This is just a beginning

Three years ago when I decided to study in Malaysia, Frankly speaking I’d not heard anything about Virtual reality at that time. I just wanted to join Game companies as a designer; therefore I thought that my best choice would be Animation. However, after I talked with one of my new friend at that time (Kourosh), and did a research, he gave me some new information about Virtual reality and the advantages of it in games also. Now I should be thankful because of him, since I really feel that I’m in a right way in these days. Moreover, I realized that Virtual Reality is not just about the game and it give us an opportunity to use it everywhere anytime in our real life. It’s just like a science that I can apply it everywhere and make the crowd to wonder.

Finally I should say something about experiential studies class. I know we need to make something since we are in creative multimedia faculty but I feel it would be much better if we could have some courses like experiential studies more even for other majors too. Since it gave us some information and experience that we did not have before and push us to think what Virtual Reality is…

Augmented City

Recently one of the video that I could found in Vimeo’s website is about Augmented Reality which I should admit that I am much more interested on it sometimes even more than Virtual Reality. Anyway in this video which is for Keiichi Matsuda (freelance designer and film-maker), we’ll see a small part of benefit of Augmented Reality which is really remarkable. According to his website "Keiichi's research examines the implications of emerging technologies for human perception and the built environment, focusing on the integration of media into everyday life. He has a multi-disciplinary approach to his work, using a mixture of video, motion graphics, interaction design, and architecture to create vibrant "hyper-real" environments where the distinctions between physical and virtual start to dissolve."

(http://www.keiichimatsuda.com/)

Moreover, here is the 3d link with much better quality.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TL80ScTLlM)

The Experience Society

Once open a time as I remember people would like to talk about 2dimensional stuff and then after that it comes to 3D and even 4D, but now I would like to say that era has been passed now it’s a time of a 5D evolution. We are all living in this world which is updating itself every moment. We as a human can’t stop the technology which is moving forward so fast every single moment just because of the time and I do believe that because of ourselves. So, everything will be much more in advanced and one of the sciences which is still new and has a long way to go is Virtual reality. Since technology improve and can offer new stuff to VR, Virtual reality will be performing much and more enhanced and innovative. So, day by day it will become more common than the past and people can use it, maybe in every single work that they are going to do. Education is a good example for that, moreover experts believe that with VR students will have different types of experience from study for sure since they can interact. Now imagine that what if the computer interacts with them too. The result will be really a big success for us and it will help human in a far far away future. Even there are lots of other examples too like using Virtual Reality in medical which is truly is one of the best benefit of using VR for human. I think the world that we live in right now will defiantly change, and I should add here Virtual Reality is the future of our world with all the advantages and disadvantages. Thus, it’ll be much enhanced to work on it and improve it as much as all of us can, since each of us is part of that virtual world.

Exploring Second Life(International Spaceflight Museum)

Well International Spaceflight Museum has many parts. Since I teleported there I found myself into some sort of dome shape which was like a atmosphere and I could choose different planet and go there, even in some of them I had a 360 degree view like Mars. To me the museum is good enough I mean base on the design, modeling, texturing and even in some part lighting. Everything was very well organized and everybody could have a chance to move around and see most of the stuff about spaceflight. Moreover we could have different types of interactions about that, but there is only a problem. I felt that interactions could not really satisfied visitors because they were simple, however I should say that for those kinds of interactions we should use from the technology of virtual reality in a real life to give a user a real feeling. I mean it is fine to go to spaceflight museum and have look around and get some information about different types of shuttles, new rockets and a full-size version of the Vehicle Assembly Building and also other things, but since it comes to interactions, it can’t really satisfy the user because user have to feel it in a real life to get the real experience.

Totally the museum was good enough based on the information that gave to the user which was useful enough. And one thing that I really liked about that museum was the tour guide machine. I could get a free ride and moved around the museum and visited some parts of it which was inimitable by itself rather than other museums.

Exploring Second Life(SS Galaxy Cruise Ship)

Here at the beginning I have to say SS Galaxy Cruise Ship is a phenomena. I should say that it was really huge and since just go in there can find thousands of interesting interactions. As I just teleported there I found myself in front of the entrance of the ship, and I noticed a board which was writing on it this message “Weapons of any kind prohibited”. Well I did not know that before which everybody can have a gun in Second Life and I was thinking why they need that since it’s a virtual world. To be frank I do not have any idea but it was grabbing my attention and forced me to think about Second Life in a different way.

After that I moved into the ship and I witnessed a very well design and good-looking lobby. Moreover, the good point there was the secretaries. I could get every types of information about the ship or even events from them. I should admit that everything in SS Galaxy was different than other places which I’ve visited before. To be honest that ship was more than a Virtual place. It was really cool because whoever has not tried some sort of ship like that before can go there and take a true understanding about it.

Everybody could go there and rent a room or suit and even they could rent a suit for honeymoon which was interesting for me and after a while that I moved around I found out that even we can rent a special atrium or hall for wedding ceremony. I should say that I could not believe that first. How come people would like to marry with each other in a VIRTUAL world? And that’s why I felt that we are going to a new era which is a Virtual era.

