By Audra Linsner

Prior to this class, my experience with VR has been minimal. I had my own Google Cardboard, and had checked out a few NYT VR stories (specifically the one on refugees they had), which were one of the things that piqued my interest.

First, I tried out Google Earth VR on Monday's class. That was really neat! I wish I could've spent a lot more time doing it. On Wednesday's class, I got to experience a few more types of VR.

I started out with my cardboard, on the VR storytelling Youtube channel. I was watching a video of a "Freestyle Squad dance rehearsal," which was terrible quality. Then I realized that I had forgotten to set it to the headset option and was just watching a plain video through my headset. This one wasn't very engaging, so I skipped it and went to a different video. I went to an Adirondack park final project video, which was pretty cool. However, one of the things I noticed, was that the "storytelling," or the sequence of video, dragged on a little long. I had already explored my environment, got everything out of it that I could, then I had to wait an extra ten seconds. I think this could be important to note in my future projects, because you have to grab people's attention, for sure. I also watched the eclipse in the NYT daily VR app which again very interesting and well done, but secretly I didn’t get the big deal about the eclipse so I was bored and moved on.

Next I downloaded Littl Star, which was really cool. I foresee myself using this app a lot. I watched a video called "Invasion." It was animated, and I love animated movies, so seeing this was exciting. This was really fun, the story was about aliens coming to earth and meeting a bunny (I didn't watch the whole one because I wanted to get to another station). It was really cute and I really enjoyed it! However, I started to feel really motion sick during this. The storytelling was great, I thought, and I was interested. Though the resolution was really high, I couldn't really hear it because there were a lot more people in the room and I had forgotten headphones. Range of vision was probably the best for all the cardboard videos I experienced. Because of this, I felt way more present in this video than in the other two.

I moved on to the Gear VRs, next. I ended up confusing the numbers of them and did three or so videos. Ocean Rift was pretty cool, and I had done it before, but I because the animation didn’t feel very realistic, I found myself less interested. However, I was super engaged in the other videos on the Gear VR that had storylines! I never considered how important storytelling would be in VR. My favorite video of all was the Lego Batman one. The resolution was so great, and Batman was talking right to me, it felt. It was also hilarious, probably because I love Legos, Lego video games, and the Lego movie. I definitely felt physically present in this one, especially because the Gear VR had headphones and a display that visually shut out everything else. After the Lego Batman, I also messed with the Discovery one, and swam with scuba divers and sharks at a shipwreck! This one was so cool because I felt like I was actually with the scuba divers, and it felt like more of a story than Ocean Rift because there were real people. Surprisingly, the Gear VR didn’t make me nauseous, even though the quality of everything was really high. I wonder what the difference was between that and the Cardboard?

I moved onto the Oculus afterwards, because there were other people needing the Gear VRs. I had done Google Earth on Monday’s class, so I wanted to try Tilt Brush. I was SO EXCITED about it after seeing a video online. It was so cool, but I couldn’t get the panel with the different types of brushes to appear. I figured it out later, and stayed in the Innovation Lab for an extra half hour. Painting in 3D is the most fun, cool thing ever! I truly felt like a little kid, and I walked out so excited about all the potential uses that Tilt Brush has. Children, people with disabilities, bedridden people, 3D modelers, average adults, anyone could use this and make something so incredible! If there could be a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Tilt Brush I think I would never leave the Innovation Lab. Thanks again for deleting enough stuff off the computer so we could use it, Professor Pacheco! Being able to walk around, even connected to a wire was so amazing. Walking through my “art” was unlike anything I’d ever gotten to do, even if it wasn’t “physically” real.

I decided not to do the After Solitary on the Vive because I had done the Vive last class, other people were waiting for it, and I worked at a jail this summer and was pretty affected by it, so I figured it was for the best. As for my other experience with the Buzz Aldrin video, it was great. There was a definite storyline, and for someone who is a visual person, actually “seeing” people on Mars and on the trip helped me to understand how something like this could actually happen in the future. I felt like Buzz was actually talking directly to me, which was neat.

Watching people has been another fun aspect of VR. Some fellow students were watching a promo for Stranger Things, and were jumping and shouting! I never thought about the impact VR could have for horror movies - YIKES.

Although I didn’t get to do all the scenarios, I got to do many and I'm really looking forward to this class. Some students seem to know a lot more about VR than me and others, but I think it's going to be a fantastic learning process!