After two months of taking screen captures and coding, Web designer Greg Miller has re-created a place intimately familiar to many Americans: Jerry Seinfeld's sitcom apartment.
With the use of the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift, fans of the show can now explore a virtual 3D model of the iconic New York residence.
Users can walk around Seinfeld's apartment, explore all the rooms, and are free to find all 11 episode-specific references that Miller put into his virtual re-creation.
To start, Miller sketched out the entire apartment in a 3D model, he told Fast Company. Then, over two months, he watched Seinfeld and examined screencaps to figure out the minute details of the apartment. He even found 1990s-era labels for Jerry's cereal collection.
Don't own an Oculus Rift? You can still explore the apartment here. "Jerry's Place" is Miller's tribute to fellow Seinfeld fans.
Oculus Rift was designed by Palmer Luckey as a reasonably affordable ($499) device for gaming, but startups like PocketCake are using the technology to bring virtual reality simulations to the architecture and real estate markets.
Luckey told Fast Company that he believes that the future of gaming lies in virtual reality, and thus his headset was created as a way for users to feel as if they are inside the game they're playing. It uses sensors to follow the movement of your head as you look around, cretaing an immersive gaming experience. But it works for exploring your favorite television character's home, too.
Here are screen captures of views of Jerry's Place through the Oculus Rift headset:
Watch this VR model progress video from Greg Miller:
Related Stories
| May 15, 2012
SAGE Electrochromics to become wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain
This deal will help SAGE expand into international markets, develop new products and complete construction of the company’s new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Faribault, Minn.
| May 14, 2012
Codes harvest rainwater
IAPMO’s Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement could make rainwater harvesting systems commonplace by clearly outlining safe installation and maintenance practices.
| May 14, 2012
Plumbing research coalition to study drainline transport issue
The effort is aimed at determining if decreasing levels of water flow––caused by increasingly efficient plumbing fixtures––are sufficient to clear debris from plumbing pipes.
| May 14, 2012
SOM to break ground on supertall structure in China
The 1,740-feet (530-meter) tall tower will house offices, 300 service apartments and a 350-room, 5-star hotel beneath an arched top.
| May 14, 2012
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture design Seoul’s Dancing Dragons
Supertall two-tower complex located in Seoul’s Yongsan International Business District.
| May 14, 2012
SMPS and Deltek announce alliance
A/E/C industry leaders partner to advance technology’s role in design firm marketing and business development.
| May 14, 2012
ArchiCAD e-Specs integration unveiled
Architects, engineers and construction professionals use InterSpec’s e-SPECS products on thousands of projects annually to maintain synchronization between construction models, drawings, and project specifications.
| May 11, 2012
2012 White Paper: High-Performance Reconstructed Buildings: The 99% Solution
Download the complete White Paper, Chapters 1-10
| May 11, 2012
Chapter 10 Action Plan: 18 Recommendations for Advancing Sustainability in Reconstructed Buildings
We offer the following recommendations in the hope that they will help step up the pace of high-performance building reconstruction in the U.S. and Canada. We consulted many experts for advice, but these recommendations are solely the responsibility of the editors of Building Design+Construction. We welcome your comments. Please send them to Robert Cassidy, Editorial Director: rcassidy@sgcmail.com.
| May 11, 2012
Chapter 9 The Key to Commissioning That Works? It Never Stops
Why commissioning for existing and renovated buildings needs to be continuous to be effective.