Notes on Antony Vitrillo’s "friendly chat' blog post about the Open Augmented Reality Cloud

technical, artistic and personal perspectives

I am not with a tech company. I do not have a degree in a technological field related to augmented reality. I am not a clever and efficient programmer. I don’t make games. For these reasons and more, I am pleasantly shocked and honored to be mentioned in Anthony Vitillo’s blog post entitled A friendly chat on the Open AR Cloud and its advantages. Tony and his two interviewees are all super AR professionals. The post features Julia Beabout and Vladimir Ufnarovskii, two highly regarded pioneers in the area of GeoPose-based Augmented Reality.

I write this to elaborate upon a few points made in the post, especially those about Bubiko. Bubiko Foodtour is a character created by myself and Sayuri Okayama, with whom we explore AR, as well as VR and traditional 2D content. Thanks to the help of Julia’s company, Novaby, and Vladimir’s company, Augmented.City, Bubiko was able to star in the world’s first example of spatial cinema.

VIEW Conference

It was great for Bubiko and her blimp to be in the post, but the role of the VIEW Conference should be clarified. I was invited to speak at VIEW 2020 but, to make a long complicated story short and simple: Covid, the OARC, Augmented.City and the digital twin of Bari, Italy unexpectedly and rapidly interacted, so that instead of speaking at VIEW in Turin, I went to Bari to make a short film about a little chef in a mango-shaped blimp. The film is called Bubiko: First Flight

Bubiko: First Flight

Technical

Tony kindly mentioned that Bubiko flew around Bari, and eventually landed on a tabletop in the Baretto Cafe. What we were actually doing was creating scenes that would be edited together.

On a technical level, Bubiko and her flight made history, as GeoPose-based AR had previously only utilized stationary digital objects, like signs or videos. According to Jan-Erik, the Managing Director of the Open AR Cloud Association, Bubiko First Flight has a significance equal to that of the first website posted on the internet.

This project is indebted to Augmented.City(AC) and their belief in me, as well as the fact that they created an amazing 100 square kilometre digital twin of Bari. Coming into Bari for the first time, to then prepare a film for an international high-profile presentation three weeks later, was a challenging situation made bearable because of the dependability of the AC team, technically and otherwise. Novaby helped too, creating the blimp and graphics in the shortest possible time.

Bubiko clearly demonstrated that GeoPose is much more accurate than GPS, and can be used indoors. She flew gracefully over large areas. Her descent to the table top was smooth and accurate to within a few centimeters! These successful experiments were very encouraging to my ideas regarding spatial cinema.

Artistic

The film was improvised, as there was no certain way to calculate the shooting time. A storyboard provided basic ideas, but it was on location that decisions were made about cinematography. Olga Kesh, from AC and the team supporting her, were invaluable for their patience, professionalism and trust. 

Part of Bubiko:First Flight’s poetic structure was shaped by an unplanned encounter with a performance of  La Caravan Electrique. The film's atmosphere and story gained new dimensions, and the music by Antonello Arciuli was a dynamic addition to the film’s soundtrack, which also includes pieces by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, Bernie Heveron and Mark Mothersbaugh. La Caravan Electrique was a dance performance by the Italian association Ri.E.S.Co. and the French association Expresso Forma. Featuring the dancers Chloe’ Apfel and Gabriele Montaruli, the piece was choreographed by Ezio Schiavulli. 

Personal

To make another long and complicated story short and simple, in 2015 my partner and I were at a very, very difficult point in our lives. We realized the time was right to begin the journey into spatial computing (AR and/or VR), but we were the newest of newbs, and in the eyes of many, we were completely unqualified. But we had ideas…

One day, I found myself in the remotest part of a GitHub comment section, where I found someone whose comment seemed trustworthy and contained some tech info similar to the idea I was thinking of. I wrote to that commenter, expecting no reply, or perhaps a reply stating that my idea was laughably wrong.

Instead, I was treated respectfully and given hope. That project is now on a back burner, but I am very happy to say that the man who answered my naiive question was Anthony Vitillo, the Skarred Ghost. Online, for the past six years we have shared some of life’s ups and downs. I have always been proud of Anthony’s ideas and accomplishments, especially his VR work with Jean Michel Jarre and SXSW.

It was a great to finally meet him last October, in his hometown of Turin, the city which hosts VIEW. VIEW took my professional life to another level.- and Tony introduced me to VIEW! I am very thankful to him for that, as well as all of his enthusiasm and patient advice.

And my mom thanks him for the great little Italian cookies he gave me as a souvenir!

If anyone has any ideas on where I can premiere Bubiko: First Flight, I would be most thankful for them.

Ciao! And thanks again Tony!