made a personal dream into a reality today.......

solar powered AR glasses!!!!!! ☀🌻😎✨ I did some 3D life drawings of dandelions and then created a dandelion forest out of them. vids coming soon :)))

I finally added tons of work I did for Magic Leap to my portfolio site. Now that the ML2 is available, I don’t have to keep 2+ years of rad Motion Design secret anymore.

April 10 2023

I am realizing it’s difficult to run a devlog when you’re so busy developing that you don’t have time for logging!!! Aaahhh!! I’ll try to sum up the gist of what I’ve been working on the past couple months:

I finished OG VR Gamer’s AR Dinosaur Museum. This one was super fun because I got to make:

Sci-fi portals to the past!!!!

2D Life-size banners to go inside a virtual museum room (that I also made)

Interactive fossil props

Prehistoric bugs!!!!

Tons of prehistoric environments

I also finished OG’s AR Physics Game series, which consisted of me creating:

An animated jellyfish-themed dartboard, where you throw jellyfish instead of darts

Decorations for bowling, batting practice, football throwing, basketball hoop shooting, aaand a carnival shooting gallery

A working gun for said shooting gallery that’s based off a real sci-fi toy gun

Lastly, I finished work on the above party scene as part of AWE’s ‘Fight Climate Change’ XR Prize Challenge - and as part of ‘Hopeful-Reality’, my XR art project that aims to show all the ways that XR could be used for education, community engagement, reducing material waste... and just having fun. :’)

The party banners are linked via chains made of voxels, the spinning tops spin forever under their own power, the glow sticks are audio-reactive and flash to music, the pinata works using a hidden voxel box full of candy, and the confetti physics were finally perfected thanks to spending a day studying real confetti for reference.

Final honorable mentions go to: the scenes I made for demoing Figmin on the Tilt Five at GDC! I created:

A fully functioning, audio-reactive drum set

A sandcastle scavenger hunt

and

A space-fishing minigame where you use a planet’s gravity to ‘fish’ inside a purple, starry rift

I haven’t recorded any video of the MAJORITY of all the things listed. :’‘‘) There’s even stuff I’ve made that didn’t make it onto this list!!! My goal going forward is to get better at sending footage to our video editor, so that I can actually show off everything I’ve been making. 😅

VRARA: My First Tech Expo!

My first tech expo! I had a blast going interacting with a majoprity of the gadgets, as well as, learning about the finer intricasies of the tech field. Special thanks to Selina Mallatt for accompanying me thoughout the event!

Host: Full Sail University I’ve been dying to attend one of these. Though I mostly speak about games, I like to keep up with the latest technological breakthroughs in the entertainment sector—especially if they involve XR. Even with all this incredible technology eagerly displayed for all to admire and ready to be utilized, I know I’m only experiencing a glimpse of the greater world of XR tech.…

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Industrial Metaverse Takes Center Stage as Magic Leap Increases Investment; Apple's AR Goggles Set to Hit the Market

In the rapidly evolving landscape of augmented reality and virtual reality, Magic Leap stands out with its recent injection of $590 million from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, bringing its total funding to an impressive $4.5 billion. This funding boost comes at a time when competition in the AR/VR space is heating up, notably with Apple set to launch its much-anticipated Vision Pro headset in February.

Magic Leap, a leading mixed reality startup, is taking a distinctive approach by prioritizing practical applications in the enterprise sector over broad metaverse buzzwords. Unlike Apple's consumer-centric focus, Magic Leap's Magic Leap 2 headset is gaining traction in areas such as surgical training, industrial maintenance, and enterprise solutions, where precision and real-world integration are crucial.

In a recent interview, Daniel Diez, Magic Leap's CTO, expressed his skepticism about metaverse hype cycles, emphasizing that the true potential of the metaverse lies in seamlessly blending digital experiences with the physical world. This sentiment aligns with Magic Leap's CEO, Ross Rosenberg, who underscored the company's commitment to solving real-world problems for its customers, particularly in industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and design.

While acknowledging Apple's entry into the AR market, Rosenberg remains confident in Magic Leap's distinct edge, citing superior technology and existing enterprise partnerships. He pointed to Magic Leap's pinpoint spatial tracking and sub-millimeter overlay accuracy as significant advantages for specific use cases, highlighting the company's focus on addressing industrial challenges rather than entertainment-oriented experiences.

Despite the buzz surrounding the metaverse, Magic Leap's emphasis on practical applications seems to resonate with both investors and potential customers. With the global AR/VR market projected to reach $50.9 billion by 2026, according to IDC, Magic Leap is strategically positioning itself to capitalize on the immense potential by providing real-world solutions for businesses.

Microsoft's Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 (MRTK3) is now an independent project with Qualcomm and Magic Leap joining its steering board.

Microsoft Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 (MRTK3)：獨立於GitHub的新征程

Microsoft Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 (MRTK3)：獨立於GitHub的新征程 Microsoft Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 (MRTK3): A New Journey Independent of GitHu

在最近的公告中，微軟混合實境團隊揭示了一系列重要消息，關於混合實境工具包3（MRTK3）的未來走向，這引起了開發者和合作夥伴社群的廣泛關注。 從創立之初，MRTK3計劃便傾向於橫跨各種平台並保持開放源碼，以造福廣大生態系統，而不僅僅是HoloLens 2所為。在他們看來，MRTK要真正成為一個跨平台工具包，能夠促進更多的第三方合作，必須從微軟的獨占管轄下獨立出來，成立一個獨立的組織，在GitHub內蓬勃發展。 這一轉變使MRTK3能夠擺脫以前的種種限制，這些限制曾使開發者難以引入其他端點並影響功能路線。現在，這種過渡不會影響微軟對MRTK3的投資，反而為他們提供了加大投入的機會，並創建了一個由其他主要行業參與者組成的指導委員會。 指導委員會的擴展亦成為本次公告的亮點之一。MRTK團隊驚喜地宣布，Magic…

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Some sad boy hour sketches

First one's called "Finally Sad Enough to Draw Senator Shockwave" (ok jk it's "Forever Unfulfilled, a Forgotten Memory"), and the second is "And Here we are Again"

e375 - We Are All Stardust

Michael & Michael show their space geekery & awe for the initial @NASA #JWST images, discuss time travel, maps, future of gaming, automotive microtransactions

Photo by Tony Dearwester on Unsplash In this week’s @GamesAtWork_biz episode, Michael & Michael show their space geekery & awe for the initial @NASA #JWST images, discuss time travel with maps, future of gaming, automotive microtransactions  Michael and Michael start out this episode with some serious space geekery and outright awe for the first images coming back from the James Webb Space…

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...okay so I see the double-chest slap (love it), the throwing his arms wide with the spell on both hands (hot), the swoopies and the stomp (yes, thank you), but... does... does he do a little leap, right as he transforms??

...please tell me I'm seeing this right.

pretty bird, pretty bird, i know youre hurting but so am i

Hey do you think ya can explain Barnaby and his illusion smoke a bit? It seems really cool and I don't remember if ya talked about it in depth before

sure! this got a bit longer than i expected!

so i was thinking that Barnaby seems like more of a hands-off kinda guy when it comes to altercations. would rather sit back and make funny commentary! so if he Had to get involved, i imagine it would be from a distance and still in an Entertaining Way!

thus - illusion magic! for this au i've been picturing that he got his paws on some illusionary herb in his early teens. for making people laugh, you know! and help out with the farm - illusions could distract animals, convince them to move on to different pastures, calm the chickens for egg-collecting, etc!

