Convergence of media, as a social and cultural practice and through consumer demand, has had an astounding impact upon the processes and business models within the creative industries.
These R+D projects are my exploration of that space.
Eyecanfly
VR testing sessions
Video documentation of the experimental interactive Eyecanfly project user-testing sessions / a concept & prototype.
Eyecanfly is research into the relationship between immersive visual arts and interactivity. Inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko and the phenomena of phantom stereopsis, the development and testing of a prototype for an immersive virtual flight experience was tested using stereoscopic 3D photography, micro drones, virtual reality gaming technologies and the Oculus Rift head mounted display.
Outcomes
I was invited to present the findings and the prototype of this research as a delegate to EVA 2013, the Electronic Visual Arts Conference at The British Computer Society.
The work was experienced by a broad range of randomly selected users from the public domain and also by other EVA delegates from the international academic community and led to further invitations by Dr James Hemsley, the founder of EVA Conferences and also by Professor Vito Cappellini from the Media Integration and Communication Centre at the University of Florence, to present a paper on 2D and 3D image acquisition at EVA Florence 2014.
A BIG thanks to all who took part in my user-testing sessions.
A lot of fun and games !
Seascapes
British National Maritime Museum Installation
Ships, Clocks and Stars: The Quest for Longitude / Installation prototype.
This collaboration with the NMM, to test the viability of large scale and multi dimensional immersive projections within the entrance pavilion to the NMMs' major Summer Exhibition in 2014 of an atmospheric seascape depicting significant ocean swells, provided a great opportunity for me to further develop my immersive media interests.
Upon examining the proposed design and floor plans for the exhibition, I created, tested and adapted a set of prototype simulations to determine the parameters for a comfortable user-experience for the final piece. This provided very useful data for the museums’s design studio for briefing and commissioning the detailed and costly CGI artwork.
The most significant variables in the simulations are camera elevation, field of view, wind speed, wind direction, swell size and the camera’s orientation relative to the horizon. The moving horizon is a key factor in causing sea sickness. User-testing inside of an Oculus Rift HMD, for when it was not possible to test large scale projections within the installations’ actual environment, was again a very useful testing tool.
