What a CRAZY weekend it was at the Seattle HoloLens Hackathon! This was my first hackathon ever, so I had no idea what to expect. It was an extremely intense but very exciting event. There were many dozens of HoloLens enthusiasts descending upon Fremont Studios in Seattle for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Mystery Inside
BLEW MY MIND! he experience started outside Fremont Studios, with dark and mysterious doors and a security guard. The #HoloHacks hashtags above the doors let me know I was in the right spot. I was greeted by some friendly people as I walked down a dark hall. What came next BLEW MY MIND AWAY! I entered into the "main area" which opened up to a huge blue-lit wall and massive projector screens all around. There were a couple dozen tables rigged for the HoloLens. I was expecting a classroom-type area with low ceilings and fluorescent lights. Needless to say, I was pumped to be there and realized it was going to be an epic weekend.
As participants started trickling in, conversations got louder and I immediately started making friends. I loved hearing about everyone's background - each so unique. I talked to an actor, a fashion CEO from New York City, architects, builders, med students, and yes... software developers (developers, developers, developers).
As participants started trickling in, conversations got louder and I immediately started making friends. I loved hearing about everyone's background - each so unique. I talked to an actor, a fashion CEO from New York City, architects, builders, med students, and yes... software developers (developers, developers, developers).
So Many Good IDeas - But You Can Only Choose One
Our HoloLens Team! (From left to right: Melissa, Livio, Yang Yang, Caryn, Ryan, and ME!) The event kicked off with introductions from Microsoft's HoloLens team, followed by a slurry of idea generation and team member recruitment. I walked around trying to find a team to join. I almost joined a team working to integrate the HoloLens into the building and architecture industry. But I overheard a pitch from Caryn, the CEO of a fashion company in New York City. A holographic storefront in your living room. Genius! I was really excited about the idea and before we knew it, we had recruited several other people. Our team started with Caryn, Yang Yang, Melissa, and myself. The only thing we were missing was a... developer! Enter Livio De La Cruz, an experienced Unity developer. He was actually recruited by another team, but decided to join our team after some persuasion :)
[Fun plug! Livio recently left his job at Microsoft to become a freelance Unity game developer. Click here to learn more about him and his portfolio!]
Shortly after Livio joined, Ryan also joined our team (and he ended up doing a majority of our HoloLens development!) See the team picture!
[Fun plug! Livio recently left his job at Microsoft to become a freelance Unity game developer. Click here to learn more about him and his portfolio!]
Shortly after Livio joined, Ryan also joined our team (and he ended up doing a majority of our HoloLens development!) See the team picture!
Great Talks, Great People
Microsoft experts readily helping us all! The HoloHacks weekend was packed full of amazing talks by the creators and team members at the HoloLens division. We got to hear about spatial mapping, spatial sound, best practices for developing for the HoloLens, best practices for delivering an awesome pitch, and SO MUCH MORE!!!
But perhaps the best resource at the event was 24/7 access to live support... not someone on the phone 10,000 miles away reading from a script telling you to restart your computer. No, rather this was live troubleshooting help from the VERY CREATORS OF HOLOLENS and other experts from Microsoft. All of us in the room gave these folks a run for their money with our troubles and errors - but there was virtually nothing that these people couldn't handle. Never have I been more satisfied with Microsoft customer support :)
But perhaps the best resource at the event was 24/7 access to live support... not someone on the phone 10,000 miles away reading from a script telling you to restart your computer. No, rather this was live troubleshooting help from the VERY CREATORS OF HOLOLENS and other experts from Microsoft. All of us in the room gave these folks a run for their money with our troubles and errors - but there was virtually nothing that these people couldn't handle. Never have I been more satisfied with Microsoft customer support :)
A panoramic view of the hacking area
Developing Our HoloGraphic App
Actively developing our HoloLens app Hacking together an app over the weekend is harder than it sounds. We spent all of Friday, Friday Night, and the first few hours of Saturday discussing, re-discussing, changing, re-changing, planning, and re-planning our app idea. There were some debates and heated discussion, but we finally settled on an idea we could all stand behind. I think we all had a vision for a 6 month development project - but painfully had to reduce it to what we could accomplish in a day. During the planning and discussion, we were also frantically trying to get our machines up to par for developing with the HoloLens.
Microsoft provided a whopping 50 HOLOLENS DEVICES for everyone to use over the weekend. The whole room was giddy with excitement.
We spent most of Saturday and Saturday night developing our app, and getting it to the point where our concept was somewhat functional. I then took some video footage of our app in action, added my voice-over, and you can see the video demo below!
After finalizing our presentation Sunday morning, we were the first of 20 teams to present our app to the crowd. It was also really fun seeing demos and presentations from all the other teams. Some were inspirational, some were awe-inspiring, some were silly, and others were... embarrassing. But we all had good laughs that day and felt empowered to go out into a bold new world of digital holograms!
Microsoft provided a whopping 50 HOLOLENS DEVICES for everyone to use over the weekend. The whole room was giddy with excitement.
We spent most of Saturday and Saturday night developing our app, and getting it to the point where our concept was somewhat functional. I then took some video footage of our app in action, added my voice-over, and you can see the video demo below!
After finalizing our presentation Sunday morning, we were the first of 20 teams to present our app to the crowd. It was also really fun seeing demos and presentations from all the other teams. Some were inspirational, some were awe-inspiring, some were silly, and others were... embarrassing. But we all had good laughs that day and felt empowered to go out into a bold new world of digital holograms!
Our App!
Final Thoughts
The HoloLens hackathon was an epic experience. Period. Having so many enthusiastic people in one room, so many ideas for a brand-new computing platform, and access to HoloLens experts for development help... I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This event has definitely emboldened me to firmly add "HoloLens Developer" to my list of skills. I can't wait to see what other teams come up with over the next few weeks of Hackathons around the country!
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