Experiment:
 A low-cost 3D display
Objective:  Plant a flag in the medium of "Augmented Reality" for McClatchy. Possibly use the platform to do a series on artifacts ahead of the opening of the African American History Museum. Also, partner with advertising to sell insert as ad.
Dune: volumetric

Event Scale Version

12/16/19 | 0 hrs

Work:

Scale Production

At EPAD we received a lot of interest from advertising execs, so I began researching various options for the mass production of the pyramid. 

My first thought was to approach a vacuum-form company. They could hit the price point we want, but there are real challenges around distribution. 

Then we spoke to a specialty printing company that we've worked with in the past. They provided a series of prototypes that used a side piece and a base to achieve stability. The base reduces picture quality, and their quotes are higher than we think we can market. 

Another specialty printing company has created a prototype that we really like, it has a separate base piece and it can adhere to the paper in a way that guarantees subscribers will notice it. The price is right in our target range. The only drawbacks are its size and the thinness of the plastic. 

Unfortunately, this process took a long time, and some steam was lost, both as the Sandbox moved it's focus to more pressing opportunities and as we missed deadlines with internal advertisers.

Alternative Display Options

We also discussed event based display options. As a proof of concept, I tore apart an old TV and created a large scale version with plexiglass, which we demoed for the board of directors when they visited the Washington Bureau. 







Next Steps

Feedback

Public Demo

12/16/19 | 0 hrs

Work:

Narrative Use

We're taking this experiment to EPAD. So in advance, I wrote a short narrative that will hopefully both illustrate and explain the narrative potential of the hologram.


New Physical Build

We bought 0.015-inch thickness clear PVC sheets and printed a new template with a base flap to reinforce the structural integrity. I scored the plastic on the folds, this model doesn't fold up the way the old one did, but otherwise it seems better than the original. 

We also tried a build using transparency paper, but it was just too flimsy. Surprisingly the problem wasn't that it wouldn't stand on its own... the problem was that the plastic bowed out warping the reflection.


Result:


Big props to Ali Rizvi for the great DPing that make this demo shine.


Source

Here's the source video that is playing on the phone to create this demo.



Next Steps

  • Find a Partner Story
  • More storytelling experiments
  • Experiment More with transitions and fake camera moves

Feedback

  • Some people don't realize the four sides offer four different views.
  • Like 360°, the viewer may not look at the "correct" view at the "correct" time. 
  • Nicole Cvetnic suggested it would great for fashion.
  • Could really use a lazy Susan for filming objects 
  • When shooting small objects don't necessarily hide the cameras across from them... I got around this by faking an angle by taking a delayed shot in the rotation

3D Models

12/16/19 | 0 hrs

Work:

Import a 3D model

Used "Element 3D," an After Effects plugin, to import a .obj file. Had to experiment with templating options, and couldn't quite nail it. Seems impossible to preserve the 3D nature of the layer outside a COMP. So the assembly here was very manual. I didn't get a good template out of this test.


Next Steps

  • Use 123D to capture a 3D model
  • Fix Templating

Feedback

Interview Workflow

12/16/19 | 0 hrs

Work:

Shooting Live Video

Below is my first test shooting actual video. It's shot with four GoPro Hero 4 cameras placed around the subject in a cross pattern. The room was arranged to have Green Screen on two sides and a black backdrop in the front and back. 


 

Next Steps

  • Try importing a 3D model

Feedback

Ben: It's much easier to create a black background in our studio if you start with green screen. 

Good to carry a tape measure for setting up an even 4 camera cross. 

If I'm going to do this in a news environment I need to figure out the best way to mount the cameras at the same height.

Previewing the four GoPro cameras is a pain in the @$$


First Prototype

12/16/19 | 0 hrs

Work:

This experiment uses an illusion called Pepper's Ghost. It's an old concept, drawn from a 19th-century magic trick. The illusion uses a transparent and glossy surface (often glass) placed at an angle to the audience.  The surface reflects an image (with a bright foreground and a dark background) making it appear to float in front of the audience. 

Various plans for a pyramid shaped, phone based pepper's ghost illusion started to go viral among DIY communities after the popularity of the Tupac Hologram at Coachella in 2012. Then in 2015 KitKat used a similar design for a commercial application.



I wanted to test a similar product with the idea of doing a series of videos about artifacts from the African American Smithsonian in advance of its opening.

I created my first two pyramids by cutting up a thick plastic food container. I used a paper template, scotch tape and scissors to do the assembly. The first pyramid was poorly sized, too big for a phone. The second collapses nicely but is not especially stable, a little tape closing the bottom of the pyramid helps with stability and getting the pyramid to stick to the phone. Regular plastic seems sufficiently reflective, but a dark background is a requirement for viewing.


There is plenty of generic content available on YouTube, but I wanted to figure out how to create my own.  I developed a template in After Effects that uses four cameras properly arranged around a single scene and composited together into a single video that is compatible with the pyramid. 


Using the template, I created this sample video:

Here's the final product of this first iteration:

Next Steps

  • Work on pyramid design
  • Study bulk production
  • Create content that demonstrates the narrative potential of the hologram.
  • Try shooting original content (Not just rendering graphics)
  • Figure out how to import 3D models
  • Improve the After Effects Template to show boundaries

Feedback

  • On the whole, people are pretty impressed by the illusion
  • This pyramid design is pretty slipshod
    • The matte tape ruins the illusion
    • The pyramid is poorly sized for my phone
    • The pyramid slips around when I try to turn the display

Discussion: