Hooray!

After a few frustrating days of administration road-blocks, I was finally able to get the Vive to play games. The main PC graphics driver need to be updated, but without full IT access to the computer, I couldn't make any changes to the hardware. It took about 3 days of constantly asking my supervisor to enter her passcode, that we went straight to the IT source to clear me for full admin access. I was able to update the graphics and bluetooth driver in a pinch after that.

I was so excited to explore the Versailles/Google collaboration app! I downloaded

the free tour of the Chateau and got to work. Walking around the galleries, I was able to click on certain 'hotspots' to visit a 3D model. The gallery would fade into a black background to focus on the chosen 3D model. I could then flip it around to look at it from all angles. It was nice to scale it up, but there really wasn't anything I learned from looking at it this way.

It was from this experience that I figured out what I need to do to improve it in my VR project. To my 3D model page, I will attach textual and A/V annotations so that users are visually guided through the object exploration. Also, there needs to be music or era-related sounds to give the experience a more realistic touch. When you are in the headset without sounds, it gives the impression of a very hollow space, like a tunnel.

Next steps: Wire frames!