MAXWELL HARPER
AR/VR
SPACE TIME STUDIO:
FIRST PLACE
SXSW 2017 HACKATHON
We envision a future where almost everyone can be augmented/mixed-reality enabled, opening a whole new world of creative possibilities layered on top our physical world.
Space Time Studio is a tool for future collaborative mixed-reality artists. We presume the artist is building their mixed-reality performance via a set of steps; loading in a physical stage(real location), music and assets into the editor and designing an augmented performance featuring a real human dancer interacting with an augmented reality character. Our demo allows the viewer to change camera angles, scrub the timeline and change the time of day to fine tune the presentation and see how various audiences would see at different moments and physical locations.
We present this as a proof-of-concept where performers of the future interact with the digital, physical and automatable worlds.
The demo was built using a modified version of Simmetri, a tool designed for creating interactive art. We worked with an interactive artist to seek out the core capabilities needed to generate a collaborative mixed reality design tool that exceeds the current limitations of current game engines.
We integrated with Verizon ThingSpace (IOT); our mixed reality performer dynamically controls a nearby street-lamp during our mixed-reality performance. We also drew on excellently-prepared 3D and animation assets from Adobe Mixamo.
HARMONY SPACE:
FIRST PLACE
MIT HACKING ARTS 2016
What if you could hear spatial relationships and see acoustic harmonies? Musical theory, like so many other domains has suffered under the constraint of 2 Dimensional visualization. No longer is that the case.
"Harmony Space" application is a musical thinking tool. It remaps one's spatial sense to their auditory sense. Users positional coordinates, X (left,right), Y (up, down) and Z (forward, back), become pitch-shift controllers of 3 separate, respective musical tones. This allows user's to traverse musical-chord-space or as we title it, "harmony-space" and means that every location in space is a "possibly-harmonic" location.
At its core this technique is a demonstration of a novel means of 3 dimensional data-auralization, and it points at a whole new field of artistic and communicative affordances.
We used the Hololens' spatial/location mapping abilities to know where our user is in 3D space. We then got a hold of our user's X,Y, and Z coordinates, using each to modify the pitch of a sustained musical note-- one for each note of a three-part musical chord respectively. We then placed small orbs in the environment at X,Y,Z positions the correspond to musical harmonies (we chose points whose coordinates create a major chord). We used Unity, C#, musical frequency data crunching, Hololens SDK.
AR/VR LANDSCAPE MAPPING:
Helping clients navigate emerging technological, creative and business landscapes.
Applied futurism, tech and trend forecasting, imagineering; this work boils down to helping clients see and prepare for the future-- and build it. I deliver these services by means of four primary work outputs:
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Technical Guidance: Tech forecasting, network mapping and market forecasting.
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Creative Guidance: Creative capabilities, workflows mapping and production networking plans.
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Strategic business planning/investment guidance: Identifying high impact, high ROI, in-market early bets.
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R&D, Prototyping: designing initial creative / technical solutions.
AR/VR SKETCHES:
DESIGNING ON PAPER
PROTOTYPING IN AR/VR
I believe we are on the cusp of discovering new ways of looking at the universe and ourselves. Like curved polished glass gave Galileo a chance to re-perceive our place in the cosmos, so too perhaps these tools can be lens-like portals to new paradigms.
Spatial tracking, motion capture, bio and neurometrics, haptics, spatial audio...
the input and output degrees of freedom of our human-computer system are expanding exponentially and new creative, exploratory and educational affordances abound.
So I commit myself, both artist and scientist, to tinkering with this amazing new medium.
BIOPHILIC DESIGN GUIDELINES:
DESIGNING GUIDELINES TO HELP 'REALITY DESIGNERS'
We're entering a new human computer paradigm ... this one borrowing more richly from architecture, choreography and immersive theater, than the past paradigms. Our interaction with computers is becoming spatial, full-bodied, and sensorially enveloped. As many in the immersive media industry seek to virtualize reality, I ask more specifically; which parts of the human-nature experience cannot be forgotten.
I'm currently building a network of contributors for a Biophilic Design Guidelines industry paper.
This document will help anchor some thought leadership around applying the principles of biophilic design/architecture to AR and VR 'reality design', 'world-building', story-telling and interface design.