Animation Relaxation
[Animation At Ulster University Second Year Blog]
By Matthew Kane
Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/matthewkane
Showreel: https://vimeo.com/matthewkane
Deeps Mann Kler AR/VR Talk
Week 5:
https://www.kainos.com/appliedinnovation
https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/blogs/blogs-developing-immersive-technologies
Works in : AR/VR
Company: Neon
Deepa is the owner of her own company Neon which she started in 2011. Before she opened her company she was a photographer for the London Olympics and won the Young photographers award in 2012 . In 2011 Deepa had a show in Derry for the Lumiere in which her work Neon dogs was on exhibition.
She also did work Called ‘Release’, the huge bird built in Belfast by the only company of its kind left in Ireland and will be suspended from the ceiling at the entrance to the Grand Opera House ahead of the opening of the play.
Purpose of her more recent business ventures: It has been for Health and Well being due to her background and upbringing and her earlier work of being an equality counsellor for 11 years. In that time she never stopped painting or being creative despite her family being negative about there being any work as an artist but she proved them wrong. She then later started a family her in Northern Ireland. She has always wanted to create something that will help others and will be for the people and the masses and will not be limited to specific demographics or ages. She wants to better peoples lives or to aid people in helping them in some shape or form no matter how small if it works or helps then it would be worth it. Her neon showcases have been seen by 1.8 million people.
She says there will be Twist and Turns in Career and your personal life but ultimately they all lead down the same path eventually merge into one. She says you need to have Hobbies and interests and not just be stuck in a studio all day go out and enjoy yourself or find something you like or want to undertake or challenge your self and work on that in the background simultaneously as your animation work.
She has won Photography Competitions and has also worked in Photo Journalism in the past and has did personal work and work for family members over the years also.
She is an Academic Artist which was discouraged by her family background to find a more stable and appropriate job that would lead to a steady income. She is a self-taught painter and is now 3 years of being a mother and is currently working creatively in black and white that explore her thoughts and feeling and reflect her attitude on the representation of Ireland and the political stances we have here.
She self-identifies in her own work in the form of colour she uses or lack of it to convey emotions like Imprisonment and Freedom.
In 2011 she started to experimenting with Neon Lights which took off and became a hit and resulted in more success and renown. She has been inspired by the poet Sheamus Heaney and has done some work dedicated to celebrating his work and life. She works out of Derry and has done work in many different locations including the Grand opera House with her Dove lights piece being showcased on opening night called release as a peace sign.
In some of her other works she conveys Power sharing for both historical and political representations.
She completed the Neon Dogs in 2016 in London and this is what received 1.8 million visitors in the museum as it was different and unique and abstract. It is very different. This was one of her career highlights and regards it as one of the best experiences which has helped her in some rough patches to look back on what she can achieve and helps her focus and gives her drive to succeed.
The death of father lead to her to struggling with grief for a while and left her dealing with this loss. This made her decide that she couldn't and didn't want to work in a studio anymore or be in that enviornment.
She then worked with Kanos which then helped provide some software engineers after she acquired funding for the Animated Short Project “RETNE” and also worked with Animators working in VR /Mixed Reality at Enter Yes to produce more work.
Deepa and her company worked with Enter Yes to deliver a new and Unique VR experience that explores both story and world building. They make it fun and interactive instead of boring and laborious. Your guide is Mo a caring creature being your guide through the VR world helping you explore in the form of your in-game companion. Mo has an in game mother who has chronic back pain and she begins to feel at ease as she continues to play distracting her self from pain thus hinting at it's purpose to subvert the users attention and focus off of pain or illness or injuries as their minds are preoccupied with the experience.
It is an immersive distraction for the senses into a new world which you can explore and focus on mindfulness and ones own breathing and experiencing the world hence focusing the mind and subverting your attention to reduce pain and help make you feel emotionally and physically rejuvenated. Neon also created the mobile game whack a mo. This game is derived from the game whack a mole but only uses a single character.
The time constraints on the project was about 6 weeks where the script had to be re-written 13 times and alot of changes had to be made created alot of stress and friction between departments that where working together as it kept changing.
