This Artist Filmed His Life With Snapchat Spectacles for a Year and Created a VR Time Machine – Gizmodo

Time travel is one of those things that fascinate people. Although time travel currently isnt possiblethank God, as if humans needed another way to make a mess of thingsthis creator decided to do the next best thing: film his life with the Snapchat Spectacles 3 for a year and create a virtual reality time machine.
On Friday, Lucas Rizzotto, a virtual reality and augmented reality artist, debuted a YouTube video showing the process he went through to make a real-life time machine, so to speak. The time machine would let him go back in time for one year, the entire year of his life that he recorded using the Spectacles, Snapchats camera glasses that record at 60 fps in 3D. It wouldnt be a normal year, either. Rizzotto recorded a year living as a digital nomad, documenting his experience traveling through different countries around the world.
Fridays video is the first episode of a series Rizzotto wants to do called, Lucas Builds The Future, in which he builds something crazy every episode using futuristic technology or concepts.
Rizzottos idea immediately reminded me of the pensieve in Harry Potter, the silvery swirling bowl that Harry and Dumbledore use to explore Voldemorts past as if it were a movie. Rizzotto also compares it to the memory projector from Minority Report.
Rizzotto built his time machine in VR and carried out the project in three main phases: the control panel, the memory finder and the time travel effects.
Per Rizzotto, the control panel is essentially the user interface. The memory finder, meanwhile, is the program that finds the right memory to play based on the date you put in the control panel. And finally, the time travel special effects are all the bells and whistles aimed to spruce up the whole experience in VR, as Rizzotto didnt want it to just be a straight replay of the video shot with the Spectacles.
When he finally finished building his VR time machine, Rizzotto sat down on a comfy chair with a blanket and pillows and took a look at some of his memories from the past year. His delight and energy is a joy to watch, as are the time machine memories and effects in VR.
At that moment, Rizzotto makes some profound reflections about himself that I think are beneficial to anyone who watches the video. In todays world, we often judge ourselves harshly and see only our defects, but rarely do we take a moment to stop and just appreciate who we are.
There are many days where I wake up and I dont like who I see in the mirror, I dont like the way he talks, the way he thinks, the way he looks, Rizzotto says in the video. I dont like who that person is, but watching myself from a distance has given me a new perspective. It has let me appreciate myself as a separate person, and using the time machine made me realize that I liked the person I was watching. Sure, he wasnt perfect, but he was nice, thoughtful and smart. And it took me building a time machine to see all of that, to see my own self-worth.
Gizmodo spoke to Rizzotto about his journey making the time machine and the video through Twitter direct messages. We were especially curious about where he found the time to do this and how he felt about the idea of people using inventions like his to live in the past. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Gizmodo: Are you a full-time YouTuber? Or is this something that you do in your free time? 
Rizzotto: Not a YouTuber at all. Ive made some videos before to share some things I created and to teach people some stuff, but never anything like this. But the idea of making this series started creeping up on me and I wanted to see if I could live up to the challenge. So I look at this as a pilot! Usually, Im just an indie VR/AR creative, mostly known for a title I released on the Quest named Where Thoughts Go.
But I always like to try new things and challenge myself. So I made this and told myself that if the video got 100K views and 10K subscribers that Id try doing this for a full year. Were almost over the threshold!
Gizmodo: It looks like you had to do a lot of coding to make your project work. Do you have a background in coding? 
Rizzotto: I did teach it to myself over the past three years! But before that, zero technical background.
Gizmodo: Would you say that made the project more challenging? 
Rizzotto: Somewhat! Honestly, the storytelling aspect of it was the really challenging part to me. How do you communicate these really complicated ideas in a way thats really fun, easy for the average person to understand and also feature some actual artistic merit/originality? After two years of coding you pretty much already know enough to get yourself out of most trouble if youre persistent enough.
Gizmodo: Well, you did a great job with the storytelling. Honestly, at first I thought, Dang is this a long video, but time went by so fast while I was watching it! I think thats how you know you created a good story. 
Rizzotto: Thanks. Im always surprised

Click here to view the original article.