In this day and age, perhaps one can start to consider me an “old school” video journalists. I was shooting on tapes at newspapers in 2006. While I enjoy video that puts me there, such as this video of Rio Carnival, I’m still all about having some sort of narrative thread behind the video. So when I saw Life on Mars: Preparing for the Red Planet, and watched as these scientists conducted this interesting NASA-funded social experiment of living in close quarters for 8 months to simulate life on mars,...
For the final project I created two different types of interactive experiences for people interested in visiting (or unable to visit) the Montauk Lighthouse, New York's first lighthouse located at the very end of the southern tip of Long Island. Montauk has been my "happy place" for a while, and so it was nice to come back and create an experience that one can use in a headset to feel like they were there - for instance, if you are disabled or are otherwise unable to make it up the...
Life’s rough if you’re a Final Cut Pro X user – while your Adobe Premiere Pro-using friends get built-in support for VR videos, we’re left out in the cold with nothing. Sure, if you’re using footage that’s been converted to equirectangular format (like the kind that comes directly out of the Nikon KeyMission 360 or the Action Director-produced files of the Samsung Gear 360) then you’ll at least be able to force it in, output it in the proper resolution, and then add proper meta information for 360 using the...
Here's my first attempt at something in Playmaker that doesn't involve a treasure chest, so naturally I picked a spaceship. You can watch the video to see that I tried audio in a slightly different way than Nuo did, though both results seem to end up about the same. The spaceship model was a free download, as was the audio and skybox, and I did the terrain and lighting in Unity, adding a blue point light to highlight the spaceship and direct the viewer as to where to go.
To be expanded upon in class for the "Elevator Pitch" Presentation in class. [slideshare id=73501442&doc=presentation-ahmad-170322183238]
(Apologies, it seems the salutation at the beginning was cut off. I swear I'm not calling you 'checo!) A little play on words for the title, but in the '90s I'd make a lot of maps in the real-time strategy game of Warcraft 2. That was a top-down, 2D view of the world in which orcs and humans engaged in combat. This is how I'd imagine a 3D Version of that would go, created for my first project in Unity. These are, of course, not the same models you'd find...
Wasim’s Assignment 5: 360 degrees of tattooing
by Wasim Ahmad
- March 6
- in
Halo Tattoo has been a staple on Marshall Street for 20 years. Over the years, co-owner DJ Rose has had many people come by for photos and videos (send him your stuff, if that's you, he asks!) but this is the first time anyone has approached him for 360 video. One of the reasons this makes for a good (I hope) 360 video idea is the space itself. There is literally art over every inch of this place, including the ceiling. It seems from previous experience at the Women's March...
Gigapixels, Gigapans and the Inauguration – Wasim’s presentation
- February 22
- in
Ahead of today's presentation in class, a sneak peak at the slides of what I'll be talking about - New imaging technologies in play at the presidential inauguration, and the way you can try it, too, with your phone. [slideshare id=72473587&doc=presentation-ahmad-170222193131]
Pole Position in Syracuse, N.Y. – 360-degree go-karting
- February 21
- in
So the above improvement to our video came on a third visit to Pole Position in Syracuse (for reference, here is the earlier version we did). Logan and I learned a little bit from our mistakes. Our biggest mistake was thinking that we could go full speed on a go-kart capable of 45 mph and think we'd get stable footage. That resulted in the mess you saw in the draft version of the project. Sorry for anyone that vomited watching that. This time around, we asked the folks at the...
360 Video Pitch – Go-karting in 360 (EDIT: NOW WITH VIDEO)
- February 1
- in
Ever been on a go-kart? Even if you have a license and can drive the real thing (a car) a go-kart is wicked fun. The GoPro enabled a great way to get a driver's view of the action, and for this video pitch I'm aiming to take it a step further and shoot 360 video. Think of this as a sort of "sights and sounds" piece you've seen in a local newspaper (or in this example from a former Newhouse student, Amanda Marzullo). No interviews, really, mostly visuals and audio...