Kwesi Davis - Prayer Peace & Power

[3DNegro]

WEEK 1-3

Prayer Peace & Power

Project Pitch:
In the black church, we devote time to “altar call”. Church members come to the altar, kneel and pray. They pray for themselves, for loved ones, for the church, for whatever hits their heart. If they pray long enough, a minister of the church will lay hands on them and pray aloud with them. It is a deeply spiritual moment. Virtual Reality has a unique set of features that could enhance this spiritual moment. Imagine kneeling before an altar blessed by your pastor. You then put on a VR headset. As you bow your head, your favorite gospel song begins to play. You watch the ground race away from you until you are floating high above your neighborhood. Your God's eye view is occasionally obscured by clouds or a flock of birds but the image is accurate because the GPS technology, in your headset, knows where you are on the globe. You look up and observe a bright halo above your head. Beyond the gold glowing ring are a pair of angels towering over you with wings outstretched. Suddenly, you hear the voice of your best friend praying for you. The software has called one of your designated prayer warriors and they have answered the call. They speak affirmations in your ears. You are overcome with peace and praise. You are overwhelmed with the beauty of heaven and the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Biography:
Kwesi Davis has worked in the entertainment software industry for over a decade.  His experiences include projects at video gaming, commercial effects, animated television and feature animation companies.  He is currently a Sr. Pipeline Engineer at DreamWorks Animation SKG.

Progress Report:

• Downloaded and played various VR applications
• Watched Unity DLL & Plugin integration videos
  
• Tested multiple 3rd-party voice chat solutions
• Built a non-VR Unity mobile app with basic multiplayer voice chat feature
• Built and ran first VR Android app (the unfinished Launch Pad Boot Camp project)
• Contacted two concept artist
• Had first production meeting with Concept Artist 1
• Watched Unity Networking video
• Watched Unity Survival Shooter videos

[3DNegro]

WEEK 6

Testing Multi Player in VR

My concept relies on multiple users sharing a single experience.  So I spent this week getting up to speed on Unity's networking features.  I created a short demo project that allow users to join a game scene with an avatar.  The avatar is a simple colored cube.  When a user joins the game with the Gear VR, the player's head movements are applied to the avatar. These head movements can be viewed by the other players in the scene.  This is demonstrated in the following demo video. Note: The red cube is associated with my Gear VR.

https://youtu.be/fEBYfgl51_o

Progress Report:

Exploited Utility Assets Packages

• VR Samples 1.1a
• Oculus Utilities for Unity 5

Studied Networking topics

• events
• delegates
• NetworkManager
• NetworkManager HUD
• NetworkIdentity
• NetworkTransform 

Build Networking Demo

• multiplayer support
• HMD orientation tracking 
• propagate user transforms to all clients

Blocking Issues:

Debugging the Gear VR is harder than it needs to be.  I wish I could set up a data connection with the running Unity editor so I can see error logging in the console as I run the Gear VR.  This would save a lot of time when testing things that can't be tested in the editor like interacting with the Gear VR touch pad.  

[erica_layton]

I like the concept drawings you've posted!!

For multiplayer: Does the communication between GearVRs happen over WiFi? I noticed in the video that the debug HUD says "LAN"

[DrSzilak]

looking good! 
I do not know about this specifically, but I think you need to be aware of the overheating problem with Gear. I don't know if using wifi or multiplayer will affect that at all. 

[3DNegro]

erica_layton said:

I like the concept drawings you've posted!!

For multiplayer: Does the communication between GearVRs happen over WiFi? I noticed in the video that the debug HUD says "LAN"

Thanks! Yes @erica_layton, the communication is over LAN.  Check out my recent post with details on how this was done: https://forums.oculus.com/developer/discussion/39907/tutorial-vr-networked-player-with-avatar

[3DNegro]

DrSzilak said:

looking good! 
I do not know about this specifically, but I think you need to be aware of the overheating problem with Gear. I don't know if using wifi or multiplayer will affect that at all. 

Yeah, @DrSzilak overheating is a BIG concern.

[3DNegro]

WEEK 7

Community 

This week I tried not to focus on me or my obstacles.

This week I focused on helping my fellow Launch Pad creators tackle their obstacles.

Progress Report:

• read all 100+ 'Lanch Pad' forum & blog post
• 360 video testing w/ fellow LA Launch Pad folk
• created a video tutorial series on networking with Gear VR
• created a text tutorial document on networking with Gear VR
• posted tutorial on Oculus Forum and Facebook group
• scheduling time to share my mocap equipment w/ @tanyalealsoto for her project
• downloaded, installed, tested and posted feedback on game build by @MissFacetious
• downloaded, viewed and posted feedback on edited 360 video project by @oliverpecha

[tricartceline]

Wow!! You rock! Thank you for your commitment to helping the rest of the community, you're a role model. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks @3DNegro !!!!

[3DNegro]

Motion Capture Testing

"Yes" or "No"...I've been debating if I should incorporate performance captured liturgical dancers into my prayer project.  Well, @tanyalealsoto organized a mocap testing session and I brought my Perception Neuron gear.  Here is a taste of the results!  Leaning toward a "Yes".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hda198saQOo

[DrSzilak]

love mocap!