The Scutoids Are Coming, and a 180 360 (Patreon)

Hello and happy December, good humans!

While I figure out what to do with my life regarding AI, I'm excited to announce that the Scutoid videos are finally happening!

Not only that, but they'll be happening in a stereo VR 180. VR 180 is a video format Google is pushing at the moment, meaning about half a sphere and in stereo. This has the advantage that the action is focused in one direction, so you can watch a normal flat version and not be missing anything and not have to move around to see what's behind you because there's nothing behind you, so, when watched on a desktop it's basically a normal video. But if you want to put on a headset you'll see it in stereo, and the image will stay stable when you move your head, and you'll see a bit of the scene that's out of the normal frame.

Why am I interested in this even though I've been talking about moving on to other things? Well let me tell you!

When I first decided to pursue VR Video in early 2014, before a web player for VR video existed, before any consumer cameras for VR existed, and certainly before any standard formats, I was imagining being able to do something like my normal overhead-view notebook video style, but in VR so you could really feel like you were looking down at a desk full of math with me.

At eleVR we built a lot of cameras and a web player and explored stereo, partial spherical and full spherical and a pile of other things, and produced hundreds of videos experimenting with different techniques, but I never got around to that one idea I'd started with. Our very first test was a stereo shot looking down at a desk where my hands are flexing a hexaflexagon, and that first shot was the last of its kind. And then in late 2017 eleVR was over and I took a break from VR for a while.

One year later, back in October, Google got in touch with me about VR 180, a format that they now support, and I thought back to my original VR video plans from 2014. Maybe I'm going to be focusing on AI or who knows what in the future, but this thing had been left undone, and I really wanted to come a full 360 on it, so to speak, as I close out my VR-focused chapter and enter the next.

Plus, I'd been working on this scutoid thing, which would be just perfect for the format due to its 3D nature. If something's going to be in stereo, it needs a reason, and all the props and geometry I wanted to show would make much more sense to put in stereo than a flat notebook. And I definitely wanted to make at least one scutoid video, so here was the perfect synergy.

The other thing that makes it work is that Google is loaning me the camera and some other equipment, plus giving some financial support for production, and between that and your support here on Patreon I don't have to freak out about money at the moment. Not freaking out about money is just about my favourite thing in the universe, let me tell you!

It took a bit to get that whole deal sorted out with Google, especially with all my recent travel. But now it's official, and I'm excited that I can tell you it's happening and it's what I'm working on!

I look forward to sharing with you my test footage once the camera arrives, plus my collection of scutoid-related props and other behind-the-scenesy stuff.

I hope y'all are doing well, going into the dark days of December. As I write this, I'm cozy by my wood burning stove with the Dogget curled up next to me, and a view of snow on the pines trees. I've been reading lots of books and musicking lots of music and lighting candles at night and drinking hot chocolate and generally getting really into the Winter spirit of cozy hermit life.

Now back to the scutoid script!

Vi