Day 54: Nuggets
I dare you to try to find a press photo that's more hardcore VR than the above snap. I mean, it has everything. And the only reason it's not even more boss level is that I forgot to take a picture when both beds were being used at once. Can you even fathom it?
In all seriousness, this is definitely one of the more cool uses of VR to tackle the overview effect by utilizing the feeling of floating and orbiting in space within a float tank like experience. I saw this demo at the xRS conference. This was featured alongside other enterprise level tech, panel talks and even VR DJing.
One of the panel nuggets came courtesy of Curtis Hickman, one of the heads of The Void. He mentioned that one of the things that VR doesn't take nearly enough notes from is the craft of magic. He recommended studying books like "Designing Miracles" and "Magic of Misdirection". I could see why he would say that as a former illusionist and it drove the point home that it's important to study, be inspired by and observe things outside your immediate passion.
Along those lines, I came across this amazing video from NASA on How the Visually Impaired Experience The Cosmos. Using texture to give phenomenal Hubble imagery is a beautiful way to communicate that awe to someone who's blind. And as I was watching, I realized that I haven't taken the visually impaired in mind specifically where haptics are involved. Even if the audio was ambisonic, giving the user the feeling of butterflies flying through their hands or a vibration that responds to the music itself. All these little things matter a lot more than we think.
Another major highlight was meeting Janet Katsnelson in person, the community and events manager for Looking Glass Factory. If you go all the way back to Day 1, it was their 100 Days of Hologram that is the inspiration for this very blog! Truly a kindred passionate, community oriented and kind soul.