Ms. Beagle didn't really approve, since smoking is harmful, but lucky for the both of them this particular plant doesn't deal as much damage when smoked as normal smoking materials would - like tobacco! something to do with the magic properties! so Barnaby mostly used it for chores (when his mama wasn't paying attention, ofc - it's still a bad habit in her eyes) and entertainment purposes.

how it works: on its own, it doesn't do much when burned. it's not like illusions will waft out of the pipe's bowl, or that sniffing it will give someone hallucinations. in order for it to work properly, the user has to inhale properly, form the Intent of what the illusion should be / look like / behave, then purposefully blow the smoke out with that thought firmly in mind. the reach of the smoke depends on the force of Intent, and the intensity depends on the amount inhaled. those that breathe it in / are surrounded by it will see hallucinations of whatever Barnaby - or whoever the user is - wants them to! it can be literally anything! whether or not the target is fooled depends entirely on the individual, but the herb is potent enough that most are convinced that what they "see" is real (auditory hallucinations only occur if the target breathes in the smoke)

upsides: this form of magic is great for distractions, cover, deescalation, and that kind of thing. if needed, Barnaby could stop a fight with one exhale! it's a pretty powerful trick! it also means that Barnaby has built up a tolerance to illusion magic over the years, so where most of the party would be tricked, Barnaby would be unfazed. the only one with total immunity to the form of magic is Wally!

downsides: if Barnaby uses too much in too short of a time, it will get to him. and since he breathes in the largest amount - undiluted at that - it can fuck him up! using it sparingly / using repeated small amounts doesn't do anything. the most it will do is make him feel slightly untethered, but he has an easy time ignoring it / shaking it off.

in mild cases of the magic getting to him, it's like a bad trip. his proprioception is messed with (basically he gets uncharacteristically clumsy & off-balance), he feels like he's falling, anxiety spikes, and his vision is just... off! there are blind spots (im talking actual blind spots, not spots of black), things are moving in ways that they shouldn't, he has mild auditory hallucinations. the others can help ground him by talking to him, touching him, and confirming what's real and what isn't.

in bad cases, it's like that but 10 times worse. on top of all of the previous symptoms being worsened, he gets extremely vivid hallucinations, and they're very often not fun! it's a simultaneous feeling of dying, going insane, and not knowing what the fuck is going on. Barnaby loses sense of where he is, who's where, what's happening. he can get lost in the hallucinations - he has no way to know that they aren't real. in these terrible trips, no one can really help him. they can't get through the hallucinations, and if they do, the magic morphs Barnaby's perception of them and they end up adding to the effects. honestly the best thing for him is to let him rest somewhere with as little sensory input as possible & leave him be until he starts to come down. physical contact does help, since Barnaby understands on an instinctive level that illusions can't touch him, but it doesn't help half as much as it does w/ the mild trips. and again, the presence of someone can make the hallucinations worse.

so! suffice to say! he doesn't like using the herb all that often, and it's why he Stays Out Of It unless absolutely needed. he has two pouches of the herb - one with the strong stuff, reserved for emergencies / one with just a tiny bit of it mixed in with Barnaby's own personal blend for recreational/everyday use. (he also has an emergency tobacco stash in his pack, but that's only for when he's completely out of his usual blend <3)

extra lil scribble that didn't make it into the lil doodle post... i broke his wrist...

"Leap of Faith", ep. 20(85) of season 4 (March 29, 2014).

“Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic is Granny Smith tested and Applejack approved! Granny Smith drinks it, why shouldn’t you?”

“Leap of Faith” may be my favorite Applejack episode, favorite S4 episode and one of the top favorite episodes in entire FiM! Applejack-focused episodes in particular are interesting in that, rather than having her learned to be true to her Element, they’re often about testing her faithfulness to it, making her putting her sense of justice in question and having to decide when she ought to follow her moral compass without risk to bring harm with it instead of benefits.

Flim & Flam, in that regard, make pretty good antagonists for her. Two families have quite a few similar priorities: like Apples, Bros are pragmatic, seeking profit from their actions, and work perfectly in sinch for common goal, but their ethics are diametrically different, and as it happens, Applejack sometimes even prone to fall into temptation to use rather similar tactics (take decision to rationalize technology in lieu of traditional work, or use invitation to gala for /pretty sure, illegal in these circumstances/ selling apple products here to rich attendees – wouldn’t she just ask Celestia for financial aid to the national hero’s family instead? – and don’t we forget her alliance with Filthy Rich without Granny’s consent) before it backfires on her as well. So, she has valid reasons for having disdain for methods of Bros, because she’s been here as well and reaped the bitter fruits of blindly following such policies.

