EcoArt Intent – JasonD
Nature Dive
Summary
Nature Dive is a Virtual Reality simulation for those who do not have access to nature. It will involve the creation of a natural scene that the user can become immersed inside of. It will include a 3d graphical environment with nature sounds and some.
Description
The goal of this project is to help bring nature to those who do not have access or have time to access nature. Through this project, I’ll be creating a virtual reality application that can be used on a phone. Google offers a kit called Cardboard that is a cheap alternative to mainstream VR systems such as Oculus Rift, or HTC Vive.
This takes advantage of Smartphone technology that is already in the hands of many people. The prolificness of this technology would allow this project to be able to reach out to much more people throughout the world.
The application will be simple with the only interaction will be observing and listening to the environment. The goal of the application is to forge a connection between the user and nature. A greater appreciation and empathy for the natural world would be the target of this application’s development strategy.
Budget
This project will use the plus edition of Unity to be in compliance with the terms of use. This is a thirty-five dollar a month charge. There are various assets that can also be purchased from the Unity asset store. These can be priced anywhere from zero to forty-five dollars. I would budget a hundred dollars for potential purchases from the asset store. A VR headset will be required. I have chosen to use either Cardboard or GearVR as the platform. Cardboard is approximately a penny to twenty dollars. GearVR costs fifty to a hundred thirty dollars.
For labor budget, an average charge of forty dollars per hour is considered the norm. I expect to work at least fifteen hours on this project. That brings me to a total of six hundred dollars.
Final cost brings me to a total charge of approximately eight hundred sixty-five dollars.
One thought on “EcoArt Intent – JasonD”
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Hi Jason – i love the goal of your project, but i wonder if you’re running in the wrong direction. A good part of the reason that the natural world is in such peril is that people are alienated from it; they don’t get worked up about the plunder of nature by business because they are increasingly distracted by technology. And nothing seems to me to be more distracting than VR, where one is visually entirely blocked off from actual reality. When i see pictures of people in VR goggles, all i can think of is some kind of Big Brother horror show. This might just be my own issue, but consider it.
My suggestion for a solution to this issue is a bus ticket and a day off, which is likely way cheaper than a VR setup or an expensive phone.
Sorry, I’m not trying to dump on your project! You’ve thought it through thoroughly and presented it very nicely.
/steve
P.s., in your third paragraph, for “prolificness”, substitute “proliferation”. More elegant 🙂