Thesis Update #14 - 3D Camp/Irish VR - as an exhibitor!!

On Thursday, the 24, we did a user test at 3DCamp. 3DCamp is a meet-up group that is hosted at Work Day. They meet every three or four months and showcase tons of projects on a variety of platforms, even some of the newer and unique ones like the SmartHelmet from Daqri or the HoloLens from Microsoft. There are a lot of projects from local companies, students, and entrepreneurs. We got to talk a bit about the project and then did our first full dress rehearsal. It was cool to finally be on the other side of things, as usually I'm a visitor. 

Needless to say a lot of things weren’t working and a lot of things went wrong. It was a good experience.

We have decided to combine the panel and reference book. It was taking people far too long to find the challenge and then find the panel. So we are going to put the panel page right beside the challenge solution page.

Additionally, people were having a hard time knowing what to communicate to the other players. We are going to make a small webpage or app that has instructions and role descriptions that all the players can look through beforehand. That way they will know the necessary steps, and see photos of the environment and sensors before they begin to play. We’re going try to keep the instructions short, simple, and to the point.

It was also a bit difficult for people to read out the challenge, and then for the second player to match up that challenge to something in the book. We need more of a definite, hard link between what appears on the podium and what is in the book. Eva had the idea to put the panel symbols up on the podium, and then the player one would communicate that to player 2. Player 2 can probably find that easier in the book. I think it eliminates quite a bit of the story, but for the sake of playability and clarity, this change probably needs to happen.

I attempted to enact some of those changes over the weekend but unfortunately fell ill and had to go to the doctor. I have contracted a viral infection (yay mono) and a fungal infection (yay Candida overgrowth). My weakened immune system couldn’t just wait one more week, could it?

3DCamp/Irish VR Meetup #4 - Augmented Reality

So my initial post about the latest 3DCamp/Irish VR meetup consisted mostly of fangirling over the HoloLens. But! There was some cool augmented reality content as well. A developer demo'd and did a presentation on his marker-based augmented reality cards. 

Here is a cool video of a holographic video message playing on the marker. 

3D Camp and Irish VR #4 - HoloLens is Holotastic!

ONE WORD: HOLOLENS. 

I finally got to try Microsoft's mixed reality device and I'm pretty sure I'm in love. Yes, the field of view is small. Does it ultimately matter? I don't think so. This is just the very first version; I'm pretty sure the engineers at Microsoft are cooking up new and improved versions. I think people were expecting it to meet the standards set by recent virtual reality headsets. But does anyone remember the first VR prototypes? Yeah, those sucked. HoloLens may not be the HoloDeck, but it definitely doesn't suck. 

Had some interesting discussions about mixed vs. augmented reality. So essentially augmented reality is the digital overlay of information on our real-world environment. However, the augmented content isn't location-aware. Mixed reality content, on the other hand, is location-aware. You can pick up a digital object by using a hand gesture and drop it from the table to the floor. HoloLens has, essentially, a mapping system; I had to look-up a tutorial to understand how it works. It's called spatial mapping; it uses a Cartesian coordinate system to map the real-world. There are also things called spatial anchors to help reduce drift. I'm not sure I entirely understand it all at this point, but I did go home and follow some tutorials to create a HoloLens app in Unity. 

Because that's the best part: it has integration with Unity. I think it's ability to integrate with Unity and the entire Windows system is ultimately what's going to set it a part from other mixed reality devices that arrive on the scene. 

So here's two videos. The first is a demo of some of the mixed reality content. The second one shows the spatial mapping in action. 

HoloLens demo at the 3DCamp/Irish VR meetup at WorkDay.

HoloLens demo at the 3DCamp/Irish VR meetup at WorkDay.

3D Camp Dublin and Irish VR

I'm checking out the VR/AR/MR scene here in Dublin, Ireland. MeetUp is possibly the most helpful social app I have ever used (no, not Tinder. I know, I know...). There are some well-established groups here in Dublin, unsurprising I suppose since Dublin is the capital (if something is happening in Ireland, it's happening in Dublin). WorkDay has a gorgeous space for groups to rent; it's on the very top floor of their office and it's completely glassed in, meaning you get lovely view of Dublin, the Dublin Mountains, and the Irish Sea. I wish I had taken some pictures!

I was too distracted by...the wicked awesome demos here for virtual reality. Indie and corporate developers are both here to show-off their newest creations or works-in-progress. I got to try the Oculus and the Vive and I like them both. I think I prefer the Vive's hand controls, however, though I think Oculus is releasing something called Oculus Touch soon. I don't have a phone capable of VR so I also tried some Cardboard apps. I think I'd enjoy the Cardboard apps more if there was a controller instead of just a button. 

I am definitely going to check out a phone from the school's lab to try out more VR!

I think I'm hooked. I'm falling in love with Unity and all this AR/VR content.