Taylor 0:01

Okay, hello, can you just tell us your name major year so far to start?

 

Jack 0:11

My name is Jack English. I'm a first year computer science major. And

 

Taylor 0:19

yeah. Can you tell us about some of your like interests hobbies?

 

Jack 0:23

Yeah, I'm very, very interested in computer science or I'm very, very interested in virtual reality and mixed reality. That is, like, my career path. For me is basically set in stone. I want to be a VR game developer, or just VR developer in general. I play a lot of VR games. Most of my school extracurricular projects, including this one are working with virtual reality technologies in unity. And other stuff like that. Cool.

 

Taylor 0:56

So I would say why did you or why did you join empathy bytes, but it sounds pretty clear. But if you have any other ways you'd like to elaborate go for it.

 

Jack 1:04

Yeah, I Googled or I searched the empathy bytes website for VR, and only two of them showed up so I chose this one.

 

Taylor 1:13

Yeah. So, so far, while you've been empathy bites, what have you really enjoyed and like makes you continue working in empathy bytes?

 

Jack 1:25

I really liked the flexibility with what you're able to work on. Like I can choose to work on any aspect of the VR museum I'd like and so I was able to surpass like, specialize in just doing photogrammetry this semester, and like working on models to add to it, and next semester I'll probably choose to work a lot more on like, like the game development side of it with like adding features and stuff.

 

Taylor 1:57

So could you just elaborate a little bit more on what you specifically do this semester?

 

Jack 2:04

That at the beginning of the semester, I worked pretty heavily on fixing the Unity project because there were some problems with the GitHub and the product was pretty, like non functional. But after those first couple of weeks, I've been entirely working on photogrammetry and honing my workflow for that which includes the picture taken strategy in the software that I use and the best like workflow for editing the model in blender like different techniques you can use to reduce the polygon count and painting and textures and stuff like that. A couple of weeks ago, I also spent the whole week working on making a 40 minute tutorial on my growing workflow for other people in projects. To learn from if they're interested in doing photogrammetry as well, because it seems to have much better results than manual blender modeling for most subjects.

 

Taylor 3:10

So I know you mentioned that you have a strong interest in unity and like all these VR spaces and stuff like that. Is there prior work that you've done that has really prepared you for all the work you're doing right now?

 

Jack 3:21

Yes. Um, I gotta give a shout out to my club GTX AR I did my first VR project last semester. with them. I worked on making a virtual reality graphing calculator. You should join GTX rfms base because shameless shout out but like you there are genuinely like multiple projects that anybody can join without experience and you can learn a lot there. And we host hackathons. And we have mentors and like speaker events and stuff like that. Also, just hackathons like, immerse you at MIT reality hack. Just I mean, there's plenty of resources. So in unity, you just got to get out there and and enjoy it.

 

Taylor 4:19

Gotcha. So how do you think empathy bites has added to that experience and has impacted your skills so far?

 

Jack 4:29

I would say without a doubt my blender and photogrammetry skills have improved massively since joining this VIP I haven't I haven't grown my unity skills that much ensuring just because of what I ended up working on. But I imagined that I will next semester. I think that's it.

 

Taylor 5:01

Right? Um, do you feel like empathy bytes? is also impacted you like academically, academically? And like socially?

 

Jack 5:11

Um, I don't know about academically I don't think there's any like application for that. Yeah.

 

Taylor 5:17

You're also still a first year so yeah, hard crossover. Yeah, I understand.

 

Jack 5:22

Um, I will say that it helped me land a summer job. That's good. I'm working for it this summer. With Omniverse like we're working on implementing and video Omniverse into like to be available for Georgia Tech students. And I'm going to be continuing photogrammetry work with that, and possibly have a path forward with this VIP to work with Omniverse instead of unity. But socially. I met a couple cool people, including John the team lead for the VR. Yeah, just generally when you join projects, about VR you meet cool people who are also in a similar space.

 

Taylor 6:09

Yeah, definitely. So so far while you've been working through a favorite thing you've worked on a specific piece in the museum, any of those models.

