Table of Contents
Day 1: Origin Story
Day 2: Meet & Greet
Day 3: Dress Rehearsal
Day 4: The Art of Surrender
Day 5: Meme Mondays!
Day 6: Put A Bird On It!
Day 7: Forbidden Cats cover band premiere!
Day 8: Bugs & Betas, A Love Story
Day 9: Getting Bespoke
Day 10: Make it Rain!
Day 11: Ageless
Day 12: A Walk Down Memory Lane
Day 13: Improv Tuesday
Day 14: High Fiving All Day Every Day
Day 15: Leaping into Motion
Day 16: Happy Little Clouds
Day 17: "I'm ready for my close-up"
Day 18: Collaboration Nation
Day 19: Bringing Light into the Dark
Day 20: A Peek Behind the Curtains
Day 21: Down to the Wire
Day 22: The Precipice
Day 23: It's Showtime!
Day 24: The Heat is On
Day 25: Give It a Rest
Day 26: Bees Please!
Day 27: Hardcore Parkour
Day 28: What a Mensch
Day 29: Yes Way José!
Day 1: Origin Story
I can trace the origin of this project to a potent childhood memory with my Dad. He used to take me to one of the only galleries in San Francisco that featured all holographic art. It was called the Holos gallery and I remember the sheer wonder it filled me with everytime I visited. Specifically, there was one piece that showcased a microscope at a desk. And I remember what blew me away most was that I could literally look through that microscope like I would in real life. Even at that young age I knew how next level that was.
Now 2 years into creating, learning and being driven by the sheer passion and community of AR/VR, I find myself back in that dark space marveling at the intimate, mind/heart expanding world of immersive art. And it's come around full circle with headsets, haptic devices and this beautiful little lightfield enabled holographic magical device here called The Looking Glass.
Along with the daily work I do sculpting, painting and animating in this space, I'll be chronicling my journey here showcasing behind the scenes process and progress, so save this page!
Day 2: Meet & Greet
In further investigating what tools are currently available for the Looking Glass, or as I'm starting to call her L'il Glass X, I found 2 official apps that help to ease my workflow for piping in assets.
In the above image, I've brought in my friendly Gravity Sketch bumblebee through their 3D Model Importer. It allows for the import of gltf's, glb's and obj's, the latter of which I'm most comfy with. It has a simple interface, much like lightweight Sketchfab that allows for basic customization for lighting, surface materials and even decimation. What's interesting is when you take a screenshot, you can actually see how the holographic image on the right looks when broken down into its 45 slices. I actually quite like the effect on its own.
Speaking of Sketchfab, although there are clearly signs of there being real deal integration between both platforms as can be seen here, I don't think this has become an official part of the toolset yet. I truly believe Sketchfab is doing a bang up job democratizing VR in allowing people to view models in their headsets from a web browser. Allowing L'il Glass to play in that world only helps both parties so fingers crossed that tweet becomes a reality.
The second method utilizes the Poly Toolkit SDK in conjunction with the Holoplay Unity SDK. Yes, I like mixing/matching my SDKs like it's a sundae, don't judge! And I'm here to report they play very nicely together. You can literally search for your favorite assets and pull them right into the Unity stage assuming you have the Holoplay Capture prefab. My next challenge is to see how well this will work with some of Unity's newer features like VFX Graph. Although I'm by no means an expert in it, it's extremely powerful and will only wow viewers.
Day 3: Dress Rehearsal
A little pivot today. In a few weeks time, I'll be live painting at an art festival and so I'm itching to put myself through that gauntlet before the day is upon me. You would think that having a headset on, everything would be a-okay nerves wise because you can't see the audience. But if I learned anything from my Road to Tokyo experience, it's all about rising to the challenge of your insecurities, muscle memory, ideation and execution.
And as one naturally does, I gave myself the task of creating a giant psychic elk diorama. I have an hour, so let's simulate that level of time management, shall we? And because I'm a masochist, I want to try something different from most live VR painting performances, which involves mixing both sculpting and painting with 2 different tools.
First up to bat. Oculus Medium. I gave myself 15 minutes to do as much as humanly possible to flesh out the elk, crazy large antlers and all. Because it's not sexy to utilize reference, I relied on my visual memory to block out the overall shape, emphasizing the slender and elegance above all. Here's a timelapse:
Next up, I brought TiltBrush into the mix for creating the environment, adorning the elk and painting another character for the audience to have a proxy to connect with. I had 45 minutes to do all this. In my mind, I knew I really wanted to give as much cinematic lighting to the elk to emphasize the sheer scale in the sky while leveraging the duplication functions to create the Avatar like mountains:
What could I do better on the day of the performance?
