Lunch and Learn: Virtual Reality with DenVR

A few Friday’s ago I had the pleasure of hosting a “Lunch and Learn” with my colleagues at Cognizant Accelerator in Boulder. I brought my team from DenvVR,  Ben Tyson and Morgan McIntosh, who run the VR artist collective to help show the amazing potential of virtual reality.

Bud Anin Aminof with Cognizant at the DenVR Lunch and Learn

Goals

  • Share with the team about the history of VR and the tech
  • Introduce DenVR, how they leverage this technology and use it in new ways
  • Share use cases of how VR is being used today by multiple industries

The Day

DenVR at Cognizant Accelerator w/ Morgan McIntosh, Ben Tyson, Anthony Catanese

We brought in our HTC Vive room-scale setup with our main gaming PC rig.

Throughout the day, people could book up to 15 mins of time to try out the Vive with 1:1 guidance and explore a list of apps. (pro-tip: we used Calendly.com to book everyone). In total there were  32 people who had a chance to try it out first hand. The apps we used were:
– Google Tilt Brush
– theBlue by Wevr
– Google Earth VR
– QuiVr
– SUPERHOT

The Talk

[During the talk Morgan painted in Tilt Brush while we projected her view on to the main wall. ]

A year ago I found myself at this odd little bar in LoDo Denver called the Syntax Physic Opera where my friends Ben Tyson and Morgan McIntosh were throwing a party….a VR art and music party. Ben has an infectious way of inspiring people to try off the wall stuff, he used his powers to get me to travel across the country (Jacksonville, FL to Denver, CO) to see what his new group, DenVR, was up to.

What I found was a sold-out show of people from all walks of life: a ton of college students, parents, grandparents, a conductor of the symphony all watching one of the first VR art events of its kind happening. At the back of the venue, I watched and overheard someone with excitement saying, “Is this where the VR stuff is?” ….nobody knew what this show was about, but the room was full of amazement. My hope is to bring that same feeling I had to you.

Today’s Lunch and Learn will introduce you to the DenVR team, get a brief history of VR, and get into the fun stuff of what’s happening today in this world.

1. What Are We Talking About

There is a lot of “alternate” reality hardware and software players in the world today, which makes it confusing to navigate. Companies are all pushing for their version from the Google Cardboard to Microsoft Hololens to the Oculus Rift. Apple has even jumped on board with the release of IOS 11 making nearly every iPhone from 5s to X capable of augmented reality.

{Great article to explain Virtual vs Augmented Reality: https://www.foundry.com/industries/virtual-reality/vr-mr-ar-confused }

There is a big debate about which of the technologies will win. Augmented Reality vs Virtual Reality…the fact is they are completely different tools and each has its place in the world for both.

The screw did not displace the nail.

Today we are talking about room-scale VR. This allows a user to experience the application with more freedom than ever before.

Room-scale VR – photo provided by SteamVR Room Setup

Vive’s blog does a better job of explaining it:

“360° Roomscale VR leverages positional tracking technology allowing you to use a play area of up to 5 meters diagonally across as a stage to walk inside the virtual environment. By being able to seamlessly move around, your state of presence is heightened letting you feel fully immersed in the virtual world you’re exploring.”

We’ll dig into the tech in a bit. First, let’s talk about how we got here.

2. History of VR – The Beginning

Since the earliest parts of human history, we’ve used pictures and drawings as a way to share experiences. Throughout the early 1900’s as moving pictures and photography were becoming more accessible, there were many experiments to draw the audience deeper into the artist’s world.

In 1935 Pygmalion’s Spectacles was release and is considered one of the earliest representations of VR as we think of it today. It shares a story of the lead character using hardware to have a fully immersive experience of a world not in reality.

A bit more detail on the origins and history of Virtual Reality.

3. First Wave

The first wave of consumer products hit in the 1990s. They typically had 3 traits. They were terrible experiences, very expensive and had zero adoption. But…who cared! They were awesome.

I was in my teens all throughout the 90s. It was my formative gaming years with consoles galore and PCs breaking into the market.

Nintendo had always led the way in creating deeper gaming experiences with the Power Pad and later with the cool but not so great Power Glove. One of those attempts created the Nintendo Virtual Boy. I remember as a kid wanting one of these so badly. They would bring you right into the game. When I finally got a chance to play with one, I found myself staring inside a headset with only a red LCD screen. It felt like my eyes were bleeding.

Growing up in Florida my family spent a lot of time at Disney’s Epcot, especially at the Innoventions section of the park.  During one of our visits, there was a blank door on the outside of the building that had a queue set up in front of it. We had never seen it before and we went to Disney…A LOT.

We spoke to the cast member and they asked if we would like to test out an experimental attraction that only a few others have tried. Heck yes! we would. I was 11 at the time. What I was about to experience was one of the first people to test Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride for the new digital theme park Disney Question. It was awesome and mind-blowing to be a part of. (more details on the ride/park). Down the rabbit hole, I went… real VR.

This is the same attraction Randy Pausch worked on while he was an Imagineer.

During the late 90’s there was also a handful of movies that helped propel the movement forward (all but the Matrix were all pretty bad):

During the mid-2000’s things on the VR front began to wind down.

5. History of VR – Second Wave

2011 and 2012 the surge of new energy re-entered the VR world with the release of the book “Ready Player One” that inspired the immensely successful Kickstarter of the Oculus Rift.

Years later in 2016 while on a road trip with my wife, we went to Cedar Point and got to experience the new line of VR…while on a roller coaster. Yeah, VR while riding a roller coaster. At Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH they were testing out the tech on their Iron Dragon roller coaster. It was an amazing concept. During the First Wave, the hardware was used to mimic a roller coaster. Now the hardware was to enhance an existing roller coaster!

6. The Technology

So, what’s changed? What technology has made it possible for VR to make a comeback?

This part of the talk was more of a conversation with the team talking through the lighthouses that enable room-scale, controllers, headset, and PC specs etc. Here’s a good overview: http://www.realitytechnologies.com/virtual-reality  

If you were to compare VR to video game consoles, the Vive (in my opinion) is about where the Nintendo64 was when it was released. It shifted all future platforms. There’s a lot of room for improvement, but it will be around for a while.

7. Why is VR Here to Stay – Empathy

The immersive experience of VR is unmatched with any other tech that I’ve experienced. When you’re in the virtual world, your mind believes it’s in the place, situation, or interacting with the person/thing in front of you. It’s weird…

Note: At this time we had a volunteer (a pro mountain biker) come up and try at Richie’s Plank Experience – https://youtu.be/ImbhUHhWmSM

 â€śWalk a mile in someone else’s shoes.”

Let’s talk about Empathy – where the magic happens.

During this part of the talk, we covered companies that are leveraging the immersive experience of VR to…

  • Training employees – KFC has a bizarre training game, the US military with Homeland Security developed simulations to help teachers respond to school shootings
  • Presentations in court cases â€“ Lawyers have used 3D modeling and headsets to build cases. In High Impact in Denver is a great example: https://highimpact.com/
  • Bringing people home – DenVR partnered with Project Worthmore to bring refugees back home for an evening using Google Earth VR.
  • Prototyping – Companies are able to create super fast rapid prototypes, like Keanu Reeves who uses it to build custom motorcycles (yeah…him!)

7. What’s Next?

  • Screens are getting better – 4k per eye will be the standard soon
  • Wireless all-in-one systems (with Inside-out tracking) will be a big part of this year (Oculus Go)
  • Streaming VR – 5G network will 100x download speeds allowing multiple 4k streaming capabilities (AT&T is testing in 12 markets this year)
  • Expanding past the current hardware – companies like Neurable are trying to use brainwaves to help control the environments of VR. It’s the same tech people use to type on virtual keyboards and move artificial limbs.

The hardware is interesting, but the questions that the technology creates is even more interesting:

  • Such as… what is the future of storytelling? Directors have limited control what the user decides to look at, they’ll have to use techniques from full world games (Fallout)

What questions does VR create for you?

Anthony Catanese photo by Joe Valley

Anthony Catanese photo by Joe Valley


BALL PARK MUSIC – WHIPPING BOY

Google Tilt Brush Music Video

Hard Day

It was a hard day, but not for me. I was sitting with my Grand Pa and we were about to start talking about his plans for the future. It was going to be an intense talk that I truly wasn’t mentally prepared for. I’ve never had to talk about these kinds of plans with anybody before, my parents are not even 50 yet. My G-pa is pretty young, 73, and he still goes out dancing 2-3 times a week with his beach-bop friends. I arrived a little bit late to his house, as always, so he wanted to hop to it.

Three words into the conversation the phone rings. Frustrated about being interrupted he answers. It’s his sister-in-law. I can hear her from 4 feet away. He just found out his best-friend/younger-brother, Charles, had just died in a boating accident and drowned.

I’ve never seen him upset. He’s my G-pa. He’s the rock. He’s the one that took over the family flower shop and kept it going 40 more years past his dad, in total 70 years.

Charles loved to fish. He was out 3-5 times a week and was a great swimmer, even at the young age of 71. Today, though, his boat capsized and he didn’t make it.

Samantha and I pray for both G-pa, Charles, and the rest of the family that they take this time to come together.

Some hard days deserve more than music. They deserve silence.

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Hold tight to the people you love. You never know what will happen.

My White Whale

It’s my white whale. It’s been 14 years in the making. My last chance was 2007 and I’ve been on the hunt for something that I was just a shy too late to experience. It was just out my reach. I just didn’t have enough jingle in my pocket to mingle. No more…I’m ready, prepared, and waiting. Now, let’s take a journey.

A journey back to 1999; when life of computing was on the verge of destruction as it approached Y2K; when Prince was played for weeks straight on the local 97.9 radio station; when a junior in high-school cruised in his ballin’ white 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with burgundy interior, with 2 of the biggest subwoofers $1oo could buy in the trunk. I’m that junior. I’m that balla and I’ve never stopped boomin’…not in my head at least.

Every morning I would pick up a neighborhood freshman on my way to school, pop-in my favorite CD, and on track 2 my favorite song would play. It would sometimes get obnoxious, but I would always come back to it. It asked to be played. During the next months my curiosity and love of this band I knew nothing about grew as I stumbled upon MTV playing an amazing video about a dog and a boombox that rocked my socks off. I just couldn’t get enough. Until my college years started and my musical taste made a pivot. I followed the trend of being untrendy.

In 2007 I returned to my roots with one of favorite jobs of all time, a door guy at a club where my sister was a dj. It was an extremely hard moment in my life emotionally, and some of the most awesome times. My sister and I were not very close and working with the same friends brought us together. It’s one of the best moves I’ve made and I thank Ryan and Jason for taking a chance on a prep kid running the door at their indie club. Sometimes you discover how much harder, better, faster, stronger you are when you’re covered in sweat and dancing your tail off until early in the morning. Especially when your sister drops the music. I wish those times were still around, but I’ll save this for a deeper post. While working one night I heard a slight mention of something that I remembered from my past. I think Vegas was in the conversation and  an awesome show was going on out there. Yeah, that band that boomed in the Cutlass was going to be there, but they’ll make their rounds to other cities. Right? Right?

I missed it. I’ve had to relive it through YouTube. I saw what it was like to be there and watch the music live. That’s not enough. I wanted to be alive too.

I made it a point that a live experience was now a bucket list item. My obsession grew more and more to the point of infesting much of my 2009. It’s attached itself into a weekly habit of constantly keeping a watch out for tours, new albums, or even small appearances in movies. No matter how small their part, they make everything better. I’ve put a watch on SongKick.com. I’ve been saving for a trip. I’m waiting and I’m ready…just give me a hint of a sign.

SXSW ’13 started today. My wife and I were trying everything we could to go, but it would of taken nearly 1/3 of our savings to make it happen and it’s so BIG! There is so much that you feel like you’ll almost miss everything. We decided that it’s not for us this year, but maybe another year. No problem then. Today is just a basic Saturday. Let me just make my weekly search.

Wait…wait…I need to adjust the “Search Tools” to search only the latest in the last month. Ok, it’s working now. Oh hmmm that’s cool.

Wait! What? What’s that? There it is! There it is!!!!!! Samantha! There it is! The words I’ve been waiting for! And they’ve been waiting for me for nearly 4 days and I didn’t know it. The talk of something new. Not based on a movie. Not based on an assumption. But crap your pants proof that something is coming. It’s an article about posters going up all over SXSW. Maybe not exactly “crap your pants”, but pretty damn close. It’s proof! Something is happening! Why am I not at SXSW!!!?

Daft Punk 2013

Then I find out about an SNL ad that ran during last weeks episode… I’ve just crapped my pants. Where have I been these last weeks!? Why do my parents who watch SNL every week subconsciously know about this and I don’t. They probably didn’t even see the ad. They probably were looking down at their dogs who just pee everywhere. Don’t waste your ad there. Waste it on me!

I’m so excited. While writing this I put on a YouTube playlist and just let it run. Oh man my hopes are so high, and hate having high hopes. You don’t want to set your heroes up to fail. Nobody wins. This is why I refuse to watch movie trailers. Nothing ruined, no expectations. They’ve blown my expectations out of the water every time. They’re so beloved by so many groups including the groups that hate “main stream” and these guys ran an ad on SNL. They’re last  shows have been seen as some of the best in the world and I just want to be apart of it.

Now I just hope they do it….one more time.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2fHQs_HG6Y&w=560&h=315]

The Pinewood Derby 2011

I put together an “adult” pinewood derby this past March to raise money for Spina Bifida. The event was hosted at a local bar/lounge during happy hour and the track was placed right on top of the bar to make for easing viewing. There was no rules to the designs except that it could not exceed the length or width of a standard derby kit car and the cars could not be propelled by anything explosive.The cars people came with were great and some weighed a few pounds and one was powered by 12v computer fan. Despite all the designs the winner was a vintage car that a participant designed when he was in scouts in the 70’s. Go figure.

The Tron Bachelor Party Video

Once again I have committed another one of my projects to be Daft Punk centric.

A few months ago, I was “knighted” to be best-man in my friend’s wedding in October of this year in Siesta Key. Let the unruliness begin.

I needed a way to kick-things off right. I needed a way to hype up my semi-dork friends and prepare them for a good time.

This is what I came up with. I had MUCH help from the folks at MindBendStudios. I really appreciate it!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knd6KRJBd9I]

New Chapter

Well, Yvette is gone. This past Saturday I dropped my motorcycle off in Tallahasee. It has been sold. I did well on it. I figure the whole experience of having a motorcycle with tires, service, parts, accessories, and a speeding ticket probably only cost me a total of $1,000 after I have sold everything. That’s pretty good I think for enjoying something for over 3 years. That’s a little less than a $1 a day. I tried to show as many people how to ride on it as I could. I just really wanted everybody to enjoy it as much as me. It was a sad day, but I had my fun and now it’s done.

December/November Update:
December and November were quite the busy months, as I’m sure they were for everyone. Sam and I went and did a quick run through of 2 Disney Parks (Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom) around Thanksgiving to get into the Christmas spirit. We even enjoyed an awesome dinner in Germany within Epcot.

Movember! Jacksonville kicked some booty in Movember this year. We raised over $14,000 and worldwide the organization brought in over $60,000,000. YeeehaW

Movember - Jacksonville - Before and After

New Years though took the cake for good times. Exhausting, but good. My friend Jon, his fiance Dominique, her sister and husband, and Sam and I all met up at Epcot around 3:00 in the afternoon New Years Eve. It was the busiest I had ever seen the parks. They closed Magic Kingdom at around 10:00 am due to capacity. They wouldn’t even let you park at the transportation and ticket center or take the monorail from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom.

Well on to a new chapter and a new year.

This Just In: This Blog Has Been Updated

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but here we are.

September:

This was a great month for work. Adecco (Modis) has made me permanent at the company. Now I get benefits and healthcare….wooo! It has been a few years on the healthcare, but my mom is hyped about it.

I have cut my hours at Dos Gatos to only working ArtWalk. I love this job, but the late hours were killing me. J and Joy really have been some of the most understanding/awesome bosses I’ve ever worked with and J taught me quite a bit about the inner workings of a bar and I bet I barely scratched the surface. J if you happen to read this, thank you for giving me the chance to work for you and Joy. I truly appreciate it.

On another note, women think chivalry is dead, but I think a general respect for your fellow man/woman is just in the gutter now-a-days. Especially in respects to the bro code….read it….live by it. No one ever went wrong by giving somebody respect. It’s kind of like not drinking (J don’t read this): No one has ever said man I was so sober last night that me and my buddy got into a fight, spent a night in jail, and I have the worst headache!

October:


This week I might be going to Vampire Weekend with Beach House opening for them, but I will def. be seeing the Flaming Lips on Friday at the St. Augustine Amphitheater though with my very amazing woman. Please see picture above for an amazing shot of what’s to come.

From the evening of 20th until late the 24th will be my Smoky Trip Do Over. It’s going to be cold, but I can’t wait. I’m scared, nervous and excited all at once. I bought the “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” , the 1974 philosophical novel, to keep me company. If you don’t know anything about the book it’s not what it seems.

The next week for Halloween I will be visiting my little sister up in Brooklyn. I’m very excited to see my sister operating on her own and for her and I to get some time together. It’s been way too long. She has a speakeasy she wants to take me too…..way to go sis!

Upcoming November:
Movember starts Nov. 1 with the Shaving Party at Dos Gatos. Get your baby face on and let your upper lip know it won’t be cold for too long….there’s a stache on its way. This is the same event I did last year as well to help raise money for prostate and testicular cancer. Join me!

Later that month I will be running Thanksgiving Outback Classic Half Marathon and will be volunteering with Sam at a soup kitchen (not sure which one) later that day…..

It should all be a great time. I have to say this has easily been a great year and appreciate all my friends for helping make it happen.

And Now it is Finished!

So it has been a long time since I’ve had a chance to update, but here it goes.

It’s been 2 months and here is the run down:

November:

Thanksgiving Half Marathon:

Thanksgiving Outback Classic 2009 - Jacksonville, FL
Thanksgiving Outback Classic 2009 - Jacksonville, FL

Movember – A mustache growing event that helps raise funds for Testicular and Prostate cancer awareness. Yes…you read that right.

Movember - Jacksonville, FL - ClubTSI
Movember - Jacksonville, FL - ClubTSI

December:

Cruise (pictures to come) – Super awesome, but the ocean was angry my friends.

Christmas (no pictures, but was awesome) – My first Colombian Christmas. They celebrate on Christmas Eve at midnight with a ton of food and drinks and a big sleep over with family and friends.

New years: Partied downtown with my b.e.a.utiful lady downtown at the landing with all my buds.

January:

The big January has arrived. The Disney Marathon I had been training for since September finally arrived. I was super slow. I wanted 4 hours, but ended with 5:12. I just wasn’t expecting what was to come. I first only trained up to 17 miles, the race is 26.2. It started at 5:30 a.m. at Epcot and runs through all 4 parks, but with 10-15,000 people trying to get to the park at once I had to be up at 3:30 and head to the park by 4:00. I barely made the start and it was only a :15 min drive. The traffic was a mad house. The weather was 17 degrees out that morning, but for the half marathon the day before there was snow and sleet. Ouch!

The day before the race though I had a great idea to dress like Mickey for the run. I don’t know if I would of finished if I wouldn’t of dressed up. So many people were screaming “Go Mickey!!!!” and little kids were like “LOOK!!!!”. It was pretty awesome. Thanks Mr. Mouse.

Jessie made my shorts and then surprised me by picking me up at the finish line dressed like Minnie. She’s such a cutie. (pics to come of us together. Camera needs to be developed…old school).

Disney Marathon 2010 - Castle
Disney Marathon 2010 - Castle

Disney Marathon 2010 - Finish
Disney Marathon 2010 - Finish

Disney Marathon 2010
Disney Marathon 2010

Lastly was the “Race 5 to keep kids alive” this past weekend at Treaty Oak and then throughout the bridges. It was fun and I was proud of my time. It was a total last minute race. If you don’t believe look at my race number! Literally I paid my entrance fee with 10 min. before start. I had just come from the Pancake House after eating…pancakes and I felt so terrible afterwards, but it helps children.

It’s a terrible picture and looks kind of flamboyant (not that there’s anything wrong with that),  but it’s the only one I have.

Run 5 to keep kids alive - Jacksonville, FL 1/30/10
Run 5 to keep kids alive - Jacksonville, FL 1/30/10

Two Shows I Really Want To See….Join me?

I’ve always wanted to see a show at Cafe Eleven in St. Augustine. It just seems like a great venue with a cool group of people who support them.

I missed two shows last year that I’m really kicking myself for, Vampire Weekend and Against Me! Now is the time to redeem myself. I plan on seeing Junior Boys in October and Elvis Perkins in November.

I have found that October-November are the months to catch good shows in North Florida. Last year I got a chance to see The Faint w/ The Show’s the Rainbow and then followed it up the next day with some Portugal. The Man.

Junior Boys 10/27 $12

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiI-3uRfaSc&feature=player_embedded]

Elvis Perkins in Deerland 11/6 $10 –

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmEoUNWQrwg&feature=player_embedded]

Karen Kurycki, Dog & Pony ShowPrints Collaborations - Elvis Perkins in Deerland
Karen Kurycki of CMYKaren.com, Dog & Pony ShowPrints Collaboration - Elvis Perkins in Deerland

There is another show I would love to go see, but I’m not sure I can make it out. I had never heard of them until I saw this YouTube video on the Cafe Eleven website, BLK JKS. I could listen to this all day and I can’t figure out what it reminds me of, but I love it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pv9PivRJUE&feature=player_embedded]