 

Jack 6:18

I was kind of biased when I chose this model, because I thought it would be cool from the start, but I did a scan of black Converse that buzz wore in the 1970s. And so just generally a really old pair of Converse that are worn, looks really cool. And they look pretty identical to like a new pair of black Converse. I just think that's a cool piece of history, because it's because I like black commerce and it's kind of a part of us as identity or mascot. I also think that the extended like Blender tutorial photo grip for photogrammetry that I made was also really cool because I've never made really good tutorial like that before.

 

Taylor 7:09

In regards to the shoes, how do you think or why do you think it's important to preserve these kinds of pieces and how do you think it impacts the Georgia Tech community?

 

Jack 7:22

That's a great question. I think that it will always be obviously we shouldn't get rid of like real archives with real artifacts. But I think there is plenty there are plenty of added benefits to also having digital archives because digital models don't degrade over time. So it's like kind of like a backup for preservation of an artifact. And in addition to that, if a if a model does happen to degrade over time, you can almost have like snapshots of that model throughout history. So you can go back in time to see like, a better quality version of the model. I think another massive benefit to digital artifacts is accessibility. Because every artifact that I've scanned so far has been locked behind that like locked in the archive where normal people won't be able to experience them. The only time someone would be able to see these artifacts is if the archive decided to make an exhibit with them. And then you would only be able to see a limited number of them, like visible to the public behind the glass wall. With VR Museum, it's way more accessible because it has unlimited hours. Anybody can as long as you have a headset or even like a computer, anybody can go to the museum and see these artifacts interact with them, it can be much larger than a normal exhibit based on budget. And the last benefit is you can just get more intimate with the objects and like actually pick them up and like look at every like angle of them. And it really feels like like holding them as opposed to just looking at them through glass.

 

Taylor 9:29

Do you believe that this kind of accessibility, accessibility and like intimacy you can have in these VR spaces will continue with other kinds of museums that there are in person do you think that will become a new thing

 

Jack 9:49

to clarify, are you asking like whether, like you said, Whether I think real museums will be

 

Taylor 9:58

Yeah, like big museums now like maybe at the art museums or history museums. Do you think some of those will create other options that are VR spaces like you guys are working right now? With the archives?

 

Jack 10:12

Yeah, so I think you might be saying like, like, I think there's two angles, like a real museum could incorporate a digital aspect to it. Another option could be that a real museum could create a whole digital twin of the of the exhibit. So like, for example, The High Museum, you could go there and see the objects in person but if you don't live in Atlanta, and you really want to see the exhibit, they could potentially use photogrammetry. It would be a pretty large scale project but they could use photogrammetry to capture the entire museum digitally and you could explore it digitally in 3d. I think that could potentially be pretty cool and add accessibility for people in different like, with like geographical separation. They would probably still have some sort of admission fee, but that's alright. As for digital, a digital aspects to a museum. That's interesting. I'm not sure. Like what the benefits of that could be having VR as a demo in like real spaces is kind of unique space that I'd haven't explored much.

 

Taylor 11:32

Gotcha. Have there been like any other challenges that have arose while you've been working this semester?

 

Jack 11:40

Yeah. Right now for the past two weeks, I have a roadblock where I'm trying to get more ambitious with my models and capture articles of clothing. And to do that, well, I really need to put them on a mannequin, but I've been having a lot of trouble getting a mannequin from the archive people Gotcha. Other than that, I'm kind of doing the same thing over and over. So it's not, there's not that many like limitations as long as I have a flow

 

Taylor 12:17

so seem very interested in this VIP and I'm guessing that you are coming back next semester. Are there certain things you want to continue doing anything, expanding any different things that you'd like to do in the future?

 

Jack 12:31

Yeah, I definitely. I'm very glad that I was able to get so much photogrammetry experience this semester, but ultimately, I want to become a better game developer. So next semester, I'd like to work more on the features of the project and expanding it in that regard. Also, I think John is leaving, and he's the current leadership role. So I think I'd hope to assume the leadership position for the VR team.

 

Taylor 13:05

Yeah. Um, so do you have any parting thoughts, comments, concerns, anything you want to share? Any viewers?

 

Jack 13:19

I don't think so. Just look out for our museum in the future is for you to see it. So good VIP, you should join it. I like how all the there's so many different tracks. So like, if you're like a CS or CM major, there's almost nothing you can do. There's, there's like pretty much it covers most of the bases. So there's most likely something for you that you can do here.

 

Taylor 13:44

Yeah, definitely. So that is our interview. Thank you so much.