Remember to create a more dynamic pose for the elk so that it feels like he's acknowledging the character below him. Also, in setting up the lighting, try to pay attention to the negative space so that when I leave the spectator camera in its final position, that both characters read very well and it's obvious they're connected by the psychic tendrils.
Day 4: The Art of Surrender
Once in awhile, and perhaps more than I'd like to admit, it's important to exercise the Art of Surrender when you've hit a wall. And I'm not saying you throw the baby in with the bath water. I'm saying to rest your wary soul for that day so you can fight another day. I'm of course in this case talking about anything related to Unity.
Case in point. Today, I tried to see if it would be possible to get HDRP and VFX Graph to play within L'il Glass as a fully realized hologram. Why you may ask? The larger goal is to see if I can adapt a bespoke version of a VR experience I've been working on into a whole new context. Alas, I can't seem to yet find a solution that facilitates this despite all my efforts. In the screenshot below, you can see that the image previewed on the LG is totally and depressingly pancake flat. My hope is that there is some kind of magical fix that involves an inane checkbox buried deep within a subdirectory I've never seen before. That's what Unity is to me, an infinite hall of mirrors, oftentimes illuminating and sometimes just a long black mirror like this one.
So the only wisdom I have today is that it's just as important to know when to take a healthy break and return to the fray when you're more rested and ready to persevere, reach out, or even pivot to try something completely different.
Day 5: Meme Mondays!
Who says Mondays have to be a slog? I decided to have a wee bit of fun with rigging and staging a scene today based on all things, a meme:
I don't know why this makes me laugh but surely memes are engineered for this kind of reaction. As I was sharing this photo with a fellow red panda lover the other day, I suddenly thought to myself that they would make a great new band. And so it was off to the races for me.
I actually streamed my process with the rigging, staging and importing of Poly assets in Tvori here. It was also super instructive for me as I was using the Anchor tool for the first time to bring one character from one scene into the next.
The next steps will involve a little animation and then bringing them into the L'il Glass for their own 80s style music video jamboree. In the meantime, say hello to these indie darlings in the making!
Day 6: Put A Bird On It!
Having just listened to a very stimulating interview between Estella Tse and Kent Bye of Voices of VR (ie the Terry Gross of VR), I was inspired to paint in TiltBrush tonight. One of the things that struck me in the interview was the notion that embracing imperfection is its own art, much like real deal painting.
So finding myself in a strangely foul mood tonight and not really knowing what I wanted to make, I started with one stroke built up in triplicate with 3 different colors. Then I duplicated over and over again, building up what could be some kind of hippie ocean wave. Little did I know it would become this. A Space Dodo named Sashay Shanté.
Day 7: Forbidden Cats cover band premiere!
Turns out the Forbidden Cats are more of a cover band, but do they know the classics! That's Gizmo on the sax, Red on the drums and Fiona on the Casio keyboard.
I wish I could have added some eyelids and a tail to Red because she's looking pretty glazy eyed, but I encountered a bug that erased Gizmo altogether when I reopened the file. RIP Gizmo and epic sax.
Music: "Careless Whispers" by George Michael
Poly Assets:
Epic Sax by Remy Tauziac - https://poly.google.com/view/0eOaQcH0l40
Drum Set by Trevor Price - https://poly.google.com/view/5Zc1uhWci9U
Midi Controller by Gabriel Ibias - https://poly.google.com/view/155LOgjwUy2
Speaker by Jose Rosero - https://poly.google.com/view/7EmeFe3O7GQ
Poly Assets:
Epic Sax by Remy Tauziac - https://poly.google.com/view/0eOaQcH0l40
Drum Set by Trevor Price - https://poly.google.com/view/5Zc1uhWci9U
Midi Controller by Gabriel Ibias - https://poly.google.com/view/155LOgjwUy2
Speaker by Jose Rosero - https://poly.google.com/view/7EmeFe3O7GQ
Day 8: Bugs & Betas, A Love Story
One of the unique things about the XR community is the nearly 1:1 relationship you have not only with fellow artists, but with the devs who invest so much love, sweat and tears into the tools we use daily.
The more one plays and creates in each tool, there are inevitable bugs that come up, both big and small, wily and frustrating in equal measure. And what I find to be so refreshing is that when I find one such bug, I can oftentimes reach out directly to someone on a team and they will help in very tangible ways, oftentimes going above and beyond what I expected. That is not something you can find emailing tech support in Adobe, Unity, or any large outfit that has scaled far beyond the personal touch. In that sense, you can really feel just how much love and care that these small teams have for their product.
