#ctec602

[tama-bct]

Wk3 presentation

Unfortunately I was unable to present my week 3 presentation as I had a passing in the family, though I was able to create some slides that showed what I had learnt so far about interactive technology and systems. We were asked to define what ITS meant, my basic understanding was that it was a form of Technology that you use to either communicate with another person or with the technology itself. We were asked to find examples of Interactive technology or systems, the majority of the examples I found were service-based like kiosks, ticket machines or self serve machines at places like countdown.

Week3 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qyuydjbk-KZH_uOuQn7gf9ZlenyXjjCqIG5d7Ac6h7Y/edit?usp=drivesdk

[natjoofficial]

Oof, right. I forgot to do blogs.

4I know that we’re meant to do this, but personally I find writing about my progress on stuff incredibly slow and irritating because it takes me away from doing said stuff. Sure, it helps others to show my creative progress BUT doing a blog takes me away from a creative progress to begin with.

Anyways, lets get this started and first share the few things I’ve been doing in my free time: abstract 3D renders.

This here I call “the vastness”

This one is “Stuck” for obvious reasons

and this last one which I really wasn’t happy with I called “Mysterious Noodles” (basically I didn’t like because while the concept was cool the render didn’t turn out great)

For Studio, I was going to post a rendered animation of the model I’ve done like I have done in the past for carriages but the model has got to a point that rendering a detailed animation of the entire floor would literally take 4 days using my desktop’s entire CPU just to render (I tried it. It got 3/4 done before I had to stop it since I had significantly alter a ton of the model by that point).

So instead have a low quality Sketchup-made render of it. Click the streamable link. Tumblr doesn’t seem to like supporting streamable.

(If a picture speaks 1000 words as the saying goes and this render has 3361 frames, does this mean I’ve written down a 3,361,000 word blog? I want extra credit plz)

https://streamable.com/v7n7u

As for Interactive tech & systems... it’s going fine I guess? I accidentally forgot to do anything for it for the whole of the weekend. I’m working on it currently, although I have a plan to memorize the entire script (or improvise it like last time) and do it in VR since what I want to do is loosely based on VR (360 images. I’m not 100% sure i’ll be up to programming VR stuff, but I’ll try)

[matthewblandnz]

The Ant Pad - Thought Process

So continuing on from my last post, while I was thinking about how to use my game idea as a pitch I realized that the more interesting part of my pitch wouldn't be the game, but how the game is played.

So when we think of Immersion and Player Interaction, a strong contender for “What comes to mind” is VR. What is typically available to the public and considered “High end” VR devices are headsets such as the HTC VIVE, or the VIVE Pro. Other options exist of course such as the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and  Google Cardboard. (Levski, n.d)

So what do these VR device packages usually consist of? (Using HTC VIVE as an example) The set requires a least 2 components: The Headset and the Base Stations, which detect the VIVE’s many outfacing sensors to find where the device is within the room.  While not mandatory, the full kit is often sold together including the headset, base stations, 2 wireless controllers and of course all essential cables and chargers. (Mighty Ape, 2016)

I noticed that the VIVE headset I purchased, weighs 0.46kg (according to its packaging). This means that as far as immersion goes, a user must wear nearly a half a Kilogram of headset on their face and make use of 2 controllers, as well as headphones for an optimal immersive experience using this setup. 

Now while I personally find this experience (with the right game) quite immersive, my pitch is to create a speculative technology that pushes this so much further. 

So what would be required to achieve true immersion? Well, I believe the best way to immerse someone into a game is to give as many of the 5 human senses as we can the illusion that the game is not just a game. Without being obscure, we want the players to choose to be immersed and have as little distractions as possible to break that immersion, and what breaks immersion? Our senses telling us that this world we are seeing and hearing, isn’t real.

