Future thinking
Year 11 students Alex and Ethan have been working on a VR experience of Dunedin’s Town Belt for about two years and expect to have it completed by the time they finish Year 13.
“I think we’ve had to restart our project three times now because the VR toolkit keeps getting updated. We’ve found out what has worked and what hasn’t,” explains Ethan.
David says the years-long project has been one of exploration and discovery for the students, as VR development is so new that there are no external experts to mentor them.
Once the visual experience has been developed, bird song and sounds will be added to make it more realistic. David has also suggested adding labels to plants, as well as Māori and local history stories to the experience.
“The technology is super new in education and quite new in the commercial sector, so there actually isn’t a lot out there. We had to research a lot of stuff ourselves, we downloaded programmes and Alex would come up with ideas, Ethan with other ideas. They had the vision – they’ve driven it all.
VR COMMONPLACE
“It’s totally an organic process that they’re going through in their own free time, which has to be the essence of a lifelong learner. Probably by the second year, they knew more than me, so now I’m just trying to offer perspective from an end user,” he says. In Year 8, the two boys were involved in the Town Belt Kaitiaki (TBK) programme with schools from throughout Dunedin, with a focus on protecting the swathe of native and exotic trees and plants that runs from north Dunedin to just south of the city. While the school isn’t currently involved with TBK to the same extent, the plan is to make the VR experience available for elderly and disabled people who can no longer enjoy getting out into nature.
TRIAL AND ERROR When David arrived and the VR suite became a reality, Alex and Ethan’s idea for some kind of Town Belt experience simulation began to take shape. There’s been a lot of trial and error and learning along the way.
David believes that VR headsets will become increasingly commonplace in homes and businesses and used for everything from virtual shopping to virtual world tours. There’s already been interest from a local real estate company in using the programme that Alex and Ethan develop, so home buyers anywhere in the world can walk around a house. He also believes that, because of the expertise they have developed, the two boys could walk into jobs in the tech sector straight out of school. “I haven’t decided what I want to do after school; maybe VFX – like 3D modelling for Weta Workshop,” says Alex. “I’m interested in computer programming. I think I’ll probably enroll in some computer science courses at the university and see where that takes me. I might work for Google – if it’s still around!” says Ethan.
EYE ON NEW TRENDS Technology generally needs to be replaced or upgraded and David reckons most technology has a life of about five years.
“Originally we tried the 360-degree photo, which was good but still not interactive enough,” adds Ethan.
“So you have to go to the very edge and the next step after this is artificial intelligence. That’s where I see the next evolution of this programme – once VR has done its dash. Once Alex and Ethan have completed this project – probably in Year 13 – we will want to ask: ‘Was this programme successful? Do we have boys who are more prepared for the next cycle of life? Is it worth our time and money or could we put the money into something else?’
The boys then found photogrammetry software and took photos in the Town Belt, which were imported into software called MeshRoom, which creates a 3D model. They believe they will have a useable product by the time they finish high school.
“And you have to do that every single time with technology, otherwise you can become complacent. Tech is a bit of a double-edged sword like that – it’s great when it’s new, but you always have to keep an eye on the new trends,” says David.
“We’re trying different things with it – we tried having 360-degree images where you could look around, but you couldn’t actually walk in it. In VR, you could see the area but it wasn’t in 3D. We then tried modelling it from scratch – that was in around Year 9,” says Alex.
“Tech is a bit of a double-edged sword like that – it’s great when it’s new, but you always have to keep an eye on the new trends.” David Beazley
14 June 2021
Tukutuku Kōrero
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