Nothing will make you more empathetic of this effort than actually creating your own tool or experience. I'm in the middle of creating my first such immersive/interactive experience, something I always promised myself I would do when I was a year into VR. And the fact that it's coming true is quite amazing to say the least. But what's been instructive is finding out just how difficult it is to even design an intuitive UI/UX that's not only functional but integrates into the world itself. I've only had a small taste of it based on my limited Unity knowledge, but I encourage everyone in this space to try something like this. It humbles you in a way that's hard to express.
In the following screenshots for instance, I can't tell you how many minute to large changes I've had to make between beta versions. And this is just the menu screen. And based on the feedback of VR friends who've been helping me beta test it (a separate but just as important future blog entry), it incrementally gets better with each version and I learn new problem solving techniques as a result.
But this is all to say that with each passing day and night, oftentimes a blur due to our collectively bad sleeping schedules, I grow more appreciative of all the heart and soul that I get to bear witness to in this era. It will change. My hope is that a sliver of this camaraderie and openness still exists when spatial computing fully breaches the surface of our reality.
Day 9: Getting Bespoke
So by now, you've seen my butterfly making the rounds here. Well she and her precious cocoon are making a move into the L'il Glass as part of a showcase for my work at the Sausalito Art Festival. I'm going to be a featured artist there alongside some other wonderful creators, which presents a great opportunity for me to start learning the ins and outs of what's possible.
In fact, this very blog is inspired by the Looking Glass Folks and their 100 Days of Hologram blog. I've already gotten a host of ideas looking through their entries. As my current beta experience is not compatible with their Unity HoloPlay SDK, it means I have to pivot and rebuild and remix essential parts that really translate better to the format.
What's really mind expanding about this new sci-fi like medium of display is that you have to start thinking more about form factor. Its dimensions are 8.2” x 3.7” x 6.1”. At this picture frame size, it's all about intimacy and tapping into the wonder of someone seeing something they've never experienced before. Without the VR/AR devices in your way, it opens up a new world of possibilities to how your mind experiences a live hologram.
What's really mind expanding about this new sci-fi like medium of display is that you have to start thinking more about form factor. Its dimensions are 8.2” x 3.7” x 6.1”. At this picture frame size, it's all about intimacy and tapping into the wonder of someone seeing something they've never experienced before. Without the VR/AR devices in your way, it opens up a new world of possibilities to how your mind experiences a live hologram.
I decided in this case to experiment with the HoloPlay prefab camera itself with a simple 360 degree revolution around the subject. At the same time, utilizing Mesh Effects on top of the wings and cocoon itself adds another layer of animation where you can feel the soft delicacy of the piece as well. Nothing will really compare to seeing it in person, but here's a working draft of how it's coming together.
Day 10: Make it Rain!
In my continuing saga to create more goodies for the upcoming art festival, I'm on a tear with the nature theme. You see, back in January, there was a global annual challenge called SculptJanuary in which a small group of us VR artists participated in. Every day brought a new prompt like this particular one: Jungle Beast. We would even share screens and chat away as we got tackled each daily blank canvas. To say it was a challenge would not do it justice. I would say it was a great teacher in muscle memory, freeing the imagination, supporting fellow peers and learning the ins and outs of Sketchfab.
But why it proved to be even more fruitful beyond actually making it to the finish line was mentally planting a seed telling myself I would re-use these sculpts in some way down the line. So today, it felt right to bring out our DJ Tree Frog. Bringing him into Unity with the help of terrain animation and fun water effects gives him the second life he deserves. And if I have time, maybe I'll animate him scratching away ;)
Day 11: Ageless
I had the pleasure of showing some friends VR for the first time today. Something that never gets old is bearing witness to the wonderment on their faces and whole being, especially when you introduce them to TheBlu and Beat Saber. Among them was a renowned architect who is turning 90 next month. Known for his original approach to organic design, it was a real joy to watch him delight so much in the deep sea among the jellyfish and coral.
But perhaps what really moved me most was when he came out of it, he marveled at what it would been like had he had access to spatial art when he was young, how it would have affected his art practice as a painter. Many of his large scale pieces have this experimental intersection of classic art and abstract sensibilities, oftentimes becoming their own world altogether. And he's right, transferring those aesthetics into a whole new arena, one can only imagine what paths he would have taken his work. It made me downright wistful and wish I could have provided that to him. It's also heartening to know that even someone who's had such high accomplishments throughout his long career can still feel that pang of "What if?"
This experience really reminded me that devices and haptics must get to the point where someone of any age could have easy access to creation tools. If I ever get to 90, I hope I can still do this in some form. That creativity still feels like love to my last breath.
