Less talk, More Walk
Rapid Prototyping & Presentation with Asset Tools & Libraries
What if there were a way to easily preview and place your assets around a scene? Whether you’re in a meeting with investors, standing before academic department heads, or other companies for partnership opportunities — the way we sell an idea is exponentially changing. The way we present is more immersive.
It gets increasingly difficult to secure funding for a project — largely due to a surge of, ‘ideas.’
After speaking with many people at conferences and meet-ups, ideas were the main topics of conversation. Respectfully, it would have been nice to see these ideas — because sometimes you may better know if an idea works. Through the process of instant assembly questions emerge and new ideas spin off of old ones. Maybe you find gaps or corner yourself in your own logic? We’re talking about instant feedback. I traveled to a few locations and placed a scenario before each host to see what they thought. We also gave them a Practical T-shirt as a thanks. After speaking with everyone, the consensus was: an idea no matter how small, can be effective with a Mixed Reality demonstration. Especially if it is done well and done quickly.
I remember my first encounter, 3 years ago, with Mixed Reality — HoloLens. At the hackathon, we [the design team] spent a considerable amount of time trying to deploy our scenes and assets. Though I appreciate how it helped me grow, I do not miss that process. It’s never been so thrilling to bypass that pain and get right to the heart of seeing your ideas come to life .. promptly.
Use Case Scenario #1
If an instructor of video production at a local community college needs to articulate the finer points of set design & lighting to his students, he should be able to do it with ease. Let’s say a proposal is in order, to the administration, for the to school invest in this technology. He uses his own device and demonstrates how class content can be taken to a whole new level.
“This could change how quickly students can learn and absorb the information they’re given. It is interesting… how far we’ve come in what you can use to convey a message. It makes me wonder what can be done to integrate with production.”
Use Case Scenario #2
If the owner of a small business comes to you and wants to remodel a barista’s work space, they may want to see and approve on the go. This may get their gears turning on how to best utilize the space for optimal day-to-day functioning. Or, if they needed an asset to interact with for a future AR application utilized with member rewards? What about the intended design would work? Quick collaboration spawned so much insight that tracking time is lost to the fun. Since this fine establishment also serves as a co-working space, it made things easier to assemble this demo, capture then check-in on Social Media in one fell swoop.
“The experience is incredible. I didn’t know anything about Mixed Reality or Augmented reality. After seeing what this stuff could do, I can see the many ways it can change a patron’s experience. This is great for social media; to increase traffic — especially when we want to promote contests, drawings or events!”
Use Case Scenario #3
The staff at a local comic book shop needed an MR/AR application, hypothetically. Let’s say it is one capable of scanning bar-codes/ISBN, pulls up Good Reads information; book description and ratings, that you can view, add to reading lists, and review. Let’s also say this application links it to a subscription account with the store, with notifications and shipment time. Well then that would be an ambitious project, wouldn’t it? For now, we can simply state a case for Social Media promotion of store events.
“In either case, that’s an exciting thing! We work diligently to create a pleasant and positive experience for our customers — from when they walk in, to when they exit. We really love our community and are always coming up with new ways to stay engaged and helpful.”
So here’s the skinny. Dealing with and deploying assets can be time consuming on their own. We thought to ask the good questions when building our tools, “What if you had access to a library of assets ready to go for the experience?” and “What if I could deliver my prototype experience to another user, quickly?”
Moving Forward, much of what I learn will go into the research for the National Science Foundation Grant Program: Dynamic Reality Technology — Training & Education.
To be able to jump right into brainstorming with your hands, in the environment, live, with the ability to share/collaborate, the rest isn’t so overwhelming. It’s about time. Whether it’s a static 3D asset, laid out flow charts for UX, simulation/FX/animation, or a series of quaint Power Point slides, the point remains the same; now, I can focus more on the scope of what I aim to deliver for product pre-visualization.
No extensive high poly rendering. No constant sessions of redeployment. No delaying the showcasing for my clients or theirs. Now I have the tools to be able to quickly produce a demo. They’re only going to get better from here. This begs the question, “So what are you waiting for?” Let’s be Practical, now.
Join our growing community on Discord! discord.practicalvr.com
