Final

•  I think, as a prototype, my practical serves its purpose well. It clearly demonstrates my idea and was used seamlessly during testing
• Despite that, I think that it is too easy to lose the flow of direction the viewer needs to follow to catch all the symbols animate on time. 
• Adding some kinda of arrow or possibly using audio through one headphone to direct the viewer around would solve this issue. If I could do this again, I would ensure the flow was obvious to all viewers.
• I think providing a collection of concept art to explore more complex ideas would also add another element of persuasion to the conclusion of my essay.
• Regardless of what could have been achieved if I had more time, I am proud of my new understanding of VR content and believe my practical strengthens the practicality of my idea. I think I will possibly pursue VR further in the future. 

Practical Testing

 

Collecting Data

• Due to the pandemic, I was restrained by both resources and time when conducting the testing. I was limited to my social bubble when finding a decent variation of people to participate and, because I had to see people separately (socially distanced), it took longer than anticipated to carry out all the tests.
• Even so, the results were great! With the use of my prototype, the rate of successful recall increased significantly. 
• The 15 participates were split into 3 different groups. 
  Group A = Read the words for a sheet silently before being tested
  Group B = Experienced the VR prototype and then was tested
  Group C = Experienced the VR protector and then was provided with images of the symbols during testing
• After the testing, I also used a very brief survey to get some feedback on the experience. There were two questions. One for the 10 that used the VR prototype in any capacity: Did you find that VR made the practice of memorisation more enjoyable? Yes/No.
  The second question was just for the 5 that had the images presented to them again during the test: Did the re-visitation of the images seem to help you recall the words easier? Yes/No
• Next time, I would use a bigger testing group and a more thorough survey. The results I got are still a testament to the potential of the idea my essay proposes but more feedback could have provided a better insight into what people thought of VR.

 

Practical Development

 

The blueprint i was using to guide the layout of my background has a lot of unforeseen limitation:

•  The framed boarder is more suited for 180 degree view instead of a full 360 - it closes off the back so that area can't be used to place a symbol there or it'll be too close. It feels like a wall too close.
• While it hides the 'seams' of the drawing meeting in the sky, there is no account for the warping of the wall- the wall pulls together and is thinned out to form an odd column
• After looking at other 360 videos as flattened images, I revised the blue print to give more depth and be more reciprocating of the warping that will happen
• This background is better because it feels more open and comfortable so hopefully the surveys after testing will reflect positively on the MOL aide.

Video Test 

• For every background I made, I would check it as a still 360 image on compatible sites like Facebook 
• This allowed for me to check what worked and what needed to change before formatting the animation to it 
• One obstacle I have found is that exporting the video as VR and then uploading it to YouTube take a while and sometimes there are errors and I have to insert the meteadata into the clip myself. This process is complicated as 2D art is difficult to use for VR.
• I need to familiarise myself with the process and possibly streamline it down for the sake of time and efficiency 

Symbols 

• The symbols will be colour coded to help trigger recall of specific pairs of words in testing
• I used a subtle, non-distracting type of animation to not distract from the words
• If i were to do this project again, I would not use a paper-cut look for the VR world as I think these motifs might look distorted or lack form in the virtual environment. Next time, I would still use simple shapes but attempt clearer perspective with the use of 3d modeling to help keep my 2d work accurate shapes. However, considering the time restraints on this project, I am happy with how these symbols have turned out. 

Essay Drafts

•  I sent several drafts of my essays to Rob and got helpful feedback 
• I feel confident about the way my essay is building up

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Research and Sources

 

What did I do?

• I made quick sketches of possible colour schemes - relating info to colour or topic changes to colour schemes could be a way to make it even more powerful in the future as a memory aid.
• Started making notes of sources i will use - noting important quotes that I could revisit in my writing to back up my ideas 
• Started looking at possible case studies 
• Planned my essay by section - notes of what points I need to hit in each part to start forming my essay effectively

What do I need to do?

• One of the sources has a reference to a memory study to do with recalling words in different environments (based on MOL) --> Instead of a large set of data needing to be memorised, instead they used pairs of random words. I think I need to consider using this for my practical as it might be a more controlled way to measure recall in my testing. It also might make the practical a better demonstration of how it could work for different subjects as it will be more basic 
• I need to think about how i will measure the success of recall 
• Move on to applying all this to the production of the practical 

More Development

 

What Have I Been Up To?

• The next trial I did was focused on bumping up the saturation and trying out a 'paper-cut' look
• Paper-cut -  I thought that this could be an easy way to have a lot of visual interest, give a good illusion of depth that would translate into the VR space and still be time efficient
•  I think this could be a nice, distinctive and appropriate 'house style' for this hypothetical series of environments that could be used in the MOL VR aide i'm proposing 
• I have also been collecting sources and making notes on how i think the essay will have to break down to build a strong, cohesive argument --> First I will need to look at the vr industry both past and future, then I will need to look at successes in VR and new educational tools and then bring in the results of my practical that hopefully will support my idea

Visual Development

 

How's it going:

• I simplified the blue print and tried out a forest and ocean scene
• From the ocean experiment I realised that natural types of environments are easiest to execute for VR. They allow for more warping to go unnoticed as there is less harsh geometric shapes. 
• The kind of data i could use to test the Method of Loci could be to do with environmental preservation such as the coral reefs.
• When i sketched out the jellyfish, i tried a bunch of different styles with varying degrees of detail to start thinking about the limits in the terms of animation - what is quick enough to produce, interesting, isn't warped, etc

Testing out how to make 2d wrap for 360 degree video

What did i do?

• I researched where the most accessible places to share 360 video content online are - It's important that these options are free, easy to find and already established websites or easy to use like an app.
• To create work as a 2d image and then wrap it around to make it suitable for a 3d virtual space, warping must be considered - things can seem way too close or the scale can be weird and not make sense when the background is applied to VR - making it unsuccessful/uncomfortable/less immersive
• I tried to create a kind of blueprint through trial and error. This could be helpful as it has a proven layout for the other backgrounds to follow. 
• I made these background iterations by drawing them in Procreate, using the panorama VR tool in Photoshop and then uploading them to Facebook to test it.
• I've started to consider what information i want to present in my practical