Day 12: A Walk Down Memory Lane
As I build out the showcase for L'il Glass, I get to take a walk down memory lane (waaaay back in 2018) with the TiltBrush work I've done while also enhancing them in ways with fresh 2019 eyes. The Poly Toolkit Unity SDK is our friend when it comes to bringing in my work.
The first piece is called Cradle the Moon - Epiphany and depicts a character I created that manifests her powers through a magical amulet. Hence the floating. But what I wanted to push further, especially for someone peering into the Glass, was the buildup of the powers. So again, Mesh Effects came to the rescue. As the video muddies up the colors, I've attached both the originals and L'il Glass versions here:
For the Grave of the Fireflies piece, it didn't need as much of a push as more ambiance. If you've ever seen the film, you know what it's like to have your heart completely and utterly broken by its story. So I wanted this moment to feel even more precious, suspended in time yet soon to be lost. Post effects scripts like vignetting, color correction and bloom helped to distill this further:
Day 13: Improv Tuesday
Today is one of those days where I could go down a number of paths with the various projects you've seen thus far. Having just read and posting a lot about organizating one's time today, I decided to sidestep it all and just sculpt for pleasure. Who woulda thunk? I'm going to be collaborating with a VR friend soon around sculpting and rendering, so I figured I'd make something in the theme of giant kaiju or something you might see out of the game Shadow of the Colossus, which is a bloody masterpiece. My sculpt is by no stretch, a beaut, but sometimes it's worthwhile to not focus on any one thing but the digital ball of clay in front of you.
This creature, or more of a sketch really, was made with primitive tools for the most part in Oculus Medium, with lots of use of the Move tool. The latter is entirely unique to VR and it's probably one of the most visceral creative functions on the market now because every little torque you make is felt on the sculpt. See for yourself.
Day 14: High Fiving All Day Every Day!
Today was spent trying to figure out how I could take this YouTube tutorial on Attractive Force with VFX Graph and apply it as a feature of my beta experience. This is a very good example of how I treat my process in a modular fashion, baby steps so to speak. For me, it's very much of, "If I can do this, then maybe this?" Whether or not I'm successful is a whole other thing, but as the adage goes, nothing ventured nothing gained.
In addressing embodiment, I want very much for the user to feel they are displacing the particles surrounding them, which only adds to the feeling of being an almost molecular part of that system. I'm still unsure if they will be repelled or attracted to the hands, but even taking the first step of emulating and then customizing this effect is everything. And what no one tells you is how much you'll continue to experiment with different parameters until you have the right proof of concept to implement in the bigger picture. I can't tell you how many times I tweak one value or uncheck a box to test how it changes the interactivity, not to mention taking the headset on and off like it's welding equipment.
So what does this test look like? Like you're high fiving everyone in the room. It was one of the graphics just sitting in the folder like a gift, there was simply no way I couldn't not use it. And that's the other thing, it's important to make yourself smile too :)
Day 15: Leaping into Motion
If the title is any clue, I'm literally trying my hand for the first time at Leap Motion, a hand tracking sensor device that the good folks at Looking Glass lent to me do develop interactivity alongside L'il Glass.
Now before I even get to the question of what I can really do with it, the onboarding process was such a cinch thanks to the their introduction FAQ. I was up and running in no time and once I sussed out what I needed from the Example scene, I ported it over to my butterfly sequence to see how it would play out. I let out an audible "Wowwww", which after more than 2 years on this scene, it's such a comfort to still feel that sense of wonder. I then went on to change out the materials of the hands so they would feel more ethereal and glass like.
So although I haven't exercised anything substantive as of yet and have more questions than answers at this point, I do know that I want to make something that feels delicate in nature to hold. I want the user to slow down so their fingers feel like they're a soothing force rather than just utility. It always comes back to intimacy of space and time after all.
Oh! And on the social VR end of the scale, I jumped into a fun Mozilla Hubs demo meetup hosted by the friendly neighborhood crew at We Make Reality. Essentially, it was a live breakdown in terms of how to use Mozilla's Spoke in order to create your own virtual meetup spaces. You can watch the Twitch replay here where Mozilla's Liv creates a bespoke environment from scratch.
Aside from the customization angle, the one big selling point is that you could experience a Hubs meeting in both VR and desktop. You don't even need to be an artist per se to pull in assets from platforms like Poly and Sketchfab. Also, pandas. Here's a photo I took with the other ne'er do wells. At this point, we had just gone nuts with importing all kinds of assets into the environment. My Chibi Prince wanted to say hi to the crew.
