Virtual Reality and AI? - next challenge for a retiree

Ehhrm ... what? What is a Darkoni? And I know 911 but 711?
You should meet the mates of VaM in VR. It's a ... hmmm ... very special experiance ;-)

 

How ever. I feel to be part of the begin of an interesting future. It should combine the abilities of 3D, VR and real AI. Let me tell you the story I have in mind:

Either exhausted from a the job or bored from life as retiree I switch to the divice, put the headset on and dive into one of my favorite VR-worlds. Let's say a mediterranian villa or whatever you prefer. I sit relaxed at the sofa and enjoy the view. The House Machine recognizes that I've arrived and plays some music I usually love to hear. I can say "Start the fireplace", "Play other music", "Start TV/internet", "Show my calendar and mails" or "Tell me the news". Something I can do with Amazon's Alexa alredy ... more or less. But Alexa is not an AI. It's just a pretty stupid algorhythm. My House Machine should be more complex. But there is no need to have conversations with it. I don't want to discuss with that House Machine. It just should do it's job. Cut.

Another theme is the House Mate. This could be everything you can imagine. A depressive robot, a sexy woman for erotic issues and interaction or just a partner to sit together and talk. Those mates should have a unique and independent behaviour and mind. It would require a real AI. I know, we are far away from real AI and I won't experience it within my remaining lifetime (max 30 years). But it'll be cool to see the beginning of this process. Greetings from Alan Turing ;-)

3rd it would be unpayable to welcome House Guests from all over the world at my places or visit them at their homes. Just to talk about Life, the Universe and Everything. Additional the House Mate should interact with visitors ;-)

Finally the ability to work in such VR spots. Kinda Work Bench. I noticed that my creativity at the open loggia is bigger than in my small office. So what about virtual places?

Most of my dreams are possible already. Except AI ofc. Important for me: To add my own content and probably sell it to customers. A very special feature, I know. The big deal would be to merge all that in a comfortable way.

 

I stronglly believe porn industry will be a pioneer regarding VR.

So I watched a few VR porn videos this evening. Not that breathtaking I must say. The quality was insane although it was described as 4k sometimes. Additional it is not really 3D. If you move forward and backward the video follows you at given distance and angle. You can't move or even look how the scene looks from behind. The visual field is pretty limited to something like 120° from left to right and approximately 160° from up to down. Those are still videos, not 3D worlds.

Compared to Virt-a-Mate it was heavily boring. In VaM I have a way better quality (even with my old computer wich will be substituted soon by a heavy machine ...) and I can move around and do something with the mate. At the other hand the mate doesn't do anything. A smiling doll even. But VaM is a WIP and has a lot of potential. Tricky part in VaM is: you can make two (or more) persons and you can "possess" one of them. Wich means you can link your headset to the head of one of them looking throug it's eyes and than link left and right hand with the hand controllers. From now on you are able to act as this person. THIS is breathtaking! Theoretically you can start a boxing match. Just a free idea for the developers ...

Additional I am able to add my own armchairs, dildos and apartments to VaM. I will give it a chance. Feel free to tell about better creation rooms like this for less than $10 monthly fee.

 

Well, next step. I asked my former boss by mail if he bought a new enviroment scanner with camera for textures meanwhile and if he is interested to run some projects for National Geographics ;-)
Let's see what happens. I am relaxed fighting against the hurdles of my slow computer and the riddles of Virt-a-Mate UI ...

I got some money lately and will be able to buy a meaningful computer next days. I will rearrange our unused dining room for a bigger space for move and act in VR. Wife said: "Let's discuss it tomorrow. I'm tired." I answered: "No, I will do it. We can talk when it's done." Cut!

Wife was pissed. But tired. All good. I will buy this device for 1500 or 1800 bucks and enjoy a really new stage.

 

Today I continued with exercises for VaM. At the end I was able to make models of my last projects for 3D-prints: My tablet stand and the woman on a chair. I paid a few hundred dollars for each of them. Now it took approximately 15 minutes each to make rough versions of them by myself. Even the muscular body of the tablet stand woman was done in no time:

The woman on a chair:

I treated the chair in Unity and could import it into VaM:

This ability makes me crazy!
Both models were exported to Rhino and are okay. Unfortunately just the body with the pose. Neither clothes nor hair. But that's a minor issue.
So I will pay a monthly fee of 9 € (108 € per year) instead of 250 € for the next figure!

A small retro excurse to 3D-printing ... just a note how quick times and possibilities change.

