1. What was your original proposal?

My original proposal was to go Scuba diving up to 60ft with two gopros placed average eye distance apart- while spinning around 360 degrees and taking still pictures with the gopros.

I Then planned to transfer the series of still underwater images from the gopros into first the carboard box 3D viewer then with the eventual goal of transferring them into the Oculus Rift VR Viewer. My original uses for the end product of my ISR Project was; pleasure use, commercial advertisement for dive shops, and further scientific research

I also proposed the idea to find a way to make an underwater casing that could be put around the 360 fly panoramic 360 degree HD Video camera, that at this time was only available for land use. My eventual goal for this idea was to take this 360 degree camera wreck diving with the underwater casing I planned to design for it.

2. Who did you collaborate with or not, and how did that impact your project?

I collaborated a lot with Mr. Rice about the best way to handle the camera with scuba divng and he helped me go scuba diving in the HPA pool with my original GoPro 360 degree panorama idea.

Oliver Weixing was also really helpful during the first semester of the year in helping me work panotourpro, autopano giga and photoshopping the images I was getting with the underwater gopro images. Oliver and I also worked together with the Nikon Keymission camera when it first came in to get it working and see what it was capable of. He used it on land for his Virtual Reality Oculus photos of the E-Lab while also helping me find a way to view the underwater photos I was getting with it in Panotour pro app.

Annelise was a huge help in me being able to constantly bounce my ideas off of her and she always helped me to generate new ideas and kept me sane while I was frustrated over not being able to work various electronic gadgets.

George Donev was the key in helping me finally figure out how to transfer my underwater nikon photos into the oculus rift, which turned out to be fairly simple. This help from George made my project complete and made all my year’s hard work completely worth it.

Dr. Greene, Dr. Harvell, Dr. Joleah Lamb and all the Cornell students were a huge help to collaborate with because they gave me an inside look on the future I will be going into of marine science. Also by them allowing me to go with them on two dive trips they went on to Puako and Kealakekua they allowed me to survey their reef transects and square quadrats with the Nikon Camera. They were an immense help to collaborate with about the research they were doing and how my project could be helpful to the science world.

3. What legacy does your project leave for others?

The legacy my project leaves for next year, is it’s easily continued, because there is always new technology coming out that could further improve my project. Even a new set of eyes could see some completely different uses and/or applications for my project that I haven’t thought of yet. Also my project could become really useful to HPA for next years marine biology or physical oceanography classes. My project would allow these classes to view underwater environments without actually having to leave the school. It is almost impossible to go on as many field trips as the teachers would like to in order to teach the class, so this way they could combine field trips with class work and learning about Hawaii’s ocean through the oculus rift underwater photos.

4. If you are coming back next year, where will you pick up, what will you need, and if you have submitted a proposal, copy it here. If you are not, do the same for someone who might be following in your footsteps.

Someone who would like to continue my project into next year could pick up from what I've done so far by putting sound into the oculus rift in conjunction with the underwater nikon photos to create a more immersive experience, they could start doing this by building the 3D sound head that we already have the microphone, earbuds, plastic head and recording device for land recordings. Another part of my project a student could continue into next year would be to find a way to put nikon videos into into the oculus rift. Another thing a student next year could also do is advertise the nikon underwater photos in the oculus rift to scuba instructor courses, and for scuba shops to use as an advertisement for tourist dive shops.

5. If you were describing your year in ISR to a stranger, what would you say? What did you learn? What were your greatest challenges and how did you overcome them? What are you most proud of? What would you have done differently?

My love for the ocean was fostered since the moment I was born, my parents had me in the Hawaii ocean every possible second. When I was red faced screaming and crying as a baby they would race me down to the ocean and I would immediately hit the hay happy and peaceful again. So if you can't tell already, I love the Ocean, I moved from dry Chico California back to my Hawaiian home my senior year because of my love for the ocean. Stepping into the e-lab was like stepping into my version of a science headquarters, with wires crawling everywhere, a 3D printer buzzing away, and computer screens lining the walls. I was so overwhelmed I didn't even know what to do with myself and I hadn't even gotten my hands on anything yet. Dr. Bill then gave me the chance to view the subnautica program in the oculus rift, and at that moment I was hooked! I had to come to HPA. Looking through the eyes of the oculus rift I saw a video game ocean before me. My brain then started buzzing away. Could I possibly put real spherical images and videos into the oculus rift? I knew absolutely nothing about computers, I had always told everyone I was technologically challenged. How was I supposed to do this knowing nothing, but I had to find a way. I started with a gopro, scuba diving, going to the bottom then spinning in a slow 360 circle while snapping photos- then tried to stitch photos together into 360 photo with autopano giga app, then used photoshop to fix them up, however created the problem that there was no top and bottom to the photo and it didn't appear in a spherical fashion like the photos in the oculus rift needs to. Thankfully Dr. Bill soon ordered the Nikon Keymission 360 degree Camera before it had even come out yet so we were one of the first people who got one, but I soon encountered the problem of I had no clue how to work it. I quickly hurdled over this bump by talking to Oliver Weixing and reading the instructions manual and other people’s reports online. With this I finally was able to go scuba diving with the Nikon camera. After many attempts of finding the best way to get spherical photos without capturing myself in them, I found a way and with the help of George Donev one weekend we found a way to finally get the Nikon photos into the Oculus rift, and the result was fantastic!

My biggest challenges was the technology and trying to figure out how to work it in the way I wanted to. The nikon camera also came with a lot of challenges too because I was one of the first people to get one when they first came out. Because of this none of the issues had been worked out yet and any problems I encountered while working with the camera I couldn’t ask Nikon how to fix them because they hadn’t even figured them out for themselves yet.

I learned a lot of invaluable lessons about teamwork, technology and how to best share my love for our Hawaiian Oceans with the world. Here’s one specific example of some of the lessons and challenges that I had this year: I found myself staring at a blank monitor, no clue what to do-I had a folder stuffed full of photos I had taken with the gopro camera with no clue what to do with them. I looked around and everyone else continued typing away or fidgeting with various gadgets around the classroom, well at least no one noticed I was completely lost on what to do next. I peaked over the computer screen and saw Oliver Nie, the black Oculus Rift box hiding his eyes from view. Ok I got this. “Hey Oliver, could you help me out?” “Of Course” He shuffled over, peering over my shoulder. Ideas started zooming back and forth over head, Together we tinkered with the photos until we had a ruff product of boxy photos stitched together into a panorama with the help of photoshop and autopano giga

I am most proud of finally being able to show the end product of my project which I pictured from the first second I walked into the HPA elab. I am also super proud of being able to officially say I am not technologically challenged anymore, I came into my Independent Science Research class knowing almost nothing about cameras, computers and just technology overall and I am proud to say now that I am leaving my class knowing a lot more than I did when I came into HPA. I plan to leave here and continue my education about technology and hopefully continue working in some way with photography and Hawaii’s oceans.

The one thing I would've done differently, would be starting my project sooner. If I had started it sooner I would have had more time to perfect my results and add to them. Such as adding in sound to my underwater pictures in the oculus rift or figure out a way to view videos in the Oculus rift instead of just being able to format them to youtube and view them in 360 on the computer. Overall I enjoyed my year immensely and doing this project was tons of fun and is leading me in the direction I would like to continue for my career and future.