#introct

[thomas-louden-bct]

Semester Reflection

When I first joined BCT I didn’t really know what to expect, I applied because it sounded interesting and I didn’t really have much in the way of plans for my future, all I knew was that I liked to make stuff.

The reflective video was one of our first assignments and was something I found quite difficult, I was still unsure as how I could define my ‘creative practice’. I had dabbled in a wide variety of different hobbies and creative outlets but never really stuck to one thing. Come the end of semester one and I have to say I’m still dabbling.

The Blog posts were an excellent way to learn about the Creative Technologies, its one thing to give a definition to something but quite another to learn from first-hand experiences.

Learning about people like, Adam Ben Dror, and getting under the hood of game development at the Auckland Game Development Meet-ups has really given me insight into the sort of things a Creative Technologist can do, which is to say; just about anything.

This first semester has been amazing and I have no regrets that I took this course.I’m learning new things every day and enjoying the work i do.

[amyfelgate]

Intro CT Reflective Statement

The semester has ended and I have gained so much, in the last months. I have learnt a range of idea’s and practices. I have been able to explore and experiment throughout, which has made this first semester quite fulfilling.

When I produced my video for intro to BCT I didn’t research enough into creative technologists and their practice. I knew that they combined many disciplines to come up with new prospects for the future. But making the video allowed me to learn about my classmates and the range of interests our class has . Attending different creative events has helped me gained a better understanding of creative technologists.  Normally I would not attend many events but this paper has pushed me to try new things. I have attended creative workshops and visited new places in Auckland. And I have found all the events thoroughly enjoying. Seeing real creative practitioners and listening to their visions or interacting with their work. Gives me a better idea of the work I could be producing. Blogging about the experience was a hassle but I see how it would help get a better understanding of what you just experienced .I have decided to try and continue going to these events.

I enjoyed the Intro to creative technologies talks that where held rarely but when there was a talk. It was immensely interesting, seeing how creative technologist have evolved in history or listening to guest speakers. Has left great impressions on me. Their jobs weren’t typical and left me wanting to go out my comfort zone and produce something of quality.

Studio has left me feeling more confused about what to specialize in because I have found nearly each project interesting. The first topic cards for play was a learning curve for me. But it did give an indication to what I was doing wrong. And after that I found my projects are improving as I’m starting to question my moves more. Instead of impulsively jumping from idea to idea. I also found that experimenting more has led to better outcomes. It’d great to be able to explore different topics that i am unfamiliar with like sound. I never produced my own track and i found it really rewarding. I skill that i revisited in the vernissage. The hands on approach to learning is greatly rewarding and I am intrigued in class and have never been this excited to learn new skills. As the semester progressed I found that my collaborative skills are getting better and I am able to contribute more in group discussions. I also found that when working by myself I am much more lazy compared to in a group setting where other people depending on you.

Programming has been tough. But I see how important this skill is to have now. I found learning processing difficult to keep up with. But deeply rewarding when your program works! Programming needs to be practiced and experimented which i haven't given enough time to. But seeing how the Arduino will add to projects I see that I should improve my skills in this area as I could integrate programming into my projects. I always knew programming was an important skill to learn as it can open doors to new creations and allow more interactivity digitally. 

As the semester has come to an end. I realize how important this course is, and how relevant it is for future jobs and opportunities. Starting to build a portfolio of the work I am producing is the next step. I still don’t think i am a creative technologist, i think with more work and learning. I’ll feel more inclined to call myself a creative practitioner.

[isthisprogress]

When Microsoft said you’d be able to make Minecraft worlds appear in your living room with its new HoloLens headset, perhaps you squealed in glee. Or perhaps you wrote it off as smoke and mirrors—not reality. Guess what? I just played it. Everything you saw on stage is real.

Article of Interest (17/06/15)

“Virtual Reality is as addictive as Cocaine” - Charles Walkers 

Virtual Reality - A three dimensional computer simulation of  an image or environment that allows for interaction in the way that seems real. It mainly utilises electronic equipment such as a headset with a lens.

Argumented Reality - A superimposed image or environment presented into the real world, which is computer generated.  

At this year’s E3 (2015), Microsoft unveiled their innovation for the VR market. It managed to wow and impress its audience. Basically, the HoloLens is VR headset that allows the player to project their virtual world into the real world. During their press conference, they used Minecraft as an example; where two modes were showcased 2D and 3D. In 2D mode players project a screen onto a wall and can play the game like an ordinary player. But, when they switch to the 3D mode; they can create a hologram of the game world onto a REAL object (E.g. Coffee table). From here the player can freely interact and manipulate the world as a god. However, the only features shown in the demo were:

1. The player can see through the world, such as inside buildings and underground.

2. The player can do action via vocal commands, such as mark a location and summon lightning.

[1]

Moreover, the HoloLens user can play with other players on other devices; if he/she is in 3D mode then the user is basically their god.

This presentation specifically caught my eye, because earlier this year Magic Leap made a video of an augmented steam punk shooter they would like to make. This video got me psyched thinking of the possibilities of augmented reality and caused me to think about how far away are we from making this a reality. But with HoloLens revealed; the video game developers could make their dreams of augment reality a reality (Joke intended). 

[2]     

Personally, I had mixed feelings towards the presentation. I was highly impressed and believe that this is the future for Virtual and Augmented reality. On the other hand, Minecraft is not my cup of tea; so I was not that excited by the demo. But putting all biased feelings aside, Minecraft was the best game to show off the capabilities of the HoloLens; due to its open ended gameplay style.