 

Yep, I was surprised how easy it could be if you do the right things in VaM and how good it looks. I own Poser10. The result of a kneeling woman looks like this in Poser10:

Not really sexy ... it's way better in VaM (see picture above). Exactly this Poser result was the reason to hire a modeler for my tablet stand. I made a rough model with Poser and got a stylish model made with Zbrush. Costs 250 Euro. Now I pay ~110 Euro/year for a software wich enables me to pose a figure in VR and get way better results. Not to speak about the ability to "touch" this figure in an erotic way ;-)

 

It is still an unbelievable experiance to be so close to such high detailed figures in VR.
You are able to make different apperiances. Two extreme examples compared to standard:

The standard model looks a bit boring, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Until you meet her in VR ...

I had a serious talk to my wife about some investments in VR. Result is: I will install a small working place in our dining room with a strong PC, a small table for a stylish 32" monitor, a stylish keyboard, mouse and 3D Navigator and the Oculus Rift headset and controlers.
I will have free space in front of this of 3x2 meters. Only problem is the creaking of the old parquet floor ...

 

Guess what: I got a "Yes." :-)
As I wrote above: "... a serious talk ...". At the other hand she is not in need to ask or talk about if she participates in flights or bus rides to interesting places in Europe with her mates. Usually I just get a message about the next trip. It is the result of meanwhile more than 42 years (LOL, 42! The answer to the question for Life, the Universe and Everything) of marriage and the insight, that we both have completely different interests. At the moment you can describe it as the difference between real reality and virtual reality ;-)

 

Oki doki, it started yesterday. I ordered a 32" curved monitor:

I will get it in two days.
Today I visited my local "Ich bin doch nicht bloed"-store and DANG! special offer: a presentation device listed originally at 2500 € reduced to 2000 € plus 500 € voucher for future purchasings. A "HP OMEN":

Since I buy often things in this store I will use these 500 € and shop there for free next year. Probably a next generation VR headset. Pretty cool.

Back home I wanted to setup WLAN and install some software on the new big machine out in the loggia. Nice try! I don't own a monitor with HDMI input. My four years old system, wich is still running pretty good except VR, is too old! It's unbelievable how fast everything changes meanwhile. So I have to wait until Monday afternoon.

Even at Monday I must buy a small desktop, vertically adjustable prefered to enable me to work standing (because you often stand in VR) as well as sitting. Hopefully after all this preparations I can start the boosters at Monday evening ...

 

Well, the tricky part is being so close to the models. The closer you are in VR the better the quality is.
Got my new working place today sorted. But wasn't able to install everything yet. Especially I miss the Oculus. A job for tomorrow ...

 

Well, it's not comparable ... completely different goals even.

I had a bad day today. At late afternoon when I moved my Oculus to the new computer our cable internet provider got serious problems and I was cut off for several hours. SimLab Composer doesn't allow a second installation at another computer, Unity somehow doesn't run as well. Additional it seems the battery of my tablet died :( This makes me very sad. Alas, I'm back in internet and will sort out all this things next days. At least Rhino runs without problems, Virt-a-Mate as well. Finally I must say it's way easier nowadays to start with a complete new system than in the past. The basics to run a new computer took less than half an hour. Let's see how Oculus runs tomorrow and if I can switch my SimLab license to the new machine. Unity is not really necessary. I use it just for converting models for VaM. The new keyboard will arrive tomorrow and I will tune the cheap mouse a bit. Hopefully I can complete the new working place tomorrow! Oh, I hope to get a second 3Dconnexion SpacePilot at ebay during next weeks ...

 

Okay, the new 'office' is running.

At least 2x2 meters for move hands and enough power to run really big files. But only WLAN. That's a serious problem, I've learned today. One hour for 120 MB driver for my SpaceNavigator ***roll eyes***

 

Answer from SimLab support:
"The subscription license is for one machine, it can not be moved from one machine to another."
Hurrah!
I can understand a limitation to one computer. But how hard could it be to lock the old license key and send me a new one? In such moments I often think: "You know what, guys? You're fired."
Fortunately I can run Unity meanwhile. Probably I will make some tests with it. So this VR-thing slowly turns from fun into stress. Let's see if SimLab will implement smooth walk and rotate. If not or not good I will cancel this relationship. If it works properly until March 2020 I will buy it or start another subscription.

 

Exactly! Really bad customer care. These guys risk a non-purchase from my side ($300) or another yearly subscription ($200) in March 2020. Additional they must add free and smooth movement and rotation as well as flight. How ever, I don't care much about it. Love me or leave me ...

I answered them:
"Be ensured that I don't plan to cheat SimLab Soft. I just want to expand my abilities for VR to 500% with a new and more powerful computer. Do me a favour and ask your chief executive for a solution regarding this banal issue please."

I'm pissed off so much already. Let's see what happens.