David Lawrence
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COW Coins
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[Steve Connor] “Looks good, Apple have clearly been listening.”
Yep! Lanes FTW. Looks good enough that I’m ready to give that damn timeline another chance! 🙂
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David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Oliver Peters] “Middle of MBP demo. Cool features, but a lot seems like a solution in search of a problem.”
Agreed. I use my MBP in clamshell mode with an external display and keyboard about 85% of the time so the touch bar doesn’t do much for me.
I like that it can drive two 5K displays. Sorry to lose magsafe though.
At least they kept the headphone jack! 😉
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Paul Golden] “Not really much of a threat to the Cintiq, because animators/illustrators don’t really draw at that angle and need a sturdier platform to press down on like a light table.”
Penny Arcade illustrator Mike Krahulik says it totally beats the Cintiq:
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2016/10/26/the-surface-studio
Certainly makes the iMac seem long in the tooth.
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Paul Dickin] “The one huge topic that most people knew nothing about in 1990?: The understanding of the neuroscience of cognitive awareness.”
[Paul Dickin] “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.””[Paul Dickin] “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. ;-)”
Great post, Paul, thank you. This is exactly the kind of meaty stuff that got me interested in VR to begin with! 🙂
I especially like Eagleman’s example comparing the way a camera sees with the way we see the world. As Barlow says, we’re “making it up as we go along”.
As far as the big VR topic no one was discussing in 1990, I wish it were something this interesting.
But nope, it’s something a lot more banal. Let’s see if someone else can guess. 😉
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Tim Wilson] “David recommended v2, which isn’t out yet, but surely won’t be that much more, right?”
My bet is it’ll be $29.99 😉
But you can get other v2 viewers on Amazon today (Cardboard v2 is built on the newer standard introduced at I/O 2015 and supports larger phones and a wider FOV).
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Steve Connor] “New 360 Video forum coming soon?”
Yes, great idea! Tim?
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[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~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Walter Soyka] “Speaking of which, just a few hours left:”
Interesting, but gonna pass. 😉
Looks like they’re putting a position sensor and HRTF calibration into the headphone hardware. I can see some merit in the HRTF sensor, but frankly, the position sensor makes more sense in the playback device because it needs to work with properly prepared audio content.
The idea that you would need headphones like these with an HTC Vive (like they show in the KS video) is completely bogus. The Vive is doing the audio spatialization. Same with Cardboard. You don’t need special headphones.
With >$2million in pledges, they seem to be doing just fine. The VR hype machine is strong! 😉
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Tim Wilson] “Perhaps not quiiiiite there yet, but there’s a reason for the hype. This time around, It Just Worksâ„¢. Not that it’s necessarily trying to do too much, but I think that’s GOOD.
But strap a current cell-phone on some $16 Google Cardboard, download the New York Times VR app as a start, and be prepared to be converted, at least a little.”
It’s funny, the first time I tried an Oculus DK2, I wanted to puke about five minutes into it. Had to tear that sucker off my face! And this was for the mellowest possible demo – a walk thru a quiet garden, LOL!
Then I was handed a Cardboard viewer and watched Clouds Over Sidra. Boom. It Just Worked.
The new Viewmaster is what really made me a believer. They’ve done a great job with interactivity and choosing appropriate content for the medium. I got lost for over an hour first time I played with it. That to me was a sign they’re doing something right. BTW, I highly recommend the Viewmaster. It’s cheap and well made. But don’t get the current version. Wait until the release the recently announced version2 which be built on the newer Cardboard 2015 optical standard and adds a headphone port.
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl -
[Tim Wilson] “But I do continue to maintain that, for the time being anyway, the most compelling uses of 360/VR are to put us in new PLACES to let us explore, rather than to slip us into story streams that “ideally” approach conventionality. “
Agree 100%!
We’re mostly interested in exploring 360/VR as a medium for what my colleague Michael Naimark calls “Thereness”.
It’s not surprising there’s a lot of interest in adapting narrative to VR. Early stuff usually starts on familiar grounds. But we think the more interesting stuff is at the margins, especially in the area of interactive representation of place.
I think if you want to tell a filmic story, you should make a movie. It’s hard enough to do that well! 🙂 VR/360 is a different kind of beast.
_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~researchlinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl