Review: Hold the World with David Attenborough
Hold the World with David Attenborough starts with the viewer in a room with three separate doors that the participant can go through. After going through one off these three doors, the viewer is seated at a desk where two boxes are placed to the left and right side of the viewer. They are then asked to choose one of the two boxes and pull out whatever is inside. Once the player chooses a box, they pull out one of the many specimens that the Natural History Museums has to offer. These specimens range from a wide variety of animals, including a blue whale, Stegosaurus, trilobite, dragonfly, butterfly and pterosaur. After the player has found their specimen, they are able to interact with it by turning and/or enlarging the fossil. Then, a 3D hologram of Sir David Attenborough appears and will talk about the animal that was chosen, giving facts about both its history and its makeup; pretty much everything there is to know about the animal. The viewer is also able to see the animal come to life and move around the environment, and they can continue to learn about the animal from Attenborough as they watch it move and interact with the viewer. Once the experience is over, they are returned to the original room where they started, where they can begin another experience.
The two main things to note about this project are the visuals and the interaction. Visually, the specimens are rendered at a very high resolution, and clearly the team worked very hard to create a scientifically-accurate model and animation for each specimen. The way they brought the specimens to life has never been done before, but the team made the animals look very realistic and gives the user the impression that they are viewing a real-life version of the specimen. David Attenborough is also well represented in this work. The 3D hologram is well made and looks very realistic, and can give the viewer the feel that they are actually talking with Attenborough in real time. Even the surrounding areas, whether it’s the museum itself or the environment of the animals, are very well-made and look very realistic for a VR program. The interactions are also a key part of the work. The user can interact with many different things among the world, whether it’s doors, boxes, or even the fossils of the animals. The interaction is very simple and easy to use, and does not require any complex movement. Even though the user is sitting down during this experience, the interaction system really allows them to engage with the world around them, and get an enjoyable experience out of it.
The purpose for this work is fairly simple: the user is able to interact and learn about animals in the Natural History Museum and interact with things that they would otherwise not be able to interact with. The way that this project is set up begs the question: why VR? It seems as though you could learn about these different animals in a 5-10 minute video rather than a VR. That is not the case. The ability to engage and interact with the specimen you are learning about should not be overlooked. People tend to learn better when they are able to actively engage in what they are learning, and then they subsequently retain that information after they are finished. I certainly felt that way after learning and engaging with the blue whale. By being able to engage and interact through VR, they will get a much more enjoyable learning experience than just sitting behind a desk watching a normal linear video.
Ultimately, Hold the World with David Attenborough is a simple project that delves into the histories of many different specimens at the Natural History Museum, and is an overall enjoyable experience. Visually, it is one off the best works I have seen, as the graphics and animations of not only the animals, but also of the surroundings and David Attenborough himself, were very well done and looked very realistic. The sounds were clear and crisp, and I had no trouble understanding what was going on during the experience. The use of interaction was well done, and it did a great job of allowing me to engage with the work, and to get a much richer experience than I would normally get. Its purpose is simple, yet it seems as though VR was the best option for what they were trying to do, and I think that this work fulfilled that purpose very effectively. Overall, this experience was very well made and I learned a lot from it, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about the specimens in the Natural History Museum
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