Marisa Parham

Marisa Parham

Mar 16, 2016

Group 6 Copy 105
0

Some frequently asked questions ⇢ answered!

People have been getting us some great questions about our project, and we thought we should post them here for everyone.

Will you guys actually make anything?

Yes! We believe that you learn by doing and teach by showing. If funded, we will make at least one low-cost VR experience, and document our entire process, from questions of how to design and script through equipment decisions, like what to buy, what works and what doesn't and so on. Documentation doesn't sound sexy, but it's what enables people to understand how they can do something too, which is why we call it 'pathmaking.' Pathmaking takes an incredible amount of time, so we're donating our time, and asking you to help us get demonstration equipment.

What will you make?

We are letting our donors vote which project we attempt first. You can find them here and here.

What will the iPod Touches be used for?

We are focusing on mobile creation and delivery, using Google Cardboard devices. We are using the iPod Touches as demonstration units, so for content de. They are less expensive than similar android devices, and give us a way to share amazing VR experiences that help people understand why this technology is so important!

What will the Android Handsets be used for?

Our project focuses on content creation, and the majority of apps we are investigating are android apps. The handsets are very expensive without a phone plan, so our team needs to purchase them for development.

Also, it's worth noting that, with our college and university affiliations, we have access to expensive tech like Oculus Rift, but our funding structures prohibit purchasing "personal" tech like mobile devices!

Why are you choosing to use unity over another developer software?

As we've mentioned, we are also prototyping content using more established methods. We've found Unity to be a more user friendly platform with a wealth of platform and VR support. It enables developers at all levels to create powerful, multi-platform experiences with relatively little overhead. Unity also has excellent VR support, specifically for Oculus via pre-made, freely available scripts/controller assets. This supports our mission to make blueprints for low-cost VR development.

Will your Unity prefabs be available on the Unity Asset Store?

Yes. We will put as many of the items we create on the Unity Asset Store as we can. Our foundational goals are open-access and public humanities.

Where will you document your work / share your "paths"?

We will be documenting our work on GitHub, which is a standard for open source software documentation. We will also be producing lots of multimedia content, shared on our website, which you can find at http://vr.thecritical.is

So wait, you're not scientists. Why are you crowdfunding on experiment.com?

Because humanities scholars have to raise funds too, and this is especially true in the digital humanities. We're on experiment.com because we think this might be a productive option for projects that are at the tiny baby beginning of a project, at that point when you need to show proof of concept before you can apply for funding.

We are prototyping to teach others to do this work, and also to show that it can be done-- which paves the way to make the projects on our project list full-blown VR extravaganzas!

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About This Project

ViRVE is a proof-of-concept endeavor to model a modular, cheap, accessible VR creation lab that anyone can replicate. Help us create careful step-by-step instructions that will jumpstart humanists, artists, & community workers’ creation of virtual reality experiences. We believe that anyone can be taught to understand & work with cutting edge VR technologies— from teachers at every school level, to kids in community centers, to cultural creatives from all walks of life. Help us show you how!

Blast off!

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