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Week 6 : Oculus Launch Pad 2018 - Due Aug 13 @ 11am PST

Anonymous
Not applicable
Looking forward to seeing those updates! 
68 REPLIES 68

maxellinger
Protege
This was a big week! Since the last update, I received music for the opening sequence from my composer Karri. You can check out the same video, sans voiceover but WITH music here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W1zCRMItA0cIkPKy-Vit7KjW9qmeEd40

I also did the volumetric video shoot with actor Nick Sahoyah at a studio in Berkeley. It was just me operating DepthKit, the video camera, and the sound recorder — but we pulled it off. Every time we did a take I had to make a big circle around the room (start video, start DK, start audio, clap, action!) and by the end of it I was kind of dizzy. 

Here's some pictures of the shoot:

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At the last minute, I realized my initial camera (a Canon with a 24mm-240mm fixed lens) wasn't going to be wide enough to match the Kinect (depth camera) at a reasonable fidelity (the Kinect has to be very close to the subject as it has an extremely wide angle lens). Luckily there was a camera store close by and I was able to secure a 16mm lens for a Sony A7iii and that did the trick. 

We also had some issues with recording the sound. I used a wireless microphone that clipped on to the actor's shirt. No matter where we put it, there was some rubbing noises from the shirt. We found taping it on his chest worked the best. 

Despite some minor setbacks, we got the shoot done in a day (in a non-air-conditioned room) and I'm pretty pleased with the result. 

Today, I started to ingest the footage into DepthKit, as well as key and edit it with DaVinci Resolve. I'd never used Resolve before but it is honestly THE BEST THING EVER. I've used a bunch of NLEs and it really put the moves on me. If you need video editing or compositing software, check it out — the free version does everything you'd probably need. 

Now that the footage is in Unity, it's not sitting in the scene very well. So next step is to grade it, figure out how to hide the weirdly-angled feet, and find out why shadows aren't working. Baby steps! 

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ndshort
Protege

Neil D. Short
OLP18: Week 6
Project Title:
Adventures of PICL Jones
Type: VR Game
Genre: Comedy/Adventure,
Sci-Fi/Western

This has been a very busy week for me and I’m keeping a lot
of plates spinning. I left my job at SCAD to begin a new position teaching
VR/360Film at Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, California. I’m dropping off
my Airstream RV in Pensacola, FL driving to CA over the next three days with my
cargo trailer and my dog Molly and I’m stopping in Palm Springs to pick up my
wife from the airport.



Of course, I’m also working on an awesome VR game with an amazing team. Before
I left Savannah, we did motion capture of two characters with a couple of great
actors.
hait1m5wggoo.jpggkwdg8sddcwf.jpg
The shoot went well and we now have also have WIP on the model of one
character to give feedback on.
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occgtkvrjmdl.jpg

Next week’s big events will be ADR with actors, settling into a new home and job and ramping up the search for Unity devs!










belmorea
Explorer

Week 6: The team has created two levels to the game, and enabled the game to be used on tablets, android/ios phones as well as web. We have started playtesting with some folks on local networks, and got some feedback, much of which has been incorporated into the mid-point check point draft/budget I’m working on. TLDR version: players want “roles” to be assigned (ie, command center help vs alien(?) saboteur, etc.), leaderboard tracking indicating who is best in each role, and the ability to create play rooms/instances that allow the organizer to adjust rules/roles. We also just found the source of the remote network audio issue, and are working on resolving it. Hopefully that’s the only tech issue lurking!

 

We also are working on a “preview” of the basic gameplay - goal is to submit it along with the midpoint check-in and as a comment/edit to this blog post for yall to look at! We also bought a domain name as prelim marketing and an access point for the game (site has not been stood up, but we will likely get a basic version up for the next round of playtesting).

Anonymous
Not applicable

Week 6: VR Sea Legs

The story:

You start in a gray and neutral place. You look around, and a voice begins to speak. She tells you that you are in Conversion. She guides you through the steps necessary to re-embody yourself in her experimental robotic host body, and you enter conventional reality in her laboratory. The mysterious voice is the Inventor, an experimenter in alternative sources of energy and dimensions, and she needs your help. You’ll run, fly, swim, and drive as you explore strange new worlds in your quest to restore power to the portals and get back to your real body.

Project status:

This week we added the foundation for the rest of the planned levels. The basic setup for each level now integrates all of our self-created systems: VR movement system, haptics system, grab and throw, crafting, and interaction system. We configured the movement system for each area and created a small test area in Procore to provide the starting point for future level blockouts. We also created our logo for the project (see image below).

Content Unlocked!

This week we have unlocked FPS Grounded and Rubber-band Grounded.

rt6ia825vw8t.jpg

At this point in the flowchart diagram, the player has learned the basics of movement, including teleport and hand-guided movement with two speeds. They have learned to use the basics, feel pretty good about movement, and now we are ready to transition them into more traditional controls!

We consider these advanced movement systems because they require more thought than simply pointing and pressing a button.

FPS Grounded can use the head direction or controller as the forward direction, based on user choice, plus uses joystick direction for strafing. This leaves our hands free to do stuff like chomping, punching, or fighting your favorite zombie.

Rubber-band movement puts an anchor point down and allows you to control both direction and speed, just like an analog joystick. This VR joystick lets you move in 3 directions, and gives you the most precision in your movement controls.

5rbyeb5r2c9n.gif

Hey ya'll prepare yourself for the Rubber-band!

Rubber-band movement does not require wrist movement in order to move in full 360, making it easier to move precisely… you can back up with intention, keeping movement completely under your control.

