuum.
Real environment: consists solely of real or physical objects. The real environment represents the left end of the virtuality continuum.
Augmented reality: the real world is augmented with digital elements.
Augmented virtuality: the virtual world is augmented by the inclusion of real or physical objects.
Virtual environment: consists solely of digital objects. The virtual environment represents the right end of the virtuality continuum.
How adapted are these technologies nowadays? Today I feel like they’re adapting very quickly and are becoming involved more and more into everyday life. From face filters to exhibitions to gaming they’re trying to find ways to incorporate it into everything if they can whether there’s a need or not. Almost like it’s the more technology the better. These technologies are going to achieve amazing things as we can easily alter the use to fit specific needs for example using VR to help train doctors. In the future I think the Mixed Reality community and tech will grow massively like it already is mainly because of how easy it is to access and learn from home.
AR Hyper Reality Video (If AR Took Over the World)
Sonic Immersion Experiment: We were asked to do a mini experiment where we had to be on the phone to another member of the class, walk around the building on your own and see if you could come up with a story based on the sound you could hear through the phone. I walked around for at least 10 minutes and that still wasn’t enough time for me to hear enough details for a story. I don’t feel like this experiment was very useful and didn’t really make me feel immersed, however if it was maybe in a different setting with more going on it would have been better. All of the sounds throughout the building were too similar to distinguish what part or the building my partner was in.