Brothers, in particular, make formidable kind of antagonists on the show: for representing most realistic, mundane, everyday sort of evil, which can’t be redeemed or obliterated unlike any other foe our heroes had to stand against. The evil of commerce and material greed! Moreso, they even can be amicable and work together with heroes without having to change their ways, if that means any mutual benefits. (And basically cemented as allies of Mane 6 in the end of the series.) For, as it turns, money is at once the major drive and major scourge of society, be it mankind or ponies.

Anyway, the moral of this particular story is, one crazy old lady is enough to put the crushing end to your successful scam operation. Fatal flaw of these sleek guys appears to be not thinking their schemes far enough to prevent coming close to any possible source of damage. Other than that, they’re pretty fine, aren’t they? They’re, essentially, an embodiment of the main reason for the franchise itself – product promotion, no wonder they’re more frenemies than foes in the end of day.

People were scared, looking for help, so... Me and my cousin, Phil, we tried to do our part until four cops stopped us at a red light. All they saw were two Black men in a car they assumed was stolen. I tried to explain I was on leave, but they decided we were part of the problem. Two of them pulled us from the car, threw us on the ground, put their boots on our necks and pointed their guns at us while the others beat us with their batons and left us on the street like we were no better than trash. It's a miracle we both survived. - There wasn't anything you could do to fight back? QUANTUM LEAP (2022) — One Night In Koreatown (S02E05) ››› Ernie Hudson as Herbert "Magic" Williams ››› Nanrisa Lee as Jenn Chou

Currently consumed by the thought of a stobin Hollywood studio era lavender marriage au. They elope from Hawkins and Steve takes Robin's last name (a scandal when the paps find out!) And work shit jobs until they hit it big. (Robin is a trailblazer director who verbally eviscerates people who abused their actresses to get a ""more authentic performance"". Steve is a leading man who shifts into Dad Roles in his fifties. They adopt a gaggle of children so his career isn't as full as Rob's and he is so happy about it.)

They are a power couple for over half a century and eventually come out (Robin as a lesbian who's had a partner since the fifties and Steve as 'just very queer. I didn't have the words back then and now I don't feel like labeling it' and their marriage as one filled with love and respect and caring without romance or sex. Calling it "every bit as real as any other marriage, except we never had the complications of fucking. We loved together and fought together and cried together and lived together. The only thing more important to us than each other are our children and grandchildren, and isn't that what every other marriage is?") to the confusion of nearly everyone because they clearly adore each other and constantly hold hands or sit on laps and call each other soulmates and gaze adoringly across rooms and once said about meeting that they knew, after that first month of teasing and jeering and growing pains, that they'd found the person they were meant to be with. That they'd be together for as long as they were given because to know someone so thoroughly that they know you better than yourself and you know them the same that you barely need to speak but you do for the joy of the other's company is a rare gift to be given, especially so young.

Because they never lied! It's just, people assume romantic intent or attraction when Robin and Steve don't! They're the loves of each other's lives but they are not romantically in love and that's hard for people to understand. Especially a high profile couple who was the Romantic Ideal for three generations. And so when they say they were never involved like that, it's hard for some to believe because those two love each other so openly and intensely and for that love to be something other than romantic doesn't compute.

But on the other hand, they had already been queer icons. Steve 100% played in a heavily queercoded war film in the fifties and Robin had a Way of shooting women and they'd been vocal "allies" since the sixties. They'd nearly come out in the eighties but by then it wasn't just a decision they could make. It involved their partners and their children and grandchildren, so they waited to do so. But they were activists early for queer folk and did their best to fight the good fight (and also 1000% cussed Regan out. As he so deserved)

Idk I've rewritten this post like five times as I was helping my brother move and I'm just. Very emotional thinking of a grand, seven decade spanning, queerplatonic love story in the studio era of Hollywood.