Day 16: Happy Little Clouds
Sometimes, you really need to take a break and watch some Bob Ross. And to make it more surreal, watch it in BigscreenVR with virtual strangers and just doodle away with his sweet dulcet tones as a soundtrack. It's apparent that between this, Hubs and hopefully, Masterpiece VR, multiplayer art is not a total lost cause. For one thing, being able to share a space with friends co-creating must free up a part of our brain that gets so fixated on the frustrating things about life and all those annoying hamster wheel thoughts we fixate on. That's my theory anyhow.
I ended up drawing a bunny with shades and a blue jumper. As one is apt to do.
Day 17: "I'm ready for my close-up"
It's less than a week away from the Sausalito Art Fest where I'll be featured alongside XR greats like Holliday Horton, Lisa Padilla, Marpi and Nancy Baker Cahill. That means I have to get my wares together for the VR showcase alongside the Looking Glass maiden voyage you can see me taking in earlier entries.
It's always a strange thing for an artist to self-market. Oftentimes, we are the last people to work on our websites because we're focusing so much energy and forethought on clients' images before our own. And so participating or contributing to a group show is its own exercise in channeling an outside in perspective. How will an audience who has never have seen work created or conceived in VR before engage with it? What of my style or voice resonates with these folks? What's the perfect number of pieces to show, whether as a 2D reel or natively in VR?
If I were to put on my critical hat about my own work, it would be that I vacillate between ethereal and whimsical. And so if I'm going with that natural energy, it makes sense that I compile pieces that speak to those two spectrums. Objectively speaking, this is the most prolific I've been in my whole life and so I have to be discerning. Once I have that in mind, I can truly have fun remixing the classics. Take my wee bat who starred in my Earth Day clip for instance. Like myself, he's ready to report for art duty very soon!
Day 18: Collaboration Nation
So you remember that monolithic, totemic elk that I created on Day 3? Shortly after I posted it, one of my VR friends who goes by Absulit, asked whether or not we could do a collaboration together. First off, it's a huge compliment whenever anyone asks me something along those lines. It means an investment of their time, thought and talent. I jumped at the invite immediately. If you haven't already, please visit his site and follow his work now. You'll see why I cartwheeled over the moon.
The most interesting thing about collaboration is not always the final product, but the collective thinking process that goes into the project. I tend to be very laissez faire when it comes to giving another artist as much runway as possible to play with, especially if I'm already a fan of their aesthetic. That very much applies to Absulit, so I actively encouraged him to do his thang. I found out that he is methodical, knows the steps he wants to take and how far. He is both a developer and an artist, so that makes a lot of sense.
I don't want to kiss and tell in regards to all the details as I do think another artist's approach is a sacred thing. But the overall idea was to provide the sculpt and perhaps a drawing to give an idea of where he could take it next. I never got around to sketching, but I did end up making that creature on Day 13 as a direct result of thinking about the elk and the world it inhabits. I think that and the reference around Shadow of the Colossus helped Absulit be on his merry way.
So without further ado, 2048 samples and 3 hours later in Blender Cycles, behold the Absulit/Kevo elk to end all elks!
Also, back in the Facebook group and as a direct result of this co-creation, I came up with this idea of how we could take this to another level for the community as a whole. Please weigh in here.
Day 19: Bringing Light into the Dark
I started off the day diving into the Wave. What's this you ask? It's possibly one of my all time favorite multiplayer music experiences that allows musicians like Lindsey Stirling in this case to do live concerts in the most unique, beautiful ways possible. She follows in the footsteps of artists like Imogen Heap, Glitch Mob, Rezz, Jean Michelle Jarre, and other progressive artists who most likely see the writing on the wall when it comes to the convergence of performance and tech. Even on tonight's MTV VMA broadcast, there was a conspicious usage of AR transitions to enhance the onstage act or extend the narrative. See for yourself below an imagine what this is like to experience in VR.
Lindsey's newest album was very inspired by the Moon and its phases, the theme of bringing light into the darkness. And in many ways, that's how I look at the work that the Wave crew is doing. The VJ like visuals they create are bespoke for each concert and are oftentimes quite moving. I for one, am directly inspired by their design and sense of flow. One of my friends who got to experience my beta said it has a very Wave feel, which I take as a high compliment.
And speaking of bringing light into the dark, I ended the day creating another this diorama for my upcoming L'il Glass debut. I'd like to eventually animate all of these, but for what little time I have, it's been really instructive to give my sculpts subtle little touches like the fiery effects you see here. The character is called Thurma and is part of a collaborative (there's that word again!) tribute project a few of us Dark Crystal fans are doing for the upcoming prequel series this Friday. She's a very intriguing character from the sequel that was never made but came out as a comic book.
