Ikonospace (Beta) Test (S4)

An immersive group was made up of three individuals, taken from the focus group. This group was to be exposed to VR more than the rest of the group. So any software or ongoing technical testing of VR equipment, would be sent their way. The first piece of software that they were asked to test was Ikono Space (https://www.ikonospace.com/), an exhibition design and visualisation software and for this project, came along at just the right time.

Having identified that usability and accessibility would be a major hurdle to overcome if VR technology was to be included as a fine art resource in university, we needed to test the usability of Ikono Space's gallery building software. We wanted to see how people who do not have a technical background in 3D design and represent a good majority of B&FC creative art students, learned and utilised Ikonospace (for the first time) to create a gallery for a piece of their own work. We have to put this in the context of Unreal Editor 4 or Maya that are both fairly complex pieces of software and can be overwhelming for someone who has never used it (or any 3D design software) before.
The field test was designed to see how people who do not have a technical background in 3D design learned and utilised Ikonospace (for the first time) to create a gallery for a piece of their own work. This has to be put in the context of Unreal Editor 4 or Maya that are both fairly complex pieces of software and can be overwhelming for someone who has never used them (or any 3D design software) before.

The three participants were asked to use Ikono Space to create an exhibition space, without any technical help for a single piece of their own work and save the results., Each student spent about an hour each on their designs. They helped each other to work out how to use it and used a video tutorial, made by Ikono Space to help get them started. Their finished galleries were appraised and a discussion recorded their thoughts and feedback.

Each student spent about an hour each on their designs, but they helped each other to work out how to use it. They used a video tutorial, made by Ikono Space to help get them started. They encountered a couple of minor issues such as; centering and spacing their artwork across the walls and difficulty with selecting closely placed objects. Ikono Space displays a live view of the artwork-to-wall coordinates including a 150cm centreline, which is fairly helpful, but I think the students wanted a function that automatically centers and spaces the artworks across the wall.

After a couple of initial problems with saving and viewing one of the galleries, the students were able to (quite quickly) put together some recognisable and effective gallery spaces.

Each participant was able to master the software’s basic functions fairly quickly and build some fairly creative spaces and its user interface was best described as being similar to The Sims video game.

The conclusion is fairly positive, especially when you look at the results, which can only develop and get better with repeated use. Below are screenshots Ikonospace allows you to capture and download...

Helen
 

Nikki
 

 



Carl


 

 



The software allowed Nikki and Carl to add personal design features such as a purple floor and benches and chairs and there are a couple of interesting similarities between all three students' spaces such as the use of an approach space or corridor that leads into the main gallery and they all added furniture.

Carl seemed to be the most confident user this shows in his more complex design decisions such as the height of the walls, extra images and his use of the corridor as an extra exhibition space.

I am looking forward to seeing and hopefully using Ikonospace Pro when it is released.

If you are reading this blog and feel you can add something to my research then please comment… even if you are correcting me or don’t agree with something that I say.