The haptic array platform: Part 1
At the start of The Atrium, we knew we wanted to let people explore a world. Something that in virtual reality can be a serious challenge without using teleportation. Something I’ve never really been fond of as it tends to break the illusion.
I started work on a method for exploration that was much like a ride, only one that still allowed the user to walk around at room scale. And Much like all my ideas, They start as a shit drawing on a piece of paper. (See below)
It’s the bare minimum that lets me then loop in collaborators. In this case, the majestic Leo Brown. An artist/designer/friend who was the first one crazy enough to jump off a cliff with me, and start making digital interactive stories combined with installtion art at Meow Wolf. Leo was the person who took the idea of the haptic platform, and made it weigh thousands of pounds (and look beautiful).
The platform was the grounding point for the viewer. Allowing you to feel the sensation of flying up and down, hitting things, and transition moments. The feeling of flying on a giant speaker, with concentric rings of haptics that allowed vibration could circle you, and airbags off of a semi truck that let the platform flex and contort.
It all started with a Leo painstakingly cutting our mock up frame out of 2x4’s with a Japanese handsaw. Which was obviously the only way. This let us build up the electrical and digital components.
I’ll explain more about the digital/virtual side in part II.