Day 20: A Peek Behind the Curtains
First off, a huge shout out to Navah Berg, Social VR goddess extraordinaire, who was kind enough to post a #TuesdayThought about this wee blog here. Do yourself a big favor and follow her because she's not only the best cheerleader you could have in your corner, but a bright light in the universe that's always showing us artists all kinds of love while chronicling the collective journey we're all taking. I can only hope to give back in some small way.
As for the title you cheeky monkeys, This is more of a Wizard of Oz reveal than anything remotely naughty. In this short video, you'll see what the stage setup looks like for the Forbidden Cats scene both in Tvori and once it's imported into Unity for L'il Glass. Using a mixture of puppeteering and keyframe animations, I was able to give Gizmo life in less than half an hour. I also give some sneaky peeks into some cool new beta features like brushes!
And if my tone feels a slightly down today in the video, I was especially affected by reading all the stories written by those who have experienced abuse at the hands of supposed leaders in the industry, both in gaming and VR. It shouldn't be a bombshell that this happens all the time. What's perhaps more upsetting is that we collectively still turn a blind eye to its insidious nature, how enabling this behavior as a culture continues to perpetuate the worst in our species. Trauma resides in the body for years, and oftentimes at the hands and twisted psyche of someone else. So I hope these brave stories elicit not only compassion, but true support in action.
I was having a chat with a VR friend tonight that it's important for us to look at and reflect on our dark corners, to understand what drives it, so we can try to be better. I'm hesitant to say more than this because I think it's more important that I actively listen than prosthelytize at this point.
Day 21: Down to the Wire
So we've all found ourselves in this position where you're down to the last few days with something large scale like a conference, or in this case, an arts festival. Furthermore, it may even be the first time you and the organizers are trying something together. That presents a heightened level of excitement, nervousness and the possibility that Murphy's Law is hiding around the corner.
Besides putting the work in that you need to as a professional whether it's in the practice rehearsals, prepping marketing material, making sure you're on the same page with organizers/vendors, troubleshooting the technology/hardware itself, I actually think the most essential thing is framing everything through a looking glass. Yes, that sounds awfully meta at the moment but stay with me.
The notion of performing live, showcasing your work publicly, is itself a very alien act. So the kind of framing that helps me through is remembering a few key things:
• Why do you have this opportunity to begin with and who got you here?
• As an ambassador of sorts for this community, what is the best way to represent them?
• How can you remain spontaneous and well rehearsed throughout?
• Recall the first time you made something in VR that delighted you.
The big paradox is that it's about you and it isn't about you, oftentimes in the same moment. All states of energy, attention and agendas are converging on this point in space that you happen to be inhabiting and creating within. So instead of having this shouting match with your ego in the mirror, maybe the trick is to sidestep and inhabit the brush itself. Because if you've done the work in regards to prep, muscle memory steps in and hopefully, you just get to play and be grateful for the opportunity to delight others the way you once were.
That one time when I live painted in VR at High Fidelity's MultiCon in an avatar I sculpted in Oculus Medium. It doesn't get much more meta than that.
Day 22: The Precipice
I know this title sounds super doom and gloom. Well I promise it isn't. Perhaps it's more apt to call it the Well of Curiosity. Why praytell, would I even dare to invent such a phrase? Because that's exactly what it feels like looking over the edge at something you've never tried before. Wondrous, sparkly, yet also daunting and perhaps very much out of your depth. I've had that feeling lately with a seed that's just starting to bloom based on my work on the beta. First off, a quick primer:
You might be asking, why in the holy hell would you just drop some Khan Academy knowledge on us like we still use calculus? The Well of Curiosity doesn't just operate on dreams my peoples. It also needs some background research because that's the fertilizer that'll help the garden that supports your well. Okay, my analogy is breaking down rapidly but that's all to say that I needed to understand the concept behind this:
If you don't already know Keijiro's work, please follow him immediately, if just to have some daily dose of inspiration. He's a Unity phenom and has been constantly coming up with gorgeous experiments like this which he then offers back to the community as builds to play with. If you noticed, it's in the VFX Graph category, which is what my beta is built upon. So that should give you a hint as to where I want to take this Pooh like curiosity next. Oh bother, what will I get myself into next?
Day 23: It's Showtime!
Today was the preview night party for the Sausalito Art Festival, which I'm blessed to be a featured artist alongside VR/AR greats like Holliday Horton, Lisa Padilla, Marpi and Zach Lieberman. Although the festival has been around a long time, this is the first year they're trying something completely different with a pavillion dedicated to new media art like XR, holographs and CG art. And it all came together thanks to Lisa Kolb, the festival's tech art director/curator. It really just takes one person to be a conduit to a new world and if the goals/spirits are aligned, I really believe only good things can happen. Big thanks to Lisa for making this happen!
