Jack Wesson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jack Wesson

2018 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), 2018

Virtual reality has become more accessible and affordable to the general public in recent years, ... more Virtual reality has become more accessible and affordable to the general public in recent years, introducing the exciting potential of this technology to new audiences. However, the mechanisms of navigating within a virtual environment have primarily been constrained to handheld input devices akin to gaming controllers. For people unfamiliar with traditional gaming input devices, VR navigation devices are not intuitively mapped to real-world modes of locomotion and can be frustrating and disorienting. Designers have largely focused on utility (the ability to efficiently accomplish a task) to the detriment of usability (ease of use). The industry lacks an intuitive, universal method of navigation that can be easily learned by novice participants. Dr. Jakob Nielsen identified five factors that impact usability in human-computer interactions (HCI): learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction. Previous research in virtual environment locomotion incorporated teaching...

2019 Motion Design Education Summit, 2019

Since its earliest inceptions in the late 1960s, Virtual Reality has long promised more immersive... more Since its earliest inceptions in the late 1960s, Virtual Reality has long promised more immersive media experiences. With the introduction of Oculus VR hardware in 2012, VR technologies have reached new inflection points of access and availability. Ubiquitously available real- time graphics and gaming software, advancements in rendering hardware, and app-store distribution channels are spurring widespread innovation and development in the realms of AR and VR experience design. This paper examines how a team of faculty and students across multiple institutions worked together to create a controller-less, procedurally generated VR exhibition platform for electronic, time-based media art.

Our VR exhibition platform proposes a use case in collaborative design and
a model for electronic art exhibition, independent of controller-based VR navigational hardware interfaces. Our platform utilizes a procedurally generated, real-time graphical environment as a foundation for a scalable exhibition space in the form of an expansive labyrinth. In its initial implementation, the works of twenty-two artists working in various forms of electronic time-based media and computer animation were exhibited in a VR exhibition titled Labyrinths. Because of the high graphical demands presented by computer animation and other forms of interactive electronic time-based media,Labyrinths utilized a custom built procedural platform in the Unity 3D gaming engine. Faculty and Students from Yale University, Carnegie Mellon University, the New School, Lehman College, and Stevens Institute of Technology collaborated with independent artists and game designers to create exhibition content, while the platform itself was built by students at Yale University’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. The Labyrinths exhibition platform presents an innovative model for exhibition design, artistic collaboration, and artist collectives who work in electronic time-based media, motion graphics, and interactive design.

2018 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), 2018

Virtual reality has become more accessible and affordable to the general public in recent years, ... more Virtual reality has become more accessible and affordable to the general public in recent years, introducing the exciting potential of this technology to new audiences. However, the mechanisms of navigating within a virtual environment have primarily been constrained to handheld input devices akin to gaming controllers. For people unfamiliar with traditional gaming input devices, VR navigation devices are not intuitively mapped to real-world modes of locomotion and can be frustrating and disorienting. Designers have largely focused on utility (the ability to efficiently accomplish a task) to the detriment of usability (ease of use). The industry lacks an intuitive, universal method of navigation that can be easily learned by novice participants. Dr. Jakob Nielsen identified five factors that impact usability in human-computer interactions (HCI): learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction. Previous research in virtual environment locomotion incorporated teaching...

2019 Motion Design Education Summit, 2019

Since its earliest inceptions in the late 1960s, Virtual Reality has long promised more immersive... more Since its earliest inceptions in the late 1960s, Virtual Reality has long promised more immersive media experiences. With the introduction of Oculus VR hardware in 2012, VR technologies have reached new inflection points of access and availability. Ubiquitously available real- time graphics and gaming software, advancements in rendering hardware, and app-store distribution channels are spurring widespread innovation and development in the realms of AR and VR experience design. This paper examines how a team of faculty and students across multiple institutions worked together to create a controller-less, procedurally generated VR exhibition platform for electronic, time-based media art.

Our VR exhibition platform proposes a use case in collaborative design and
a model for electronic art exhibition, independent of controller-based VR navigational hardware interfaces. Our platform utilizes a procedurally generated, real-time graphical environment as a foundation for a scalable exhibition space in the form of an expansive labyrinth. In its initial implementation, the works of twenty-two artists working in various forms of electronic time-based media and computer animation were exhibited in a VR exhibition titled Labyrinths. Because of the high graphical demands presented by computer animation and other forms of interactive electronic time-based media,Labyrinths utilized a custom built procedural platform in the Unity 3D gaming engine. Faculty and Students from Yale University, Carnegie Mellon University, the New School, Lehman College, and Stevens Institute of Technology collaborated with independent artists and game designers to create exhibition content, while the platform itself was built by students at Yale University’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. The Labyrinths exhibition platform presents an innovative model for exhibition design, artistic collaboration, and artist collectives who work in electronic time-based media, motion graphics, and interactive design.