Welcome to my blog

If you enjoy finding a lot of different outlets for your creativity, then we may just be kindred spirits.
This blog is an outlet for my interest in miniatures, crochet, plastic canvas, and many other various arts and crafts.

I also love walking, taking digital photos, and most recently, have rediscovered an old love...bike riding! I purchased an amazing new bike, a comfy Townie by Electra this summer, and have been having a grand time exploring the area as though for the first time. It's like being a kid again!

If you enjoy any of these things too, pour a cup of coffee and tea, sit down, and join me.


Take care!
Kat

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Pirate Paradise/Coaster Combat/Oculus GO

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Sunrise in the Apocalypse/7D2D NAVEZGANE/EP 7

Friday, February 7, 2020

World of Craft Kat/MMORPG Tycoon 2/EP 1

Thursday, January 30, 2020

I LOVE Tilt Brush/Oculus Quest/First Try



Tiltbrush is an amazing art program for the Oculus Quest that allows you to create 3D art all around you.  You get to walk around in your own art work, and can make it really big or really small. It is my favorite app for the Quest, and the reason I bought the Quest.

Monday, January 27, 2020

Anne Frank House/75th Anniversary of Liberation of Auschwitz/Oculus QUEST



Today is the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz so I decided to check out this virtual reality experience on my new Oculus Quest. It's called Anne Frank House, and it's heartbreaking. We can never forget this tragedy and we can never let it happen again.

Let's Go Home/FREE Horror Game/Oculus GO



Free Oculus Go Game

Check out this fun free game for the Oculus Go!  If you have a chance to try out or buy a VR headset, I highly recommend it.  It opens up new worlds.  Everyone in my family loves the Go.

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Thursday, January 23, 2020

A Questing We will Go! (World of Mazes, Part 1), Oculus Go



Here's part 1 :-)

World of Mazes/EP. 2/Oculus GO VR



Here's part 2 :-)

World of Mazes/EP 3/Oculus GO



Hi Guys, this is part 3 of my World of Mazes Oculus Go let's play series.  Parts 1 and 2 can be found on my Youtube channel under the name BadGamerKat.

I had NO idea I could share my videos here :-).

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

I Bougth the Oculus QUEST

I Am Out of CONTROL

Seriously, I need help, lol.

I love my Oculus Go so much, and I've been using it every day since I got it just after Christmas. I bought it with my Christmas money and my whole family loves it.

That should be enough.  Except when I bought the Go, I also wanted the Quest.  I was afraid of the higher price tag though, and worried that I might get sick in virtual reality.  A lot of people do.

As it turns out, I am fine in virtual reality.  I totally love it.  I'd stay in the headset longer if I could but the Go gets hot depending on the app it's running.

And the Go is wonderful for watching movies and videos and for some games, but it doesn't have 6 degrees of freedom (which means moving in the virtual space exactly like you do in real life).

One of the things I was most excited about was the app called Tilt Brush, which is not available on the Go.

Anyway, long story short(er)…I still wanted the Quest.  I didn't get it because our local Best Buy was out of them.  They fly off the shelves as soon as they come in.  Last night I checked online and noticed they had restocked.  I impulsively reserved one...they give you up to 24 hours to pick them up when you do that.  As soon as I reserved mine, the local store switched to "no longer available".  I'd gotten the last one.

Anyway, this morning I got an email saying it was ready to be picked up and they would hold it for another 12 hours.  So I ran in and got it.


My brand new Oculus Quest
I feel bad because I spent more on myself.  On the way there I tried to justify it by reminding myself that I don't smoke or drink (I had like 5 drinks in the entire year last year, two of them at Christmas, lol).  I don't go to bars. I don't gamble.  I rarely even go to the movies.  I can't travel because I can't leave my parrot.  Almost everything I do is free (walking, swimming, bike riding).  So in that way, it' OK to spend some money on myself.

On the other hand, I felt bad for my Oculus Go.  It's brand new; only a few weeks old and I feel like it's going to be overshadowed by it's sibling.  I told you I need help, lol.

Then again, my parents and relatives LOVE my Go.  They love sitting in a chair and getting transported to new places.  They especially love the travel videos, and the Wander with Friends App, which lets you visit Google Earth, but in 3D.  So it's way better than Google earth on the computer because you're right inside the images and it's fun.  So my Go will still get used.  I like using it in bed to watch videos.  And I'm thinking of bringing it to the seniors home where my aunt lives; I think she'd love to see videos of her home country, Austria.  So it will still get used.

But I'm super excited about the Go. It game bundled with 3 free Star Wars type games, called Vader Immortal.  I'm going to buy Tilt Brush too.

The games for the Quest are much more expensive than the Go, so I probably will still get a lot of use on my Go.  The Go has hundreds of games and apps, and I swear it seems like at least half of them are free.  So there's a lot of content to go through.

OK, I feel better now, lol.  Thanks for listening. :-)

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Oculus Go Art Programs

Art in Virtual Reality

Is So Much Fun!!!!

Seriously fun!

Imagine if you had a magic wand that could reproduce every paint, marker, crayon, pencil...and that you could wave your arms and draw in the air, all around you.

That is EXACTLY what you can do in the Oculus Go, with various paint programs.

Now, I'm not an artist, and the following pictures will clearly show that, lol, but imagine these images not as flat images but as 3D images that you can walk through, walk around, and be a part of.

3D painting in Oculus Go
The painting above...dare I call it that, lol, looks vaguely like a globe...or maybe a tangled ball of yarn.  In the Oculus Go, however, it was a vast dome throbbing with ribbons of color.  It was big enough to walk into, and to stand inside, surrounded by color.  It was huge.  

The ability to draw in the space around me with vibrant colors makes me happy.  It doesn't matter that I don't know how to draw; just being surrounded by ribbons of color set off my dopamine and seretonin and made my brain light up like a Christmas tree, lol.

That painting above was done with an inexpensive (under 5 dollars) program called Paint VR  It is a fantastic program, but a bit hard to learn.  There are tutorials on YouTube but the tutorials don't have commentary and are hard to follow, for me, anyway.  When I get better with this program, I'll make my own simple tutorials.  

I also tried some 2D painting in Virtual reality. It was also fun, but not as fun as painting in 3D.

Trying Cyber Paint in the Oculus Go
The above painting was done in a program called Cyber Paint, in the Oculus Go. I really enjoyed this program and had fun playing with paint effects that made the clouds and water look wavy.  I think this will also be a lot of fun when I learn how to use the program better.

Go Paint on the Oculus Go
I did the above painting on a program called Go Paint on the Oculus Go. It is the most popular art program for the Go, as far as I can tell.  Loads of fun, but again, I need to take some time to learn what I'm doing, lol.

I have two other paint programs to check out; one called VR Canvas, and one that does sculpting in VR.  

I'm having loads of fun and highly recommend trying the Oculus Go along with any one of these paint programs, if you get a chance.  If you only get to try one program, try the Paint VR program because there is nothing like painting in 3D, being totally immersed in the art.

Oculus go only has 3 degrees of freedom, and only 1 controller, so now I'm dying to try the Oculus Quest, with 6 degrees of freedom and 2 controllers. There's an art program called Tilt Brush that looks amazing. I think I am going to save up to get the Quest for my birthday, lol.  Or maybe next Christmas.  The Go is better because there are waaaay more programs and games available for the Go, at much lower prices.  Just my opinion.  If you have loads of money to burn, totally get the Quest...or the Rift :-).