If you look back at Day 3, I actually made something very similar, but with more bells and whistles since I had a solid 2 hour frame to demo how it's possible to integrate Oculus Medium alongside Tilt Brush. As I was using the Rift-S for the first time, Lenovo's open design allows me to listen in on everyone's queries and curiosity. I could hear the awesome folks at XRMarin, a VR training center, give newcomers a primer on what habadashery I was getting up to while offering them the chance to try out TiltBrush on a neighboring station. It was enchanting for me to hear this because I love feeling people wrap their mind around what is happening as they witness this medium on two fronts, both outside and within the headset. The more I see Tilt Brush being used this way, the more I'm convinced it's the Beat Saber of art.
I don't want to get too ahead of myself as there's still more coverage to come for tomorrow as I get to demo for the masses. In the meantime, here are a few cheeky photos my mum took of me puttering about in the dark.
Day 24: The Heat is On
I returned to the scene of the crime today to demo for the masses and what fun it was! As it was the first official day of the festival, every demo station was full up with patrons who wanted to try out Tilt Brush. I had two slots to demo Oculus Medium and Tilt Brush and so I gave myself a challenge of what I could in each hourly session. It was also very hot in the tent because of the outside temperature and all those high computers running at once. So it was off to the races!
My idea was to give some of my pre VR illustrated pieces a new life. Below, you can see see the old alongside the new. I would probably give them a lot more polish with time but it's a great way to focus myself on one task while an audience watches. And what a peanut gallery it was with children rapt with attention and adults ready with questions and DVD commentary. I really enjoyed it overall and it feels so different from the graphic recording I used to do for executive teams because this felt like I was opening minds to something they'd never seen before. It's at these moments that all the hours I spent in my little cubby hole training myself until the middle of the night worth it. The strange paradox is that it still feels intimate because I get to share a part of myself with others in a way that feels very alive and present. That's pretty special.
The other nice thing about an art festival - the art! Outside amidst the sun kissed people, all manner of media was on display and there were a few that really stood out in sculpture and illustration for me. It was great to share my work with the artists via some of the animations I've made recently. One of them even wants to potentially partner with me around how to meld both our worlds. That sentiment reminded me of how much I wish for a borderless world artwise. Yesterday evening, after I told a marketer I am a VR artist, she queried whether I see myself as a technologist or an artist. For some reason, that made me bristle, and I think it's because I don't know if labels really apply where creativity thrives.
Last but not least, I wasn't able to give y'all a preview of my mystical elk encounter piece yesterday, so here's a handy GIF for your viewing pleasure.
Day 25: Give It a Rest
It does happen to be Labor Day weekend Stateside and perhaps it's even good for me to actually observe a day of rest. But if you know any XR Artists, you'll soon realize that we are a very hardy stock of artist who doesn't really understand the meaning of relaxation in its purest state. I mean, look at me, I can't even take a day away from this blog!
Obviously, that kind of tireless work ethic and discipline does pay off on some fundamental level, but I often have to force myself to take Netflix breaks, cat naps, stare vacuously into space if just to regain some modicum of equilibrium. Other artists and I are often aware of this imbalance and I think it's only healthy to design some kind of self care ecosystem that doesn't always involve pixel pushing. In fact, at the recommendation of another VR artist, I'm getting what's called a craniosacral therapeutic massage this coming week. Yup, try saying that 3 times fast you whippersnapper. Regardless of whether or not it 'works', I think the key is that I'm making a move to take care of me. No one else is going to do that as well as you.
But hey, if you are going to be bratty and stay in VR, may I make a few wee suggestions:
Beat Saber: Super obvs I know, but hear me out. Beyond the cardio benefits and clearly addicting gameplay, I also theorize that the inherent choreography and twitch muscle memory that's being actively formed while playing is actually speeding up my reaction time in real life, not to mention puts me into a more playful mental space. I could be absolutely delusional. (Also, mods make a HUGE difference to replay value.)
Bigscreen VR: As mentioned earlier in Day 16, Bob Ross is king but did you know that this venue is probably the best way to see a 3D film? Every once in awhile, you'll catch someone playing Tron or Alita in 3D and it reminds that the format is not a total gimmick under the right circumstances. Because you're thoroughly immersed in an environment vs thin glasses, it actually feels natural. There's also a Chillhop room if you need a little audio getaway and you can find it under the Random channels category.
