April 15th, 2019
We had made some breakthroughs in developing an initial prototype of the idea of incorporating VR/AR into a live music performance. With help of some incredible developers and through the discovery of amazing open-sourced projects and samples, I was able to build a Frankenstein of a Unity project that actually works! MIDI turned out to be a key player in utilizing physical interfaces to generate low-latency effects directly from the music itself. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I want the music to look and sound, developing a theoretical approach to visual-aural art before testing it in context.
July 11th, 2019
July Update- It has been a busy summer for Portraits of Change! We have officially reached our first fundraising milestone- to raise $1000! I just wanted to take the time to thank all of our wonderful donors and supporters. This project would not be possible without your enthusiasm and passion for music.
We also have our first event finalized! On September 14th, 2019, you can find a booth of Portraits of Change at the What If... Festival of Innovation & Imagination in Downtown Colorado Springs! This is an amazing festival that celebrates lifelong learning and delights the community with the innovation, creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Pikes Peak region. More info coming soon!
August 10th, 2019
Just a hint of what is coming with our Alpha 0.2.2 Booth Demo! New logo, new effects, new colors, new hands! Find us at the What If... Festival of Innovation and Imagination on September 14th in downtown Colorado Springs to check it out!
August 25th, 2019
We have been hard at work testing our MIDI color system in augmented reality, while still polishing the VR experience for our upcoming events. We were fortunate to host our session pianist Noah Suazo for our most recent test, to uncover the possibilities of augmented reality! This test was used with the LIV software, and it is a really incredible tool for mixed reality recording. We are going to look into incorporating LIV into our live performances while we wait for the release of the Hololens 2.
September 15th, 2019
With the What If... Festival wrapped up, we are bunkering down to develop our MIDI conversion system after all this time researching and prototyping on piano. 0.2.4 will see the addition of the trumpet along with bug fixes and updates to the performance mode of Portraits of Change. This will also be one of the last times we update the booth demo for a while.
September 23rd, 2019
I really dislike how the trumpet module sounds in 0.2.4, but it is because we were using a practice mute with a mic inside to get our MIDI conversion. We will get a clip on mic and other music gear that will keep the original trumpet sound!
January 9th, 2020
This is where things get good. A little over a full year has past and we have a fully functioning trumpet module working! 0.2.5 will also be our first multi-instrument supported version.
February 5th, 2020
I managed to get a recording with our session pianist Noah Suazo. It was a really great experience and really rich to finally see some multi instrument harmony in action. We are both energized to see what more of our music looks like!
I also used footage from this session for my Peak Arts Prize 2020 proposal, which you can find below. Although we didn't contend in our competitive category, I learned a lot from this experience and look forward to more opportunities to share this project with the public!
March 27th, 2020
We have upgraded to SteamVR tracking! With the addition of the Index headset to our mixed reality arsenal, we can start prototyping AR pass-through with the ZED mini and LEAP motion sensor in a well-tracked environment with multiple objects in scene.
April 27th, 2020
Well, that happened. Coronavirus has altered our way of life, and the performing arts have suffered. The prospects of live music performance are not looking great, and it might be a while before we return to normal. I am still working through Portraits, hoping to attain some Vive trackers and adding more visual effects and refining the AR pass-through prototype. In our recent update, I added HDRP support and am using VFX graphs exclusively for the particle system.
April 12th, 2021
I got to bring my VR/AR rig down to my university to demonstrate a VR conducting app I have been working on for a class, and couldn't help myself in sharing some Portraits stuff as well! Here is a short demonstration of the Portraits of Change beta software and AR prototype with the man who taught me piano, Greg Creager!
The past year has been very challenging on all of us. I honestly have been struggling. Struggling to work on a project for performing arts without any performances, struggling to stay motivated through a pandemic. I am sure many of you can relate.
I still wanted to continue work with VR/AR and music so I shifted gears, and started working on an educational tool to help teach basic conducting in a college classroom. I recently had the opportunity to showcase my projects and got to do what I love, sharing the gifts of music and mixed reality with my peers and mentors. I demonstrated a rudimentary conducting VR app I built in Unity, but also got the chance to showcase some of my progress in Portraits of Change.
With the pandemic soon recessing as we ramp up vaccinations, the prospect of live performance with live audiences becomes possible again. There will be a Portraits performance as my senior recital by the end of the year. I look forward to announcing details soon, and collaborating with more musicians to bring our music to light!
April 15, 2021
This video contains a collection of different effects I've made for Portraits. In this 2D Unity scene, I can test different MIDI driven VFX without needing VR. There isn't sound, but these effects are being driven by my MIDI keyboard in real-time.
May 15th, 2021
Check out our latest trumpet test in mixed reality! A little Haydn in color.