San Jose has new mind-bending VR exhibit
Tech Museum becomes one of the first in the country to have a permanent virtual reality showcase for visitors
SAN JOSE — It’s just before dawn in a post-apocalyptic world and a dim bluish hue fills a flat landscape — your canvas in a virtual world. With the flourish of a brush, you paint life-size art in 3-D and then walk right through it.
That’s one of the many virtual experiences visitors at The Tech Museum of Innovation can savor at their new exhibit, Reboot Reality, that opens Friday.
“The place is dedicated for immersive technologies, with the greatest and the latest tech out there,” said Nadav Hochman, experience developer at The Tech. “This exhibit is focused on the future of creativity.”
The Tech is one of the first museums in the country to have a permanent exhibit like this one.
“We’re really excited about the way VR is going to change everything,” said Prinda Wa-
nakule, director of experience development at The Tech.
The museum partnered with innovators, artists and major Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Facebook, Stanford, Adobe and HP to bring the best of virtual and augmented reality to the public.
“We really harnessed all the creative juices from Silicon Valley,” said Hochman.
The exhibit is a treat for kids — and for kids of adult ages — boasting a wide range of technologies designed to foster creative confidence. Visitors can sculpt digital clay on Medium by Oculus, paint virtual worlds in Google Tilt Brush and compose shockingly real oil paintings on a computer screen with Adobe’s Wetbrush.
“This is really good for people who are trying to pursue art,” said Morgan Lee, 17, a freshman at Mission College, as she stepped out of her Tilt Brush experience during a sneak peek for school and college students.
For artists aching for a digital brush stroke to feel real, Wetbrush is an ex- perimental prototype that Adobe is sharing exclusively at The Tech.
“We’re really sharing something where the paint is wet,” said Nathan Carr, principal scientist at Adobe Research, adding that the new toy uses complex physics to simulate the exact way paintbrush bristles bend and move when an artist pushes down on the stylus and the way bristles move around the paint. “We wanted to get the exact same feeling of oil paint.”
The technology is not something people can buy yet, Carr added.
“It requires a lot of computational power to drive an oil painting engine like this,” said Carr. “We’re using hardware that most people don’t have in their homes — our hope is that technology will get faster.”
3-D design is something that has been difficult for a lot of people to access.
“It requires a lot of time using software in order to create things,” said Wanakule. “Using a platform like this you can feel a little bit more natural, you can jump in there and create something right away.”
Creating 3-D art in a vir- tual world may seem like a lost cause, because there isn’t an easy way to share it in the physical world. The Medium, however, allows artists to bring home a file they can use to 3-D print their creations. And paintings on Wetbrush can be printed onto a 3-D canvas that captures every single ridge of the virtual brush stroke.
Tucked in another corner of the exhibit is an experience like no other — a fullbody virtual reality device that simulates the experience of gliding like a bird. Visitors can strap them- selves onto a bird seat facing down, flap their wings and soar across Manhattan or the Swiss Alps. A fan that streams cool air makes the experience more real than it really is.
It is by far the most immersive virtual adventure, and The Tech is the only place in California where people can try it out.
“It’s thrilling,” said Wanakule. “The first time I was on it, I was screaming so loud.”
VR and other immersive technologies can be really powerful, added Wanakule. “We don’t want people to only come in here and just see something passively, we want people to engage with it,” she said.
A lot of these technologies are already changing the way people learn and work. One of the experiences at the exhibit is a 360degree peek into the upcoming Diridon Station. Usually clients see these drawings on paper before they approve a new construction with their architect.
“But with VR, clients can walk through the virtual space and say ‘I don’t like that wall’,” said Wanakule. “It opens up the process for a more participatory design.”