Perhaps the thing I try to remember most is to look outside of our community and make sure that I'm exposed to pioneering or inspiring work that others are doing in their own creative tribes. I mean, look what I came across on the always informative nofilmschool. This article reminds me of what you can do on so little if you have the right partners in crime and ingenuity to spare. We can all relate to that.
Before I go, here's a few social shares from the festival courtesy of XRMarin and Brands and Art in XR.
Day 26: Bees Please!
I began a new piece today and it just happens to coincide with the beginning of Sculptember. What's that you ask? Feast your eyes on the next 30 days of pure masochistic glory.
Why do I say masochistic? Because I barely made it through SculptJanuary unscathed. Like any daily prompt driven practice, t was intense to say the least but extremely rewarding on a number of levels. For one, it was a really cool way to develop efficiency in a medium that's already fast to begin with. And I also saw it as fertile ground for developing projects down the line. Today's entry in the latter category. I plan to take one of these bees into a larger animated piece that may be destined for one very cool venue. And they both happen to qualify for 'Spiky'!
Here's a link to the stream I did tonight. I wanted to give myself an option character design wise. You just never know what kind of diva behavior you might run into with these sassy bees ;)
Day 27: Hardcore Parkour
I theorize every VR artist working in this scene confronts one tool that flummoxes them enough that it takes willpower to crack the code. For me, it has always been Quill. It has never been for lack of trying or wanting to parkour over that hurdle. It was a total surprise that it didn't get me from the beginning because the short "Dear Angelica" was such an emotional, impactful piece made with it. It singlehandedly launched the promise of virtual animation. And since then, it has only spawned a very passionate, talented base of animators who continue to evolve the artform in stunning ways.
But for some reason, it's never quite gelled with my creative intuition in the way other tools have. I do think it has a lot to do with the fact that it takes more effort to make something look polished with the available brushes. Oftentimes, the meshes can come out looking like a mess if you don't compose them a certain way. With the release of 2.0 with the new and improved timeline, I wanted to really wrestle with this resistance that I've felt and see how far I could go. I had to watch Matt Schaefer's excellent tutorial on keyframe/puppeteered animation 2 times and I still haven't gotten some things down. The new timeline really resembles some cross hybrid of Flash and Premiere in terms of its look and feel. After trying and failing to get the keyframe animation to work, I decided to relent and just enjoy painting. So much of this is about being patient with yourself, not allowing your imposter syndrome to get the best of you.
I actually did get to tackle a few themes for Sculptember with the below piece. So, here is some Tree of Life action that could qualify for the prompts of "Soft" and "Half". Also, fun fact, Quill has some new capture modes that allow you to get 360 photos and cubemaps, not to mention some Instagram like filters on videos.
Day 28: What a Mensch
This Lululemon wearing wolf was my first attempt with the VR art tool SculptrVR, which allows upwards of 16 people to create in one space. I really want to test it out with friends from around the world soon, so today's Sculptember prompt of "Square" was the perfect excuse to try it out. It has a very playful UI, complete with a flying rockets, hang gliders that you can use to fly through your artwork and different modifiers for the final look.
I also want to dedicate Wolf Fonda to my friend Estella, who has been a really thoughtful and giving soul in hard times. On the road to recovery, sometimes we all have to wear a hot pink leotard to get that mojo back.
Day 29: Yes Way Jose!
Earlier today my buddy, Jose Andres Rosero, asked if I was free in the afternoon to come visit him at work. I dropped everything for several reasons. For one, he's a fellow XR artist and developer who's constantly pushing and advocating for the community in wonderful ways. For instance, he created this online tool called the XR Artist Toolkit that not only highlights every major creative tool available on the market, but showcases all the various workflows that one could go down should they choose the red pill.
Another reason is that he's now a community manager for a most intriguing startup called Enklu that allows artists and devs alike to create AR experiences all within a browser, much like how Sketchfab allows you to upload and display 3D work. They have this beautiful space called E.den which doubles as both a public venue for their tool in action via HoloLens and a co-working hub. Today, they touched on the topic of opening up the space to VR artists like ourselves to create assets for the platform. Jose knows me well enough to know that if he throws up a bat signal up around XR art advocacy, I'll be there in two snaps. He's also one of my earliest friends in the VR arena since we first met at a High Fidelity interview, and this community only thrives and burns bright because we show up for each other. It was refreshing to be able to talk with the team about the possibilities of having a communal space to co-create, play and connect with each other. There's an upcoming launch party if you're in the Bay Area.
Enjoy these silly goose photos of us.
Also, I haven't given up on Sculptember yet, so here's my entry for Day 5: Portrait. It's clear I watch way too many episodes of the show "Lucifer" in the background while I work.
