#66: Meditating with Holograms
In a world where a great deal of interactive technology is meant keep us endlessly stimulated and engaged with our devices, is it possible for us to use an immersive display to soothe and relax ourselves?
Multimedia artist Drew Medina has created quite a few apps for the Looking Glass. One I'm particularly excited to talk about is Glass Galaxy. Described as a meditative cloud galaxy of spiraling dust and stars, Glass Galaxy gives Looking Glass users the chance to disconnect from normality and plunge themselves in a world of astonishing movement and color.
Holographic stardust trails behind a blazing golden comet, filling the Looking Glass with tiny glitter-like specs that develop twinkling violet and magenta hues as they spiral out from the center. You can rotate the shape of the comet using your mouse, zoom in & out with your mouse wheel, and the right & left direction keys can alter the speed of the movement. All of these elements combined make what Medina calls a "lava lamp" kind of experience that will surely keep you locked in a wondrously meditative state.
A little meditative “cloud galaxy” — as @DrewMedina20 calls it — of spiraling dust and stars ✨. See his Glass Galaxy experience on your Looking Glass by launching it here: https://t.co/6yGrGKNXub @madewithunity pic.twitter.com/12WMKUohit
— Looking Glass Factory (@LKGGlass) July 12, 2019
Since the current version Glass Galaxy is silent, I highly recommend listening to your favorite relaxing music while you play among the stars. In a previous post we talked about holographic audio visualizers. I personally liken my Glass Galaxy experience to that, but instead of the holograms automatically reacting to the music being played, I was able to manually alter the motion of the holograms to match my own moody tunes. If you're like me and you've got both a Looking Glass and an emotional playlist, Glass Galaxy is the perfect way to take the edge off.
Glass Galaxy was made with Unity and the Looking Glass HoloPlay SDK for Unity. You can launch it now from the Looking Glass Library, and view other apps made by Drew Medina here.
**this is part of our “100 Days of Holograms” series, where a few of us in the team at Looking Glass Factory post one new wonderful or weird (or both!) use for the Looking Glass holographic display being conjured around the world each day.
