VR – will it be DOA just like stereo 3D ?

[Ricardo Marty]

I just saw the film “Hardcore Henry” which in my opinion could be great shot with a system like you are talking about.

Hardcore henry was shot with a gopro camera fixed to a mask on the face of the prime actor. the film looks and feels like a first person shooter video game.

Now imagine with this camera on te head of the prime actor.. An experience never before felt

Ricardo Marty

[David Lawrence]

[Robert Olhsson] “I hate to throw cold water on this but we’ve been here a number of times before over the past 25 years and it failed because the learning curve was too steep for the benefits.”

[Walter Soyka] “There’s a lot that makes this go-around on VR very different from the past, and I think that the acceleration in development and commoditization of components in mobile technologies is the most significant. The technology needed for truly immersive VR has just recently become available at modest price points.”

Since we’re talking about VR past and present (as well as sound), you guys might get a kick out of this radio documentary I co-produced with Jim McKee and Barney Jones of Earwax Productions in 1993.

We recorded most of the voices at Cyberthon – a 24-hour virtual reality event presented by Whole Earth Institute at (Colossal)Pictures Studios, in October 1990. It was a bit like a VR inspired Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The idea was to gather a bunch of artists, philosophers, technologists, and celebrities interested in VR, create a playground with state-of-the-art VR demos, then turn everyone loose for 24-hours, while having ongoing panel discussions and documented conversations. I co-ran the Doc Squad. We were responsible for capturing all the chaos on video.

Three years later we finished this radio doc. We got an NEA grant (it was back in the days when they gave awards to individual artists) and funding from New Radio and Performing Arts. We aired on NPR and won some awards. But other than that, the piece has been dormant all these years.

With all the recent hype in VR-land, I recently posted it on SoundCloud to make it easier to share. 25-years later, it’s amazing how different the conversations are now, even though the core universal themes are still the same. The piece is broken into topics, based on the common ideas that emerged in the transcripts. You can read the track (topic) list along with full production credits here:

https://soundcloud.com/dhl/virtual-paradise

There was one huge topic absolutely no one was talking about. It’s probably the biggest thing driving VR today but back then no one mentioned it. Guess what that was!

The piece is ~30 minutes long and works best in one sitting. Think of it as a movie for your ears. Enjoy!

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research

linkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
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web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl

[Chris Harlan]

[Tim Wilson] “The reason why I think it won’t work for narrative just yet is that it takes out the narrator! The whole point of narrative, editing, everything we do is look HERE.

The point of VR is, look AROUND.

And it’s compelling because I’M doing the looking, not you. I’m looking at what *I* want to see.
“

I disagree a wee bit. Certainlymuch of the joy of VR is the ability to look around where you want to, but I think its pretty easy to direct attention in that environment. I’m positive that well directed scripted content can be exciting in VR, and that your eyes can be easily driven to where they’re supposed to go. Imagine being in the center of the set of The Big Bang Theory or in an office space on Parks and Rec and comic mayhem is taking place on all sides of you. I think it would be fun to be swiveling back and forth, caught in an argument between Leslie and Ron.

I saw some great demos today at NAB over in the relatively meager “virtual reality pavilion.” I’m hopeful for VR, far more so than I ever have been for any kind of 3D.

[Tim Wilson]

[Chris Harlan] “I think it would be fun to be swiveling back and forth, caught in an argument between Leslie and Ron.

I saw some great demos today at NAB over in the relatively meager “virtual reality pavilion.” I’m hopeful for VR, far more so than I ever have been for any kind of 3D.”

You have my attention. 🙂

re: Parks & Rec, fair enough! Putting me in the middle of a story might be cool.

re: NAB, Tell me more!

What was the pavilion like? What was there? What makes you say it’s meager?

Sorry to pester, but I’ve obviously got some feeeeelings about this. 🙂

[Chris Harlan]

I only spent an hour there today. I’ll probably go back by tomorrow. I think “meager” because I was expecting more concentration. But really, VR and 360 were scattered in small doses around the show. I saw a terrific demo from a company called Koncept VR.

Here’s the video that was at center of the VR as a 360 video:

https://www.konceptvr.com/portfolio-item/rocket-launch-360-delta-iv-nrol-45/

And here’s a fun device that you wear that basically takes the subwoofer track off of a 5.1 mix and turns it into a palpable vibration.

Also, a good presentation on VR tools from a company called Mettle:

Really, there’s VR and 360 all over the show, but in little pockets.

[Steve Connor]

[Chris Harlan] “I disagree a wee bit. Certainlymuch of the joy of VR is the ability to look around where you want to, but I think its pretty easy to direct attention in that environment”

This one uses model Gigi Hadid to direct your attention!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwDtPixqJLc

[Steve Connor]

[Tim Wilson] “Sorry to pester, but I’ve obviously got some feeeeelings about this. 🙂
“

New 360 Video forum coming soon?

[David Lawrence]

[Steve Connor] “New 360 Video forum coming soon?”

Yes, great idea! Tim?

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research

linkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl

[Andrew Kimery]

[David Lawrence] ”
Yes, great idea! Tim?”

I think creating a new forum is a virtual lock if Tim thinks its time as come around.

I’ll show myself out now. 😉

-Andrew

[Paul Dickin]

[David Lawrence] “There was one huge topic absolutely no one was talking about.”
Excellent piece of radio 🙂

The one huge topic that most people knew nothing about in 1990?: The understanding of the neuroscience of cognitive awareness.
Daniel Kahneman was able to win the Nobel prize for Economics even though he had no grounding in economics through his analysis of the function of narrative storytelling at the heart of cognition and memory, and the inherent distortions that ‘rational thinking man’ – a non-existent construct – is inherently prone to.
David Eagleman, in this clip, talks about the mechanism the brain uses in its perception of ‘reality’, which is a dynamic modelling process.
“Moment to moment what we experience isn’t whats really out there, instead its a beautifully rendered simulation…
Its called the Internal Model, and its vital to our ability to function.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3MSw2irv0-A#t=1695

Apparently there is six times more data flowing against the direction of visual input from the eyes when the brain is seeing, so what we ‘see’ is mostly derived from an internal model of ‘reality’.
Truth 24 frames per second, but mostly when a 308º butterfly shutter is blacking out the light. And everything longer than about 3″ is a ‘story’…

In effect, what Descartes should have said was: I have an internal dynamic model of my place in the world, therefore I am.

This whole new neuroscience-based way of thinking allows an understanding of the way in which VR can be effective, but I think its important to realise that the R in VR is misnamed… Maybe it should be VC, virtual cognition. 😉