APE(S) - George Snow’s panoramic movie and immersive VR experience
My name is George Snow. I am a filmmaker. The immersive 3D environment APES is my creation.
It was originally conceived as a 360º panoramic movie requiring 12 video projectors, a circular screen and a large room. Although the panoramic video work is complete I have been unable to find the funds to have it shown on a panoramic screen.
THE MOVIE will be shown in Cannes as either a 90º section of the panorama on a single screen OR as the complete 360º panorama on 4 adjacent screens.
THE VR EXPERIENCE will be demonstrated as a game developed for the Unity engine. The game was developed on an Apple Mac and as such is not yet viewable on the Oculus Rift VR headset.
THE HISTORY
Since early 2015 I have ported the animated movie project to the Unity games engine. The games engine version is now complete including Leonardo's flying machine. This version can be seen as a ‘game’ and viewed on a single flat screen using a Playstation controller to navigate.
THE FUTURE
The VR experience will be developed as a game. I will employ AI strategies such as learning to navigate, finding a path or location, adapting the behaviour of buildings and objects, the gathering of information by clues and determining a strategy for the attainment of an objective. The purpose of the game is to locate the precise position of the Vanishing Point using architecture, mechanics
and space time.
THE TECHNICAL DETAILS
APES (the movie) is a 10 minute 360 degree panoramic movie created in Maya using 12 cameras.
It is 'conventional' trailer for the immersive VR work APE which was built using the Unity games engine. The panoramic movie is 12,800 pixels wide and 960 pixels high.
APES will be World premiered on Animation Day in Cannes on the 18th May 2016.
APE (the VR experience) is essentially educational and exploits the work of the architects Alberti, Piranesi and Escher in a fantasy landscape which draws on their unrealised works in a historical context. It also features Leonardo's flying machine, a locomotive from a Sicilian mine and a steam engine that might have been designed by Piranesi. APE is presented as a 'game' in Unity
controlled with a Sony Dual-shock PS4 controller. It will be run on an Apple Mac Pro and viewed on
a 30” monitor.
IN A NUTSHELL
APES (the panoramic movie World premiered at Cannes) will be shown as a 90º slice of the full panoramic movie on a single screen
APE (the VR version) will be developed into an educational game where the objective will be to locate the illusory Vanishing Point. It will be demonstrated in interactive game form on an Apple Mac Pro controlled by a Sony PS4 game controller.
CHATELIN Bruno 