Up next: Advanced flight!

maja_manojlovic
Protege

Today
my vision of the objects and the VR environment I want to bring to life crystallized
further. There are 4 projects and ideas I’ve recently encountered that serve as
a reference point to my project:



1. Laurie
Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang Chalkroom (2017), where Laurie
Anderson stated: “My goal is to make an experience that
frees you.” Chalkroom is an
exploration of interesting spaces through users’ flying and defying gravity.
The environment is textured and tactile, while objects are made of lightweight
letters forming words and trees. Very important for me was her clearly
resounding, smooth, and hypnotic voice, guiding users through the experience.
The experience is meant to be solitary, like reading a book.



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 2.
The visualization of E8 – an interrelated 248-dimensional symmetrical object – possibly
a geometrical representation of the “theory of everything.” I’d like to show
this visualization to my collaborating 3D animation artist in order for her to
be able to put into motion the interrelatedness (inter-subjectivity) of the
natural world and users.



i29uo0924sdv.png 



3. An Oculus Rift experience Where Thoughts Go (2017) by Lucas Rizzotto.  The description the author provides is very
useful as a model for conveying succinctly what the experience is about: “Genre:
Introspective Immersive Narrative;
Where Thoughts Go is an emotional VR social
experience in which users can explore intimate stories of others - and leave
their own for others to find. Set in a parallel reality where all human thoughts exist as sleeping
creatures, they await to be awakened. What will you find, and what stories will
you leave behind?”



I found the users’ testimonies of this experience extremely
valuable for the following reasons: a) The testimonies reveal that this
experience targets a very clearly defined audience. The positive outcome of
this is that those who try it out really enjoy it. b) They reveal users are
willing to take risks and discover something about themselves and learn about
others. c) People appreciate the recordings of voices of other people who
had
the same experience before them. This gives them documentary value and inspires
trust and deepens the users’ experience. d) Although solitary, Where Thoughts Go gives a feeling of a
rewarding social – multiplayer – experience because of the sharing intimate
thoughts, feelings, and life experiences
.



i9bzxrqvt14u.jpg



4j32ifeykz4z.jpg



4. An Oculus Rift experience Nature Treks VR by John Carline. It’s a meditative, yet somewhat
interactive experience in VR simulating archetypal natural vistas. Users can interact
with the environment to affect the weather, grow trees, etc. They can also
choose to either listen to the music or turn it off and immerse themselves into
the sounds of nature. The overwhelmingly positive user feedback testifies to
the fact that there is a definitive niche out there for such experiences.



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 26uduach85cu.jpeg

shashkes
Protege
This week we did a bunch of user testing an bug fixing...
We found some very funny bugs that happen when you play with scale and also discovered how important it is to let new eyes try out what we are building.
The general responses have been overwhelming positive so its been motivating us to get this experience out there.





you can stay up to date also on our patreon

Anonymous
Not applicable
I'm juggling a few XR projects with our OLP project taking up the majority of my time. 

I am hosting another XR workshop in Kamloops BC this upcoming week and the I planned the activities to help me stay on target with my OLP project while helping the workshop participants start their own VR projects for Oculus Go and Oculus Rift.  Most of them are artists, film producers and a few web developers; it is so exciting to see them light up when they learn the possibilities of bringing their own creativity into VR with the Go and Rift.

The XR workshop participants get to view how I put the elements together in Unity3D for my OLP project (Oculus Go : iAmAi ) and my Oculus Start project (Oculus Rift : Father Sun)  and ask questions that are relevant to help them plan out their own future VR projects. 

I updated my Unity build to the most current and it's working out fine for my project. I have one other developer that is helping debug a UI issue with our bots and that should be completed by tomorrow (fingers crossed!).

Most of my documentation is ready to share for the mid point check in.

I also setup a VR station at our office to help pay the bills ( customers can reserve time with us to learn VR safety, VR features and play specific games / experiences with our Oculus Rift, Go and other VR devices ).

So, lots of juggling but I am juggling mostly fun interesting stuff! 

Antelles
Explorer

OLP18: Week 6

Project Title: 1946 Stories To The Moon

Oculus Go Storyboarding, Prototyping & UX User Research

I've also been on it with VR tools companies inquiring when their toolsets will work with the Oculus Go. 

The Oculus Go makes it so much easier to do perform UX/UI Customer Journey User Testing in a variety of settings like film festivals, museums, educational venues, public space art installations,…. to test out the experience. So in addition to to storyboarding, prototyping,... VR-ready tools can help in area in user testing and light weight mobile VR can really help out here.

One reply I got this week based on an inquiry I made was from the founder of Sketchbox. The news has me me pretty excited for the expanded use of the Oculus go for UX user research.

"You'll be able to view finished Sketchbox projects on Oculus GO by the end of the year."

Yes, thank you!


Insiration of the week for prototyping from GDC:
Lessons Learned from VR Prototyping
https://youtu.be/G295PAPzZX8


√ Mid-point check-in Proposal, Budget, Timeline,.. of course.

Kaelfel
Explorer

New Concept



July 27- August 3



I can’t seem to create a progression for the original concept I had, but while designing a level for the initial concept I was able to make a new concept.  For the first concept, I hade a level idea where the projectiles will be deflected to colourless flowers and depending which projectiles hit them their colour change to the colour of the orb. But I find the idea to be a bit strange on the interaction, I was imagining the situation from a butterfly and a hummingbird experience that’s when I decided to scrap the original concept and build a new one around the flower interaction.



I have two goals for the overall experience it will contain simple linear exploration experience and a gardening/farming experience. I think the linear exploration is the most realistic with my time. While I believe the gardening experience will have more player retention and replay-ability it will require to script the memory and designing the plant growth.



I created a quick movement script to program a flying movement that was based around the “water booster movement”. I spent a good five minutes in VR with just moving between primitive geometries and not much interaction. It was a sign for me to develop this further.



Conclusion:  I am working on a different concept from the past couple of weeks.