In SS Galaxy people can do everything. They can go to gym, have look at the art museum, go to the dance hall and have fun there or try different types of interactions like the skydiving pod which was really unbelievable for me and gave me different experience.

AT the end I would like to give a comment about the way that design the ship and I must say that SS Galaxy is a great work in Second Life, Even the lighting and texturing are great enough and there is no doubt on that. Moreover the interactions are so unique by themselves. Totally the atmosphere of the ship is really nice and exclusive and it will give an incredible experience to the user which is the main point and the aim of VR designers.

Exploring Second Life(Tropical Island Surfing)

The first thing which was obviouse during visiting is that the Tropical Island is much smaller than the other places that I’ve been visited. It’s a very small place that we can try surfing there. Well the atmosphere was good enough I mean I could really feel that I am in that place for surfing and fun. One of the thing that I really liked there were the sea waves. They were really nice designed and orgenized, and gave me a feeling like a real wave of course in Virtual World. So, everyone which was interested enough could try and enjoy from the surfing. Even I think that maybe for those who have not tried it or affraied of it can go there and try, it may help them in the future since they have already some expirences from Virtual world.

Tropical Island had some other activities too like sitting next to the big fire in a night with friends and enjoy the night and few other things too.

Exploring Second Life(Kowloon Walled City)

Kowloon is Weird; there is no doubt on that. I have never seen such a city or much better to say neighborhood like that before. As soon as I entered I tried to find someone which was old enough there, and I found one. According to my Japanese friend Kowloon is part of Hong Kong and it is an urban area, she gave me some useful information that I will share here with all of you. In Kowloon as I noticed it’s very easy to lose my way out since there are lots of old building there and most of them were similar ,even streets.

So at that time my friends helped me to showed me around and also read the note cards for me since most of them were in Japanese language. Kowloon is really great for those who like to have an experience just like a Midian City. Moreover, the atmosphere in Kowloon showed that it’s a really crowed and cramped city. We could realize that by looking at houses, shops and all other things.

In Kowloon you might find lots of activities and interactions which for most of them you need to pay the use them, and some of them were on Japanese language so we might not understand. Well According to my Japanese friend, we need to walk inside of each street and even houses, not just fly, to see what’s going on there and also find interesting places.

Exploring Second Life(Numbakulla Island)

The first place that I went for visiting was Numbakulla Island. Well to me Numbakulla Island was much more relaxing experience, simply because it was a beautiful and calm Island. As I teleported there the first thing that I saw, was a shipwrecks and flotsam. I do not know why they were there but it gave me a feeling that something happened here some time ago. Anyway, I moved around and I noticed a very big light house with a weird design, moreover it was really interesting that those people had a lighthouse at that time in their Island. After that I led to a rocky path way and I Just saw some giant flowers which were floating on water and also some sort of cottage which were look like a flower too. Everything proved that Island was a superior place.

I would like to give a comment about the way that they lived there, inside their houses were really nice designed and furniture. It proved that the quality of their lives were high at that time with all those furniture and equipments that they were using. As an example I’ve found a machine there that I have no idea what was used for. As you can see in the picture it was kind of a big diamond on a big window as soon as I click on that diamond the light came in and I could see the reflection of it there.

The other thing which was attractive for me was the tomb that they built on a high mountain because during their era it was really hard to build something like that on that height.

So as I understood after a while walking and researching there, I realized that they had high knowledge and level of life there at that time.

A journey to the mysterious land

The first place that I visited during our tip was the Orchid Park. Well, as I noticed most of the visitors liked to visit the bird park only, and it was just maybe 30 percent out of them came and visit the orchid park too. Again I have complained about the entrance of the orchid park too, it was not really grabbing the attentions as usual. Beside, inside park had some problems that I like to mentioned here. Well as soon as I walked in there, I expected that I’m about to visit so many different types of flowers and plants with a little information for each category. Actually they had different types of flowers but not enough; moreover they had lack of information. Since most of the visitors like to know about each flowers. Even though we expected to see different types of orchid there but unfortunately it was not enough. About the space I should say that they had a very nice and big place but it was not well organized, and for me it was just like a normal park not much different than others. On the other hand the way that they made the roads inside park for visitors was quite nice and no one cloud lost there.

Let’s just start about one of the amazing Bird Park in the world. This Bird Park has more than 5000 birds, from more than 50 species, in an enclosed aviary. And, according to my research 90 percent of the birds are local which is amazing by itself.

Focus & Emotion

After I’ve done with Orchid Park, I moved in the Bird Park. I have to say that bird park was completely different than Orchid Park. I felt like astonished since they gather dissimilar and special types of birds there because even did not see most of them before in my entire life. One of the thing that I have not seen it before in other bird parks was just a machine that we could drop two coins in it and took fish and bird food. The machine by itself was new for me because on my previous experience that I visited another bird park, it was just a stall which we could buy food for birds and fishes. So, I guess that machine makes everything easier for visitors.

Moreover, I really like the way that they feed birds. It made everything more natural and real. So, as a visitor I felt that I AM in a MODERN jungle with roads, bench and other things.

