Lockdown Continued… (notice the calmer Title Case)

The VR world from the geranium project on simmer – www.simmer.io/@IanLatham/the-geranium-project – takes 8 minutes and 7 seconds to load.

The latest WebGL build on my own website – www.ian-latham.com/geranium/build – takes 11 minutes and 39 seconds to load.

I’ve spent hours trying to work out how to make the things load more quickly but everything I try seems to make little or no difference.

I participated in an online event for the Doncaster New Fringe art group, a kind of delayed open studio evening in which artists film their work and upload the videos to a website. This is the video I made Art Bomb Video for Doncaster New Fringe I found some old 3d models I made for sculptures over a number of years and built a VR environment for them, I then made an awful video of my studio and me explaining what I’d done in fluent gibberish and placed that video inside the VR world. I recorded that through the computer and there you go.

Other than that this week has been a lot of gardening, building a greenhouse, and the endless frustration of Unity!

greenhouse

My New Greenhouse

I finally got the WebGL build down to 6 minutes and 17 seconds! Or at least below 7 minutes over several tries, the load bar doesn’t work properly though.

Studio Strike (Two weeks to leave)

Upstairs Studio Cleared

Upstairs Studio Cleared

The upstairs of the shop is now cleaner and emptier than when I moved in.

I’ll be leaving my studio next Wednesday, no prospect of a new one yet, everywhere is shutting up shop, and I’m hopeful my van driver will honour the contract. We live in interesting times.

Shop ready to empty

Shop ready to empty

So all of this is now here…

Stacked Garage

Stacked Garage

Apart from the bits that are here…

Attic Studio

Attic Studio

Ready to work in isolation!

For the sake of future reference ACE effectively canceled all the National Lottery Project Funding currently pending in order to create a support system for freelancers who are seriously compromised by the current closure of everywhere. So all my plans are on hold along with everyone else’s. What I’ve decided to work on now is a Web GL version of the VR world and see what I can do to finesse it.

Studio Strike (four weeks to leave)

I’ve got three weeks to pack up and leave the studio and, as these things do, it’s come at a time when there are other things to do. I’m losing two days for the Future Now conference in York (C-19 permitting) and two days with Barnsley College to help out and begin the NHS maquettes. I’ve also got to find a new place and I’m still working on developing new ideas and refining the geranium VR. This obviously calls for a diary, even if only because it will keep me focused on the things I need to do.

So the first thing is to take the studio apart and pack everything while I look for more space. The shop now looks like this…

One Days Tidying

One Days Tidying – Monday 9th March

I think I can pack everything up by the middle of next week, I’m in York on Thursday and Friday. On Monday I sent some emails, took down the exhibition and the walls for the workshop downstairs, and added more sounds and animations to the VR for geranium.

geranium_march_2020_medium from Ian Latham on Vimeo.

Also this morning, Tuesday, I got the acknowledgement of my next funding application to ACE, so I will find out if I’m successful at the same time as I give the keys back to Axisweb.

Wednesday Tidying

Installation Dismantled – Wednesday 11th March

Wednesday I took down the installation and started to disassemble the panels. I also took the opportunity to film the installation without a roof.

The first chance to see it with decent light.

Friday I finished the panels and started to pile everything up downstairs ready to move. Another day should see it done.

Upstairs Tidying

Installation Fully dismantled – Friday 13th March

Downstairs Friday

Downstairs Tidying – Friday 13th March