Currently I’ve been working on only one prototype since I am ordering a 3d camera for Christmas and will not have the portion involving unity or After Effects up to this week. So far I created a shortened version of my storyboard without the settings, where a baby grows up to be a toddler and a child and adult and so on. I will be basing the story line about my life and how I grew up to be an artist. I am unsure about continuing with AR as I may move into VR based on the materials I am using for my future thesis project next semester.
I have made a stop motion video as my main animation for the rendered video that will be uploaded as a mp4 file. Eventually I will place the video as a texture onto the object like a sphere and center the camera in the middle of the shape on Unity. I promise you this will all make sense in the end after I finish the details to my pre thesis piece. I will then render my animation video as a texture file and use a 360 degree camera to create my settings of the story.
Not everything has been set in stone but mostly everything that came to mind are thoughts and a bit of illustrations along the way.
Before officially meeting with the two founders of an Augmented Reality site, Gimme360 in NYC, I interviewed Dan Bokun. We had been contacting via email and discussing where he started from the beginning and how he overcame some obstacles in the making. For a little bit of insite, he is in his early thirties and is already running his own business. When I actually got to meet up with him in person, I went with one of my friends from school and he brought along his co founder. We discussed the future and how things may change over time with technology. I couldn’t agree more. Children’s books, for example, are coming to life; no more paper back or hard cover books anymore.
I asked him what the most common traits of a successful AR is and he answered with a list of five things: Persistence, User Experience, Value of the experience, Share-ability, and Scalability. He had prior knowledge coming in to this field of study by starting where I am today. By just studying new things and doing plenty of research. He mainly tested out other individual’s apps before creating something along the lines of AR sites. His research involved looking up apps and sites that involved AR like Pokemon Go. He believes it will be the next way people live, learn and communicate with the world. Being placed in the market industry at first, in the philanthropy world – ultimately that has changed as businesses require a more visual manner of displaying information. Bokun had no physical targets specifically towards the young crowd and older generations, he wasn’t picky. His key objectives were to expand on this new wave of retaining information more effectively. Instead of looking at a budget point of view, he collected a ‘seed round of angel group of investors’. Lot of time and people were involved in the process.
Content is key. The tools he hired people to use in the making were Maya, Unity, C+ and C++ languages, and a whole lot of coffee. The 3d models were very important to this big project.
The launch schedule was soft as this is a new uncharted territory. There were certain deliverables that were set, but these were more fluid as to not to disrupt the natural flow of an entrepreneurial company’s growth. In the space he created particularly to present in front of an audience, with lighting, the required software, and the right context, it will be visually appealing. Over time what was will become mundane and what will be the new standard of detail. Bokun and his team at Gimme360, will be targeting their inventions through phones, ipads, and anything mobile; however, it is way easier for iphone users over android, as it was easier to deploy through apple products. The real-world will have a role in this experience of AR. Augmented reality heavily relies on the real-world, as it is the tie between the digital and physical.
Measuring success was a question I came up to while learning much more about the AR experience. They both mentioned that retention is key; the longer a person has it on their phone, the most likely they will use it again and or share their experience. Statistically 75% of individuals are visual learners. Being able to see something allows for a more effective and efficient manner of portraying information.
After interviewing Bokun and learning a bit from his friend, Josiah, he claimed to answer one simple question on how everything started. Bokun questioned, “how can we eliminate the distance between a person and getting to see the actual answer”. The team at first, started with research, questions, experience with other applications and users, meeting new people, and eventually it naturally came about. At the time they were studying VR, but it was not a social sharing experience for them, so they naturally gravitated towards something that was. AR was a lot more palatable for Fortune 500 companies. And now their company takes place in Canada called Gimme360, thanks to the help of Dungeon and Dragons, the Canadian version of Shark Tank.
GIMME360 started up in 2017 in Canada
started with 4 main founders and then went down to 2
I’ve been doing a lot of research on what I am going to use and how I am going to start this project. I am a bit skeptical since I don’t have too much knowledge with coding especially with new languages. Not sure if I am using C++ or C# yet, but I will be using Maya, Unity and possibly Blender as well. I have found some helpful resources through text books, websites, and friends with experience in these fields. I am looking forward to a challenge and definitely won’t have any time for breaks.
I am going to be creating 3d models in Maya of the first couple of pages of my life, starting from when I was a kid to around my age now. Each page will be a different age to show what it was like growing up as an artist, especially in my family of business people.
I will be learning Blender since I don’t have access to 3ds max without a PC. This will help create the detailed 3d objects so my projections through AR will be strong and crisp. Not sure how to start writing the scripts for Unity, but I will start off with all the models from scratch along with a storyboard.
After looking at the many projects I have created in the past four years of college, I have noticed I didn’t like them or they just could have been better. The quality wasn’t too great either, so I decided to scrap them and collect the things I liked after working on them. Most of my portfolio is saved on a ssd/hard drive or in my portfolio case at home, so I wrote the projects and media on paper here. Most of my proudest works were done in Animation in Maya, After Effects, or Photoshop. I have created works leading from graphic design, 2d animation, 3d animation, and character design from stories or just original sketch ideas. My portfolio is a variety of things due to being an IMM major and a Fine Art minor. Anything from paper to 2d animation to real life – 3d printing is how most of my ideas come to life. My strengths include 2d caricatures, photography, videography, and 3d animation. I’d like to continue working in Augmented Reality or VR concepts for the future. The more the challenge, the more I have added in my portfolio.
AR : I will be using Maya to build any of my 3d objects, characters or scenes that I would be using in Unity/Ar.
Ae: I would use this application in order to create a 2d animation of my self and the process of becoming an artist throughout my childhood and adult years.
Ps: I will plan out a storyboard on paper or through Photoshop and create the sequences in Ae. I will either take multiple drawings of each page and use it for a stop motion video or draw the entire thing while filming it and go from there.
2d video introduction using After Effects to create a visual effect using motion graphics. The purpose of this would introduce myself and my story of how I decided to become an artist. I would be focusing on the introduction using “Draw My Life” from youtube videos in my own perspective. I would be drawing on a white board and recording it frame by frame without my hand in the video.
If I have the time I will do a rotoscope intro if the 2d animation back fires on me. Which I doubt that will happen. I will record myself first and figure out how to take out my hand in the video.
I would use 3d modeling software, probably Maya to build any 3d objects showing real life scenes from my life. I really enjoyed the video by PES, but we’ll see if I can add that in or as a separate project.
I figured I’d use stop motion throughout to organize my video from realistic scenes into not so realistic objects. For instance, the PES youtube video of someone cutting into a grenade in replace of an avocado in order to make guacamole…if that makes sense to you.
I would like to create a 3D representation of an object or person that is manipulated by other objects or vertices in a simulated space. I would like to see my characters through an AR effect through a phone. I will be using references and imaginative creatures throughout this process. All I want to get out of the project is to see my characters come to life.
Rotoscoping storyboard of life
Based on youtube vides and countless examples from pinterest and instagram posts, I would like to view my life in a story concept; where I will be drawing it out using a rotoscoping method. I don’t have many further details about this but I would like to use stop motion in it as well.
2d Animation for Commercial Ads/Company sites
I would like to see my 2d creation with an abnormal object turning into something else as it unfolds across the screen. Not too many thoughts about this. Still need to process what is going to happen.