So what senses do we need to fool? Well, of course we need to fool our sight and hearing, but also touch. Not being able to walk, run, jump, or touch objects is a huge problem for immersion. Having to actually stand still breaks immersion more than nearly every other sense. The Virtuix Omni already attempts to remedy this with an interesting bowl-shaped platform for the player to “run” on using low friction shoes. 

However, in an interesting article by Will Shanklin on the product, he states: “It simply didn't feel like taking a step in the real world or even taking a step on a treadmill at the gym.” (Shanklin, 2016) From the look of the platforms design, I can see why.

(Shanklin, 2016)  

To conclude this post, my idea for a technology will need to allow players to move freely, see the game with as little weight on their head as possible, hear the game naturally without headphones, and interact with the environment. 

The idea for this new speculative technology will be explained and explored in my next post.

References

Levski, Y. (n.d). A Brief Look at the Different Kinds of Virtual Reality. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://appreal-vr.com/blog/virtual-reality-and-its-kinds/

Mighty Ape. (2016). HTC VIVE Virtual Reality Headset. Retrieved from https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/htc-vive-virtual-reality-headset/25316408?gclid=Cj0KCQjww8jcBRDZARIsAJGCSGsxKvMmegLQ3jEipgFph5SHGRx7nEQHc9hk4724KwpuONaP07SirkkaAh1xEALw_wcB

Shanklin, W. (2016). Virtuix Omni: VR treadmills not yet living up to the promise (hands-on). Retrieved from https://newatlas.com/virtuix-omni-vr-treadmill-review-hands-on/41438/

Shanklin, W.  (2016). Untitled photograph of Will Shanklin [Online image]. Retrieved September 9, 2018 from https://newatlas.com/virtuix-omni-vr-treadmill-review-hands-on/41438/

[timbct2]

Complete view of how my visualizer patch works

[ncyrocks]

Nathan’s Unwarranted Pitch Critiques No. 20: Jolie

Jolie pitched From N to Z, a way of experiencing New Zealand tourist attractions virtually, without actually having to travel there. A virtual NZ environment scene is projected around the user, who can then walk around a smaller-scale version of a real NZ location.

But it’s not just projected onto anything - it’s projected onto a large-scale pop-up book, which I think is really neat!

Having said that, though, I’m not convinced that having people walk within a pop-up book is that great an idea. In my view, the book would inevitably be ruined, probably quite quickly, by people being too rough with it. And a pop-up book doesn’t exactly invite people to walk on it.

But those are kinks that could be worked out. This is a pretty creative pitch idea that would make a great exhibition at a museum (or wherever it would be put).

[markyeoh]

Kill your baby

It’s as bad as it sounds.

Sometimes, when you’ve been too long in an industry, you tend to adopt mindsets and philosophies that are actually really careless and unethical. It’s hard to tell though because you would be so caught up with work and people that reinforce these ideas.

We’ve had Amelia, who is a designer currently working with Spark, talk with us in class and was our guide in Spark. I’ve learnt alot from her but this one philosophy of “kill your baby” or I believe she says “kill your darlings”, which essentially details rapid prototyping and not being caught up with ideas, I struggle with. I agree that we should “fall in love with the problem, not the solution” and need to rapid prototype to attack the problem from all possible angles. But this whole idea of, well if the idea doesn’t work, kill it, is careless and crude.

There have been many times where ideas/solutions for a problem that did not work, actually helped alot in other, future problems. In my mind, I visually store ideas and solutions away for future use. After all it’s something you’ve come up with, shouldn’t you have some care for it? Perhaps its personal, as I do tend to come up with totally unrelated ideas/solutions when presented with a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I know how to eliminate an idea, but I must first develop it fully and put it to the test. I think we should be more pragmatic and logical with the way we deal with our ideas/solutions so that we still can rapid prototype, but we also learn to treasure our ideas/solutions and have an arsenal ready to tackle other future problems.

[vintagexvr]

ITS Finale

So to finish this semester for ITS!

