I went to a breakfast gathering-- Immersive Tech Breakfast -- at the UNM ARTS Lab on November 22, 2024, to check out all the fancy digital art toys they have:
"Calling all AR/VR innovators in New Mexico! Join us at UNM’s ARTSLab on Friday, November 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for the Immersive Tech Breakfast, a unique opportunity to connect with industry leaders, educators, and creatives shaping the future of immersive technology. Explore exciting initiatives like the new Community Immersive Technology Hub, see a live demo of the cutting-edge Varjo XR-4 Headset by Reynaldo Zabala from Channel XR, and share your input on upcoming free training opportunities for 2025."
UNM ARTS LAB
VARJO XR-4
A snapshot of the event
The big screen (with me in it)
showed you what the person wearing the headset
was looking at
HoloLens
What the HoloLens sees...
the landscape of Mars
HoloLens docking stations
BIG REP ONE
Big lobo 3D print
Digital weaving machine
- Previously I went to a hologram presentation by August Muth at the UNM Arts Lab
- Plus I went to an AI ART Workshop about the legal issues at the Albuquerque Museum
CNM FUSE
They had three Epilog laser cutters:
One can become a member at FUSE for as little as $25 a week. It costs an additional $109 to get certified on the laser cutter. I can use their laser cutter until Quelab reopens.
NOTE: UNM is building a new Fine Arts facility, and CNM is building a new makerspace. So that both of these facilities will be moving in about two years.
KUNM asserts that UNM was a pioneer in computer art:
In the late 1960s, the University of New Mexico played a key role in bringing together creativity and technology in what was then the nascent field of computer art. Now a new book from Museum of New Mexico Press offers the first in depth account of this early digital creativity -- “Sharing Code: Art1, Frederick Hammersley, and the Dawn of Computer Art.”
- Note that Richard Williams designed the computer code, and he used to draw with us.
My interest is in still pushing a digital 3D file as far as I can. I would love access to the ARTS Lab 3D scanner, though there are phone apps that do an acceptable 3D scan job these days. And of course it would be fun to print something on the large 3D printer at the ARTS Lab, but where would I store the result?
I would also love to continue building a VR environment with my artwork, like I did in Spatial.io.
However I can still push 3D objects in low rent Augmented Reality experiences with WebAR:
The Alien Javelina jumped onto the stage
at FUSION and hammed it up
