Have your portrait drawn in VR, and experience a short ancient tale from Turkmenistan in VR painting in Tilt Brush.

http://akmyrat.com

Description

Have your portrait draw in VR in Tilt Brush.

Uzuklar, a tale about the power of music that I grew up with in Turkmenistan, has always peaked my interest. It is a folklore that has been passed on orally through centuries by Turkmen musicians – dutar masters. Using Tilt Brush by Google, a VR painting tool, I created a VR mural telling the ancient legend. Uzuklar is a part of a virtual reality documentary delving into my father Suhan Tuyliyev’s mind and depression as a composer after the collapse of the USSR.

Classes

Fairy Tales for the 21st Century, Worlds on a Wire: Narrative Storytelling in VR

CLOSED CELLS, OPEN WOUNDS is virtual reality documentary experience that aims to address the core issue to the mass incarceration crisis that is plaguing this country.

http://itp.nyu.edu/thesis2017/project/bh376

Description

CLOSED CELLS, OPEN WOUNDS is virtual reality documentary experience that aims to address the core issue to the mass incarceration crisis that is plaguing this country. Much research shows that poor communities of color are becoming incarcerated at alarming rates for the past 30 years, and thereby resulting in a significant part of our population to be condemned to a vicious cycle of a lifetime of repeated arrests.

Many ask why is this the case? In this VR experience, we hear first hand from a young New Yorker, who was criminalized and incarcerated at age 16. By telling his story in VR, we will learn how both his community and jail are linked due to a lack of adequate help and reform from officials.

This story will be told by two siblings (a brother and a sister) who will appear in the experience and talk about their Harlem neighborhood, the older brother’s first arrest at, and how it impacted their family. This is an emotional conversation, filled with tough questions, self-reflection, and tears.

The aesthetics of this VR documentary film will appear to be of a minimalist look in black negative space. Their story will be told in deconstructed sections as the viewer travels down the hallway, creating symbolic metaphors of this damaging system.

The project is currently a work in progress, and will be completed within the coming months. The experience will eventually be enhanced by graphic effects and animations that will be added in the future. Some of the tools used to create this experience will be traditional filmmaking and photography, photogrammetry, Unreal Game Engine, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, and DepthKit.

CLOSED CELLS, OPEN WOUNDS is powerfully emotional experience that uses of a variety of artistic mediums to creative a living collage that communicates the destructive impact of this ongoing crisis in America.

Classes

Thesis, Worlds on a Wire: Narrative Storytelling in VR

Simulacra is a mixed reality Sci-fi experience about the tension between the virtual and the physical worlds.

simulacra.roilev.com

Description

Simulacra is a mixed reality sci-fi experience about the tension between the virtual and the physical worlds. The experience takes place in a futuristic apartment where the visitor follows an introduction tutorial to the OS of the future. The OS takes the visitors on a tour presenting and encouraging them to interact with the main features of the system. The environment consists of 3 centers to answer every aspect of our computers – Desktop for productivity, Pillows for communications and Picture for entertainment.

The virtual room is perfectly mapped to a physical furnished room, allowing the user to walk freely in space. By combining Vive headset with leap motion, the visitor can interact with the virtual world simply by touching the physical objects in the room. The current technologies allow us to immerse ourselves in new environments and stories rather than watching them on a 2D screen. By mixing interaction with physical objects, virtual environment and augmented reality techniques, Simulacra creates a world of representations that blurs the definitions of real and fake.

Technical Director: Michael Kripchak

Interaction Designer: Chang Gao (Chloe)

Animations: Barış Sınıksaran

Written and directed by Roi Lev.

Classes

Worlds on a Wire: Narrative Storytelling in VR

Filet is a virtual reality experience that tells the story of my dog and best friend while I served in the Peace Corps in Togo.

Description

Filet is a virtual reality experience that tells a story in three parts, featuring the beginning, middle, and end of my time with my best friend during one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. The experience is told through low poly graphics made for distribution on mobile phones as users visit the countryside where I biked to get my dog, the compound in which we lived, and the field where he ultimately passed away.

Classes

Thesis, Worlds on a Wire: Narrative Storytelling in VR

Tell truths to escape the whale and turn into a real boy.

https://agermanidis.github.io/pinocchio-vr/

Description

In this VR experience, you are Pinocchio, trapped in a whale, determined to escape through the blowhole to safety. In order to get there, Pinocchio needs to discover that truth is the key to freedom, and deceit, though fun, can only take you so far. If Pinocchio can understand this concept in time, he will escape and transform into a boy. If not, he will be trapped with his lies forever.

Classes

Worlds on a Wire: Narrative Storytelling in VR

Exploring the abilities of mind power through virtual reality with WAVR.

https://vimeo.com/217101042

Description

The immersive mixed reality experience WAVR, in which neuro-controlled VR technology uses biosensors to monitor increases in alpha waves (brain waves that increase as a person enters a meditative state). The brainwave data triggers commands on the VR application, allowing the user to control virtual objects with their mind. In addition to virtual reality, WAVR engages other physical senses through a vibrating chair, a fan blowing cool air, and wafts of perfume.

Classes

Neuromachina, Worlds on a Wire: Narrative Storytelling in VR, Project Development Studio