What have I learned? Well to begin with It helped with the creation and background to a project and how to set them up. The Pitch was quite helpful to get some more insight as to what makes up a project, also the thought behind why you should make a one.

Now as for the research behind the object, I spoke with someone with knowledge of mono-vision and based my new idea of that. As for inspiration there were many AR based objects in films, specifically Avatar by James Cameron. This made me focus on how I can create a realistic and simple version of AR for the consumers, hence the simple idea for a lens to see a hologram for the player...

Now where do i see this taking me? Well hopefully with the knowledge gained from this paper, next year! Also it would help me base my projects on a problem and gain an actual audience rather than making something for the sake of it.

[lightsbct]

13#ITS - Final Thoughts

It's fair enough to say that this paper was not really what I actually expected it to be. For a paper all about interaction technology, I’d say there wasn’t a lot of ‘interaction’ to be done. My initial impression of this paper was how we were to physically explore different forms of interaction technologies and the cultural or historical significance of it. This may include games, various forms of immersion technologies or perhaps some physical part of a project that was brought in and we can interact and discuss in depth. Basically, I thought this paper was a good opportunity to get some hands-on experience in experiencing various forms of interaction. Though I’m quite sad to say that was not the case. Having class discussions isn’t bad at all, though some hands-on activities would have been nice.  

However I can’t only have criticisms about this paper, there were definitely some positives. It definitely felt freeing in the sense that we were open and constantly encouraged to express our own opinion. As opposed to someone telling you that ‘this way’ is the ‘right way’, I liked how we were told by the lecturer that we were free to criticize anything, even this paper. There is barely any ‘yes or no’ in this class, an example being the definition for ITS when I initially thought there was one definition but it truly depends on the context.

I’ll be a bit sad if this paper won’t be around in the future, there is definitely value in what you learn here. It opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities.

[tama-bct]

I am Arthur Morgan.

As I rode through Roanoke Ridge, past Annesburg towards Brandywine Drop I noticed a trail of blood. As I followed I found a body hanging from a tree, I know this to be an ambush tactic of them Filthy dogs known as the Murfree brood. I start to hear the rustle of leaves and see movement in the bushes, Here they come, To my surprise, they only send four men; Are they crazy or just stupid, Do they not know who I am? I'm Arthur Morgan, Second in command of the most notorious gang this country has ever seen. 

Playing Red Dead Redemption 2 you get lost in the story, You become the character. You can choose to live the life of a gang member and all that comes with that lifestyle or take a more refined route. Having the game set in the American Old West is definitely a reason for my purchase, living life as free as their forefathers intended was very intriguing to me. This game is a masterpiece, very little was overlooked the small details from the buzz of flies and mosquitos, the cries of wounded animals, to male horses testicles growing and shrinking dependent on temperature, are all aspects that help to throw you right into the life of a cowboy in 1899.

There are issues I have with the game, The depiction of Blacks and indigenous peoples living freely within society, Drinking at saloons or even riding a horse through town, Woman speaking as if they had the same footing as a man are all things that aren't realistic of the time. I understand that it was done for inclusivity of people in the modern era, and to not come off racist and sexist yet rockstar is depicting one of Americas most racist and sexist times. 

image taken from: https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/red-dead-redemption-2-rockstar-pinkerton-lawsuit-1203108019/

Gera, E. (n.d.). Rockstar Games Hits Back at Real Pinkertons Over ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Lawsuit. Retrieved from https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/red-dead-redemption-2-rockstar-pinkerton-lawsuit-1203108019/

[ant-bct]

ITS (reflection)

Since taking the class from week 3 it has been a kind of work with what I can through the course of the paper. It has given me the push to be more practical, have meaningful reasons to get out explore events just because and to wonder at the workings of interactive systems that I use on an everyday basis.

Working on my own most times, I’ve managed to learn a bit of useful knowledge here and there and I’m looking forward to using this new term unconventionally to explain my work in the future.

