Draw your own Virtual Reality with paper, felt pen and A-frame.

[ UUID ] 81f06ecc-e38a-4c67-9f62-74d99631726e

[ Session Name ] Draw your own Virtual Reality with paper, felt pen and A-frame. [ Primary Space ] Youth Zone [ Secondary Space ] Openness

[ Submitter's Name ] Roman Miletitch [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] Papertronics [ Submitter's GitHub ] @zharkov

What will happen in your session?

Participants will draw on paper with felt-pen (or use objects of color they bring) and then will enter a VR world based on their own drawing on a Cardboard VR headset. What they draw is captured by a camera and interpreted as a map seen from above. Its analysis is based on a vocabulary of shape and color (e.g. dots are trees, blue is water, two concentric yellow circles are a tower…).

In a second phase, we modify/add some code in order to both change how the map is interpreted and add new behaviors to the created object in our Virtual Reality.

This session is based on an exhibited digital art piece (https://aporagen.ghost.io/forest/).

What is the goal or outcome of your session?

One (if not the) main goal is to have some genuine creative fun with technology, to remember how close to magic it is. Second is to transform consumers into creators. No matter their skill level and background, participants won’t be just entering any VR world, they will enter a world they have created. Through this process, they will gain a hand-on understanding of what VR is, how it works and what is possible with it. Last, we wanted to share the love about paper and felt-pen as a low-cost low-tech solution on the digital interactions spectrum. Bonus point for not being a touch screen and adding a bit of texture to our interfaces!

If your session requires additional materials or electronic equipment, please outline your needs.

(could also work as an installation or in gallery format...)

I will use Cardboard VR headsets for this session. A few ones will be much welcomed, as well as smartphones that can run webVR. I always prefer that the participants use their own devices, but it's not always possible. A couple of fall backs are always welcomed.

Time needed

90 mins