There are a few benefits with this approach to VR that play on human feelings. One advantage is that with most VR headset (E.g. Oculus Rift) you are unable to see the world around you, this could lead to feeling to paranoia; thus by integrating it into the real world the player will feel more secure. Another benefit is that, it has an atheistic that reminds me of playing with toys; thus this will cause a lot of nostalgia when worn.

Nonetheless, there is one concern that I have. Unlike the HoloLens, the Oculus Rift is hooked up to a monitor and the monitors resolution is manipulated to counter balance the chromatic aberration caused by the lenses. As a result, the Oculus can be manufactured with cheap lenses. However, the HoloLens would require powerful and expensive lenses. Hence, production costs and sale prices will both be very high.

In conclusion, I am interested in the HoloLens’s evolution cycle till it hits the market. I have experienced the Oculus Rift and was especially blown away by the CLOUDS Interactive Documentary [3]; due to it giving a full 3D view of the characters (There individuals were pixelated, which added to the aesthetic) in the video. Now, if they were to use the HoloLens then the characters could be displayed in front of oneself as a hologram; similar to many sci-fi films.  

References:

1. Daniel Meyer. (2015, June 15). Microsoft Hololens New Minecraft E3 2015 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQyDcCZJCrY

2. Magic Leap. (2015, March 19). Just another day in the office at Magic Leap [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPMHcanq0xM  

3. CLOUDS Interactive Documentary by James George, Jonathan Minard — Kickstarter. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1636630114/clouds-interactive-documentary

[kylieclarke-bct]

Introduction to Creative Technologies | Reflection

This semester has flown by way too fast. I have met some amazing people, completed some amazing things, and it is only the first part of a great 3 years to come at CoLab. 

The studio work was completely new to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the style of how it was produced to us. Breaking it up into four parts forced me break down the different skills and techniques used for each section, causing my vernissage to be much stronger. I truly learnt the meaning of time management as well. I remember the lecturers stating how important it was going to be, though I never realised how important it was until the time came. 

It always stunned me the way groups created entirely non-identical things. I wondered if we were in a mix of different people, the outcomes would be unalike, which proves that everyone has their own tastes and opinions. When placed in a good collaboration, our skills combined resulting in a strong final project. This is what made our moving images group stand out, making it the most successful and entertaining part of studio 1 before the vernissage. 

That being said, I definitely learnt how to let loose with ideas. The lecturers kept telling us to trial and trial and let the mistakes fall into place. Sometimes goofing around and accidentally doing something, often made the project more refined. 

Even though I have had previous experience with programming in python, processing was completely different. Programming is a great tool and I am super proud of myself for creating a reasonable working game for my final project. This had truly sky-rocketed my abilities in programming and I look forward to pushing myself in creating bigger and better things in semester two. 

We were all presented with the task of creating a 3 minute video explaining what we feel is a ‘Creative Technologist.’ After a semester of BCT, I feel I still don’t fully understand where the term comes from, and I believe that I will struggle with that term for the time I am participating in the degree. ‘Creative Technologist’ is such a large term that relates to so many fields and techniques. 

I feel like I truly established a small minority of techniques when completing my 5 research blog posts and news article. Being present at events that are inspiring to look at is quite satisfying and I found myself thinking about how I would be able to do the same in the coming years, as well as gather ideas from these exhibitions and implement them into my current work.

One semester isn’t enough to define exactly what I want to do, though what I do know and understand is how to push my boundaries. I have discovered that if I work above and beyond what I think it capable, I produce pieces that I am proud of. Having the ability to think outside the box and extend from what I already know is going to be a strong attribute to my brainstorming process in semester two. 

[samghassall-blog]

4th Creative Event 

I went to Mairangi Bay art gallery to see their latest exhibition and saw that they had a competition and saw the winning pieces and compared them to the rest. 

[thomas-louden-bct]

On Saturday i was given the chance to visit the set for a TV series for the Evil Dead franchise. unfortunately i wasn’t allowed to take any pictures due to confidentiality reasons. looking around the sets i was blown away by the level and scale of the production, buildings i thought were brick and concrete were revealed as being made of either shipping containers or plywood and glue. 

being on set really makes one appreciate the amount of labour that goes into practical effects and set building. personally i feel that with the rise of CGI this kind of work is somewhat under-appreciated in a lot of the bigger budget productions that we see the release of. an excellent example is the difference between the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. though in LotR there was plenty of CGI, massive amounts of work pre-production went into making weapons, armor, and film locations, giving the films an added sense of realism, with the latter the overuse of CGI led to the films looking faker and in some parts, it felt like there was much less effort in the actual filming, with heavier reliance on post-film editing to fill in and fix a lot of aspects. 

no doubt CGI is an important tool for Movies these days but one of the primary reasons i am looking forward to the new Star Wars  film is that JJ Abrams mentioned that he intended to put much more focus onto practical effects while filming.

[themightyblogster-blog]

Game developer meetup- ICT entry

A month ago, I went to the game developer meeting held on Wednesday at AUT. The topic of that session was this google app marketing plan where app developers for android and apple could use resources from google to help monetize and advertise their apps.

It was the first time i’d been to one of these meetups and I feel like this topic was aimed at existing app developers rather than “newbs” at developing. The representatives from google spoke about how their system of app advertising would help designers choose when and where to add advertisements in their applications and what kind of advertisements would be the best to show. It also gave a detailed list of their app performances in terms of users and downloaders. I can imagine this would help an app designer know if their app is a success or not. It could also indicate whether their app is adequately advertised too.

All in all, it was pretty interesting, and after the speakers finished, other app and game developers in the room could go up and speak about things they’d been working on. Some of their things were brilliant.