MakerFaire Detroit 2010 Report
This was a triumph. I'm MakerFairing a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. (It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.)
Our exhibit was placed prominently near the museum entrance. We won a MAKE Magazine Editor's Choice Award!
During Friday setup, the main computer's hard drive refused to boot when we got it to the exhibit. It still was not working at the end of the day. I frequently heard from other Makers that they didn't make it to the Meet And Greet with other Makers because, like us, they were still setting up. Neither did they make it to the after-party on Saturday night, due to exhaustion. They interacted mostly with attendees. So i3Detroit is hosting a Maker Mingle in September.
Our backup computer worked on Saturday morning, after Alan fixed some networking issues. This impressed upon me how useful it will be if I learn networking.
Jeanine was the performer whose motion was captured on the screen. Usually she operated a woman with purple hair, but often an old man, a warrior, a clownish goof, or even a mouse.
While my colleagues were busy doing that, it fell to me to strike up conversations with attendees and explain our system. I tried to evaluate their interest through body language and allow for easy disengagement. One woman was clearly interested in directing her questions to Jeanine and listening only to her, so I left them alone.
The speech synch device was a hit with the kids. One of the museum staff noticed that if you said "I am a demon" into the microphone, the character's four eyes would open and vibrate. We realized this was caused by something about how the "n" phoneme was calibrated.
I knew very little about how the 3D glasses system worked, so I just said what I knew, and when they asked a question I didn't know, I asked Alan. Then I'd repeat it to more people until I knew I wouldn't forget it.
After I had my spiel down to a repeating patter, it began to remind me of "The Animation Show", particularly timestamps 1:00 and 3:55. While wearing the 3D glasses, I kept feeling the urge to repeat 5:13.
Speaking of videos, here's a video taken by an attendee. decided I looked wrong without glasses, so he gave me this pair, which do nothing.
(To be precise, they actually threw out the mocap from District 9 because it was too human. The director wanted the aliens to move more like insects.)
When Jeanine needed to take a break from the suit, we put up a sign saying "Live demos resume at 5". This gathered a half dozen people to wait. Then several dozen others gathered because they saw a crowd waiting for a "show". We were a little nervous about whether we'd have a glitch! I projected from the diaphragm to the crowd, narrating the process of calibration, filling time until the inevitable system errors were all ironed out.
Several attendees asked about the mocap certificate program, and the prospects for film jobs in Michigan. HFCC really should have been willing to pay for the publicity. Instead, I got a grant from the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association. Thanks to board members Jer Lance, Amy Zrnich, Limey Zrnich, Joe Saul, and Sheryl Bradakis for making our exhibit possible.
I was completely cleaned out of business cards by the end of the weekend. Someone from SaltSquares wanted me to autograph her Penguicon program book. I got to meet the folks of Xenomorph puppet foundry. I met a board game designer who was interested in my idea of forming a local playtesting group. I made new friends and re-united with old ones. Who knows what else it will lead to?
Comments
albogdan on Aug. 4, 2010 6:38 AM
Enjoyed the exhibit! Was great seeing you there.
matt-arnold on Aug. 4, 2010 2:16 PM
Yeah, it was great to see you too!
sheryl67 on Aug. 4, 2010 6:49 PM
You are welcome. Thank YOU for thinking of it and putting it all together. It was a really great exhibit. So glad we were able to help you with making it happen.
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