It definitely isn’t the end. Through this class I became aware of the significance of public art pieces and was able to put into practice reflection in action.

My presentation was on Powerpoint (offline) because, while Google Slides was simple to use, and while Canva gave opportunities for fancy layouts and graphics, pptx gave the ability to integrate media especially videos of installations that I went to. Swipe had special features that I didn’t need and Prezi was a little too complex for what I needed to do. I think the key was to find offline software that could adapt to use of video files without publishing to the web, which was the main spec I wanted to reach.

[matthewblandnz]

The Open AI “BOT”

Open AI is a non-profit AI research company founded by Elon Musk, consisting of a full-time staff of engineers and researchers working on problems and challenges that require them to make fundamental advances in AI capabilities. (About OpenAI, 2018)

Here I wanted to talk about OpenAI’s Dota 2 “Bot” project, where an AI was designed to play the thousands of games of Dota 2 and improve itself to become better at the game, eventually surpassing the top Dota 2 players in the world.

“The bot learned the game from scratch by self-play, and does not use imitation learning or tree search. This is a step towards building AI systems which accomplish well-defined goals in messy, complicated situations involving real humans.” (Dota 2, 2017)

While the AI itself is very impressive and entertaining to watch, what I found most interesting from the perspective of someone who enjoys gaming is how the players responded to it. 

In the above video, a player says how many other players at the top level didn’t want to give the “Bot” the credit it was due, that it could achieve in 6 months what they have spent their entire E-Sport career training for.  However, despite their distaste, access to the “Bot” has also been requested by these players in order to train and hone their skills. An opponent who lacks any mechanical flaws (In regards to gameplay) such as the “Bot” will of course not only train human players to become better mechanically to compete but also forces them to attempt new strategies to gain an edge. It goes without saying though, that any strategy that works against the “Bot” will be recorded and integrated into its own strategy, this means that the interaction between AI and Player could possibly produce an incredible learning cycle, with of course having diminishing results given the limited rules of the “1 vs 1″ mode.

Despite all this, the OpenAI team plans to finish their new project OpenAI Five, a team of these “Bots” will compete against a full team of professional human players on August 5th 2018. (OpenAI Five, 2018) Depending on the outcome of these matches and the work being done at OpenAI, we could see the amazing interaction between player and AI through the system that is Dota 2.

References

Mashable. (2017, August 31). Elon Musk's 'Dota 2' Experiment is Disrupting Esports in a Big Way - No Playing Field [Video file]. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAu1ZsTCA64&t=27s

About OpenAI. Retrieved August 3, 2018, from OpenAI website: https://openai.com/about/

Dota 2. Retrieved August 3, 2018, from OpenAI website: https://blog.openai.com/dota-2/#more

OpenAI Five. Retrieved August 3, 2018, from OpenAI website: https://blog.openai.com/openai-five/

[timbct2]

undefined

Near-complete state of my artist visualiser

[dreamtimedesign]

ITS - Final Render 

I’m fairly pleased with the final outcome but I do feel its a little too blocky and there are still some issues with the clipping of colours over the edges. I think it might be because the faces are over lapping in a weird way. 

We have the shoe available in black and white to accommodate the different preferences of people. Daniel likes the white because it’s aesthetically better and I agree it is easier to see for the presentation but We also need black because not every one wants plain white as it can get dirty easily. However we do need to keep in mind that it’s not an actual shoe to wear outside but a shoe for sizing purposes. 

[ncyrocks]

Nathan’s Unwarranted Pitch Critiques No. 18: Alex

Alex pitched Layers, a new kind of musical instrument. His idea was to separate musical instruments, such as a violin, into separate layers printed onto a membrane with a customisable image, to make instruments easier to travel with and cheaper to buy.