The VR experience has over 23 thousand downloads on steam but was a bit absent of content due to six-week deadline as it had to be rushed and streamlined to meet the timeline.
She then Re branded the product for solely focusing on helping health and well being and working with doctors in the health service to create something similar but improve upon it. But the budget like last time was tight so to save on costs they reused assets from RETNE to create the new project Breath VR.
This was to distract the user by creating an immersive environment. Deepa also took part incompetions and attended events like Hackathon's and joined other groups and paired up with people from Kanos.
She had to test the product before investing more time and money into the project to see if it would be worth while and if it had potential so she began by surveying people.
The main goal was to help people and to distract children from the pain and fear of getting injections and the VR experience that was tailored to mimic what the doctor would be doing and would help to administer injections and the children would be oblivious to what is happening as they would be immersed in the VR world.
It was then launched on the Oculus Rift, which then went into more trials within the health service along with the game whack a mo.
The pilot tests where conducted with sick kids that helped provide valuable feedback and the game turned out to be too hard as you couldn't overcome some of the higher levels. This lead to more development and refinements to make the game ready for it's final release. The experiences have worked in helping treat aliments and sicknesses such as physical and mentally health problems. For example, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Rehabilitation, Phobia’s and mental health.
VR Vaccine fills a role otherwise unfilled in the health sector as there is need for it and it will have an impact on patients and will help doctors and people in general.
Deepa ended the lectue by summarising the lecture and what she was doing and how she was using VR and the possible applications it could be used for and not just in the medical profession. It could be used to create a bridge anything but she has mainly targeted the medical field to help anyone suffering from chronic pain, illness, mental health or rehabilitation and even phobias trying to help others that are suffering and help ease pain or help in any way she can even if it is just a fleeting or temporary relief and then opened it up to a Q&A.
Other companies using this technology is Keanu Reeves motorcycle company to help visualise and design bikes and the different components and style and aesthetics of a bike before creating it and using it to learn how to build and maintain it.
https://riftinfo.com/keanu-reeves-using-the-power-of-vr-to-build-custom-motorcycles
Reflection:
I learnt that you don't need to go the most direct route to reach your goal and if you fail try, try again or try something else don't give up at the first hurdle continue and be dedicated to your work and be passionate about it if that is what you want to do. If you can't make it there immediately look for alternative pathways and other means which may lead you into something else. Seize opportunities if that is what you want and don't let them pass you by. Eventually all the hard work and determination will pay off this can be years down the line and is not a quick result it takes patience. You will get to where you are happy or content and you may decide you need a change and you might decide to branch off and work on something else this is okay and you might discover it is more suited to you you just have to find what you like and what you are good at and it's okay if you don't know what you want to do there will be time and the rest of your life to decide. This made me feel alot better about myself as i have had many different twists and turns in my life and i have ended up here. I feel like i belong and am valued that i can thrive and grow making something of myself even with my anxiety and poor mental health. I also want to help people and have done so in the past in the form of volunteering and running clubs and such to help people and to focus on other things other than life like making friends and improving their confidence. The concept of her company resonates with me and has inspired me as i had never thought to use technology and animation in such a manner or a purpose like this.
I think this would help people function better in certain situations in life that would help people that struggle with specific problems, as it also provides escapism from the world and it's stresses and over activity of the mind and causes one to calm down and reduce the racing thought with the peaceful interactive environments. It could be used for exposure therapy to help people overcome their fears, phobia , anxiety and trauma especially with agoraphobia.
VR/AR is still under utilised media platform even though it is showcased in such big budget films like Ready Player one. There is a big open market that i feel will explode when there is another technological advance in AR and VR which will result in alot more work in this specific area but i don't think it is at the right point yet as people complain about the motion sickness and feeling dizy and also the weight of the headsets and illusion of VR that seem so artificial that they don't like them.
This talk helped me broaden my horizons and the capability and scope of my focus in my work and to give me my true calling of helping other that have went through the same stuff as myself to help teach them to mange and cope or even overcome mental health problems. It isn't as daunting now after see Deepa's work and it would mean no one needs to feel all alone because there is nothing worse that being surrounded by people but still feeling isolated and all alone.