Space/Form & Orientation

Well there is no doubt that they were organized the park very well. I could find my way to every zone that I wanted since they used sign boards to help visitors. The other thing that I noticed there were the waterfall and the way which was built after that. It was like a spiral road that I could watch some birds on my way and even under that road too.

Knowledge & Task

One of the things that I like to talk about it in this part is about the education center that they have there. It was nice, since I felt that they wanted to give us some more information about how a chick will birth in a modern way. They used some sort of posters to convey the information to visitors; moreover they had some special machines which were for that work. But, if I want to comment about the other parts have to say that it was just ordinary like other parks. They used some boards to convey the information to guests but usually people in these days do not really like to read, they like to see instead. If I were them I would like to use VR or even AR as a technique to express the information to people in an amazing way.

Finally I would like to add that it was really a good day with my friends out there.

A trip to Aquarium

Well, as I said before I could not join to my friends for aquarium trip unfortunately, simply because I went there before. Moreover, I visited the aquarium again just last week with my family and this time I could get much more experience than before. I guess it just because of my younger brother and sister who were accompanying me in that trip. Anyway, let me talk about my observation first.

The first thing that I consider was the entrance of aquarium. To be honest it was not well design at all, just because it could not grab any sort of attention. For me the entrance of buildings or somewhere like aquarium should be all the time perfect and wonderful. Maybe someone says that it’s not correct to judge a book from its cover but I have to say that the cover still is part of a book.

The second thing that I noticed it was about the tunnel that they designed and built. I should say that it was glowing enough. Everybody could have a nice experience since they moved in that tunnel as they were standing and moving at a same time and watching different types of creatures. Even my family was really excited about that and my little sister could find a Nemo there.

Corpus Building

The thing that I would like to share here with my friends called "Corpus" building.Since I felt that it’s a very successful experience for everyone who wants to try it.The "Corpus" building is seen in Oegstgeest, 35 kilometers (21 miles) southeast of Amsterdam, Netherlands. "Corpus," a new attraction in the Netherlands, are hoping that a combination amusement park and health education museum will encourage kids to take better care of their own bodies. The building incorporates a 35-meter (115-foot) high seated human figure into its structure. All the walls and halls are modeled with fiberglass to resemble the inside of a giant human body, giving visitors the sensation of being shrunk down to a tiny scale.

The museum stretches over 7 floors, inviting visitors to take the spectacular trip through the body's functions, starting in the leg and traveling upwards on a platform to the brain.

Like here the visitors can observes the teeth in a large scale model of the human mouth, as he stands on a rubber tongue complete with taste buds and tonsils hung in the foreground, at the Corpus museum.

Even there is an education film describing how blood cells are made and the workings of the human circulatory system.

The makers of the new Corpus attraction are hoping that a combination amusement park and health education museum will encourage kids to take better care of their own bodies.

IMax!!!

First thing as soon as I realized about it was the location of Imax. They built the cinema in a 10^th floor of Times Square. To be honest, I did not know that there’s an Imax there before. Moreover, there were no adv for Imax in other floors for Imax. I guess if they continue that we can have something like this in Berjaya Times Square.

Anyway, that’s not part of our work now.

Since, visiting Imax was my first experience, I was really excited when I went in the hall and saw the giant screen plus chairs there. Frankly speaking, I just saw that in movies before. The screen was really big, but unfortunately we had not had a chance to see a movie with a correct resolution. So, I could not get anything about that part.

The only thing that I can talk about that it’s the physical part of Imax, And of course everything was different than other cinemas. As an example seats were more comfortable and I could move my seat a lil back. I guess, they made the chairs like that because they were expecting some reactions from audiences. Moreover, there were enough space in front of my seat and others too.

If anyone asks me about the best seat, I will say that the best seat was in the middle of each row, not too down and not to high level.

So with that sort of environment we can have much and more real experience of movie since everything is super large. Our brain automatically tries to get to know and become familiar with that environment through our eyes and ears.I think it just like dreamed a dream...

DaVinci

well last night I was just researching in the vimeo.com,and I found a video which is about a new device from Microsoft they called it DaVinci.So I feel that it's much better to share the video here with all of you guys.Below you can see a short brief about that.

DaVinci is a prototype/experiment that blurs the lines between the physical and virtual world by combining object recognition, real-world physics simulation and gestural interface design on Microsoft Surface.

So,please click on the link below.Thanxxx

http://vimeo.com/3635423

My Second Post

Well there are three things which really important in Virtual Reality that every artist need to know. These are User Point of view, Technology Point of view and also Medium. Therefore, every artists need to consider those parts since they join to VR . For the reason that we need to confer experience through technology to our users. However, that’s a most challenging part. How to present experience to the user?

For answering that question, I should say that we need to consider the feeling of users. And the best way of that is to use their 5+1 senses. Maybe, you ask me what that extra 1 is. Well, that’s their minds the most significant things that we MUST affect.

My first Post

Now that I am writing my first post,I am going to experience something which I tried it before.It's a 3D model.I like to work with 3D stuff since I was around 15 years old.To be honest before I came to our Faculty,I thought that Virtual Reality is all about Games.Otherwise,now in this term I'm Experiencing some rules of VR which are really new for me.