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Capturing all those beautiful tropical beaches again - actually, a nicely hideous desolate volcanic hellscape slowly being reclaimed by plant life. Shot in a bit of a hurry (less than fifteen minutes between first and last photos) in pretty terrible light (the sun was about to set, and being close to the equator meant the light was dying fast) - also, the minibus was about to leave.

So, enjoy a Volcanic landscape near Kīlauea, Big Island, Hawaii.

That's almost it for my Hawaiian VR - I've got one last scene to process, which is rated 'moderately desolate'. Also, it's a monster at over a thousand shots. Alas, anyone hoping for a repeat trip up Mauna Kea will have to be disappointed - it was bloody amazing the last time I went, but the whole 'lack of oxygen' thing was quite a challenge...

Please excuse the recent lack of Sunday Things. I've been busy. Also, forgetful. I've been building up a nice stockpile of links, though...

Meanwhile, have some more virtual Hawaii. If anyone was concerned about the sudden outbreak of pleasant scenery and tropical paradise in the last captured slice of volcanic island, have some dry wilderness with some ancient carvings in the long-hardened lava - with some Woodlands near Puakō Petroglyph Field, Big Island, Hawaii. Even includes ambient audio recorded on site, with bloody loud and repetitive birds chirruping and squawking away.

The ground worked really well. Foliage up above is still problematic. I have ideas to counter this in future.

Interestingly, I did all processing and cleanup for this scene on my home PC (and laptop) - which means this whole conspiracy to get people to look at my holiday photos can continue indefinitely.

And yes, of course I captured some other increasingly apocalyptic scenes when I was in Hawaii. Don't act all surprised!

When it's not been too warm, the weather's been decent enough in Seattle - but if it does start raining again, I can always retreat to the simulated baleful glare of the vicious day-star courtesy of a VR headset.

For the record, I did get sunburned shooting this thing - a post-breakfast, sunscreen-free perambulation meant I absorbed more than a little too much UV radiation, all in the space of 25 minutes or so. I also vaguely hurt my leg shooting a lava tube in Iceland. Oh, the sacrifices I must make for the photogrammetric arts...

Yes, SteamVR Home has updated again, and there's a new, photogrammetric Hawaiian Beach scan on the Workshop - complete with (mostly) authentic audio recorded on site. And slightly fake palm trees replacing the real ones, which were wobbling around a little too much for a good reconstruction...

More to come!

Too bloody warm in Seattle. I'm almost tempted to move somewhere with shite weather, like San Francisco.

What Does A Meteorite Hitting A Spacecraft Sound Like? - using wobbles in image data captured with a pushbroom camera to figure out the sound a micrometeorite collision made. I've monkeyed with turning a video camera into a pushbroom camera myself. Now to reconstruct the sound of a 550 bus going over bumps...

Days of Night/Nights of Day - a post-Soviet mining city far north of the Arctic Circle. As bleak and desolate as you'd expect, but hauntingly beautiful photography.

Agent 327: Operation Barbershop - fantastic animated short from the people behind Blender. Myself, I'm one of those filthy modo users.

Bonus Robotic Colour corner:

• New paint colors invented by neural network - such lovely shades as Dorkwood, Stanky Bean and Turdly. Almost as good as Dead Salmon.
• Colormind - for when you want an entirely more tasteful colour scheme, but still don't trust those awful humans with their eyes and brains made of meat.

That oft-mentioned Destinations is going away - and is being replaced by SteamVR itself.

The previously unannounced SteamVR Home has just entered public beta - it's now the place for all scanned and imaginary VR content from yours truly, and is more accessible than ever.