The journey of component 1 makes its final stop at Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station of Hong Kong, to test and see their recently captured 3D scenes as augmented reality. With the help of Sketchfab, participants can take their 3D scenes captured by photogrammetry in the last workshop and augment them into the Tai Kwun space.

As the final exhibition for the first year of the Jockey Club Augmented Reality in Arts Education Project will take place in various spaces in Tai Kwun, the heritage site would serve as a site visit for the soon-to-be trainers as well as a space to see their efforts come to life.

While exploring the different corners of Tai Kwun, participants were prompted with many considerations when choosing a space to present their AR scenes. How can the environment help facilitate the narrative and/or concept of their AR scene? How would the space enhance the experience and engagement of audiences? How do the light, surrounding objects, and/or passersby affect the presentation of the AR scene?

Each group had an opportunity to present, share, and discuss their AR scene whilst reflecting over weeks of their hard work and learning coming into fruition. What a journey it has been.

Day 4 of component 1 saw a trip to Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) for workshops 5 and 6, the photogrammetry session and post-production respectively.

The chosen models of each group donned their selected costumes and makeup, ready for the shoot in HKDI’s Photogrammetry Lab. 102 cameras are set up in a cage which enables 1-2 models with minor props to be captured into 3D with a single snapshot. 

As the photogrammetry lab can only accommodate 1 group at a time and needed 20 minutes to shoot and process a scene, other groups patiently set up their scenes and finalised makeup for the big shoot. A large proportion of the 20 minutes was used to pull and process the high-quality images from 102 cameras. This made the margin of error in setting up the props, makeup, costumes, and pose very narrow.

Participants were not involved in the post-production process as this is too complicated. They still had a chance to experience how HKDI technicians use the software to clean up and retouch the data to create the 3D photogrammetry scene.

The fourth workshop took place in the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA) as the participants move on to preparing scenographic materials for their upcoming photogrammetry session.

The workshop started with HKAPA workshop assistants presenting props examples based on previous research, such as a fire hydrant that was seen with a plastic stool on top seen at the streets of Yau Ma Tei (not sure if this was actually taken in Yau Ma Tei. Please advise Zoe.). This provided the participants with more context and ideas as to what can be creatively used as props in their future photogrammetry sessions.

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A quick tutorial on basic hair-styling and makeup was also taught by the HKAPA assistants as well as a demonstration of make-up that mimicked old age (老人妝).

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The latter half of the workshop had participants take on a more hands-on role in applying the knowledge that was just taught. Based on the concepts and scenes each group finalised in the previous workshop (workshop 3), each group selected a member to model, decided on the costumes and make up, as well as sourced props within the HKAPA stock room. A reference image was then taken of the models to use during the photogrammetry workshop.

For the second day of the Jockey Club Augment Reality in Arts Education Project, participants gathered at the University of Hong Kong to finalise content for their AR project based on the field in Yau Ma Tei in workshop 1. Conducted bilingually, the workshop was led again by Thomas Tsang and Leung Mee Ping.

The workshop began with Thomas and Leung Mei Ping introducing the theme of this year’s project; Be There (2071). Drawing from the Masaki Fujihata’s HKACT! Act 1 BeHere AR project which serves as the catalyst for this education project, participants conversely imagine from the perspective of the future looking back at the now as history. Be There (2071) will be comprised of objects, building fragments, oral histories, and historical events; recollecting the now.

Each group were provided with a worksheet to aid in brainstorming and storyboarding.

The groups’ storyboards were then magnified onto two large screens to share the progress of respective participants. Taking in turns to present, Thomas and Leung Mei Ping provided feedback to help polish and guide their concepts.

It was a joy to see many of the participants still excited and made individual appointments with Thomas and Leung Mei Ping for further discussion.