Unfornutately, I have no idea how it would actually work, or how I could play it. He brought in a prototype of a violin printed onto some plastic, but it didn’t look like I could possibly play it like I could an actual violin - it was still just a piece of plastic. He says each layer of the instrument would contain its own circuits, but he hasn’t said why it’s separated into layers, what each layer might do, or why it would need a circuit.

There’s not much more I can say, which is a real shame, but I just have no idea what Alex was actually trying to pitch.

[creativitytechnology]

ITS blog posts course outline

This is the outline for this course relating to my blog posts by week.

HYPERLINKS below.

Week 1:

Week 2:

MEWE

Week 3:

CTEC602 2019

Week 4:

Exhibition: Museum of Illusions

Adam Sheffield

Week 5:

We Still Have a Ton of Questions About Apple’s ‘Services’ Pivot

MEWE post #reference 1

Dyson 2019 products Hands-On

The Unseen Inefficiency of Escalator Etiquette - Cheddar Explains

Feedback review

Why some Asian accents swap Ls and Rs in English

Week 6:

Interactive technology brainstorm

ITS presentation

Week 7:

Pitch and blog notes

MEWE post #reference 2

Mid semester break:

Powerpoint

Kahoot

Bearing of my pitch

Week 8:

MEWE post #reference 3

Feedback review part 2

ENSE805, CTEC602

Week 9:

Idea creation/start of pitch

Concept sketches

IMAGO

Wallpaper engine part 1

Wallpaper engine part 2

Week 9 

Two logo ideas

Companion app.

Week 10:

Week 10 meeting with Laurent

Comparative analysis: Vuzix Blade AR Glasses

Week 11:

Conceptualisation

A half of the glasses frame displaying a trailer

Prototype: front and back view

Photoshop

ITS Pitch

Other pitches

Week 12:

Journey through ITS

Reflections

First presentation:

CTEC602 2019

Second presentation:

ITS presentation

Final pitch:

ITS Pitch

[creatingcharlottepj]

John Maeda

Designer

Human Computer An interactive film on the workings of a computer through a system of humans

Changing form Maeda demonstrates visually through a series of simple alterations of the two words ‘Fear’ and ‘Free’ the difference that can be made when you take into consideration every visual element 

Interactive Graphics What doesn't the computer respond to sound?

Art Asking questions. “I don't get art” Art forms questions that may not be answerable. Maeda seeing the more abstract a piece the more successful it is. But I don't necessarily agree with this, just because Maeda might not always get what someone may be trying to say through their art it doesn't mean that its better than a simpler piece to understand. There is no doubt that good design is best used as a tool to solve problems and therefore art is left to become an outlet for emotion.

Physical Vs Digital In terms of using traditional methods Maeda argues that there is something still very relevant about being able to interact and view physical objects rather than only seeing things digitally. I would agree with this and although seemingly contradictory to my next point I think that traditional means of communication are underrated and replaced far too fast with new emerging technologies. In terms of using methods of taxidermy to preserve animals to observe their forms I believe that like Maeda there is something important about being able to physically see and be in the presence of something 3D. You might have the technology to bring the animals into virtual being but that doesn't necessarily mean you should. When deciding on the correct media to portray your ideas it is critical to weigh up each aspect and what they will add to your project.

Old Vs New better yet Good Many people give value to antiques through their age, the older the better. But what about when it comes to new art, in particular New Media Art. How do we value something new? So can we combine the two into something good? By bring both new and old values together we can make educated judgments as a whole.

Leadership Maedas outlook on todays hierarchy and how to successfully lead as a result is interesting to consider. Instead of having a strict hierarchy we are networked into organisations. So leaders go from authority to a heterarchy of interactive feedback. Leaders connect improbable connects in hopes that something will happen. A design challenge.

I think it’s very easy for anyone to criticise, but once in a position of leadership the criticism you provide becomes valued by others and therefore must be constructive. The difference between a peer that may criticise and lecture is providing insight into productive feedback with sound reasoning behind why.