- We won't be able to even imagine what the world's gonna,
I mean, it might look like this, but like-
- Exactly.
- But also it might look way wilder than this.
[laughing]
[upbeat music]
The show where we take a road trip into the metaverse
while chatting with the most interesting
creators, educators, and experts
to find out
where the metaverse stands now,
and what's coming in the future.
I'm Keke Palmer,
and today I'm talking with Don Allen,
a creator and educator in both VR and AR.
What's up, Don?
- Oh, hey! How you doing?
- I'm good, are you ready
to get the show on the road?
- Oh yeah.
- Let's do it.
[engine and digital beeping sounds]
- Ooooh...
Oh!
- Mmhmm.
- Okay, this is what you were talking about.
- Yep!
- This is my kind of space.
- Hah!
- Okay, I don't know if you meant that pun,
but well, I saw it-I like it, I dig it.
- It's a little forced.
[laughing]
- Now Don, I know you wear many hats,
can you tell me what some of those hats entail?
And wear an AR hat while you do it?
- Oh, sure thing.
Let me just think about it real quick...
And there we go! [cat meow]
I think we got, this is a little cat, cat hat.
- How did you just do that?
- I use a lot of different 3D programs and tools
and this one, I modeled it, painted it,
give it bones, give it the ability to move.
We got to animate it.
- So how did you learn how to do all this stuff?
I mean, where did that knowledge come from?
- Yeah so, I'm totally self-taught.
I've been working at DreamWorks
for three or four years as an educator,
and I've made a lot of AR filters
for everyone
from Lil Nas X to Tiësto.
- Okay, light flex, but I see you!
I love that you're self taught,
but sometimes that can be, like,
a hard thing to keep pushing yourself to do.
So what drives you?
- Yeah, I mean, it's a little serious,
but I had a brain surgery at 18,
and then recovered from it,
and then, the whole thing made me realize that,
I didn't have much control over physical reality,
which is what inspires me so much about AR and VR
is giving that sense of control and agency back,
and how I wanna represent myself, my identity.
So, I'm half Black, half Italian.
My whole life you know,
I didn't really fit into the normal tribes
that were available to me.
People in the past might have been easily typecasted
into a binary system of this or that,
and that will pretty much be erased.
- Yes, I love that!
- It will be just be a gradient of identity.
- Do you have any AR to illustrate your point?
- Yeah, like sometimes in a metaverse meeting,
I need to have 'Professional Don'.
So 'Professional Don' comes in here,
and he's got a button up.
[laughing] He's a little bit more serious, you know?
And he's got my face, I'm gonna be like,
'Ahhhh!' [laughing] You know?
- That is so cool!
- But, then other times I want to be more expressive.
I want more color, I want more light,
and you know, I wanna go big!
So then I go 'Ice Queen' style.
My friend Paige did the makeup on the cheeks and the eyes.
[Keke] Shout-out, Paige!
- Shout-out to Paige.
And so when I see this stuff I'm like, 'Whoa!'
This is what makeup does?
- Yeah, it's pretty cool.
- That is pretty cool.
- I don't look anything like this.
[laughing]
- Exactly.
It's gonna be kinda like Halloween almost all the time.
- I love that. You're a pretty deep guy.
- Oh thanks.
We could go way deeper!
[laughing]
Might have to really pack it in.
- You know, I know a little bit about VR,
you know, virtual reality,
but I'm still kinda trying to understand AR.
Can you explain that to me?
- So VR is like all virtual worlds,
like we're fully immersed like this
AR could be like a cat on my actual head.
And another example of like, you know
AR would be at a baseball game.
You know how like when a pitcher's about to throw the ball,
they'll overlay a box around?
- Yeah.
- Right?
The box isn't really there,
but it's really useful information
to overlay on top of reality.
That is actually an augmentation
of what was the reality.
Like right now you might be seeing
that the cat is in front of the windshield here,
and that's because AR is usually an overlay
on top of the real world.
So that's tracking my face.
I cover my face,
we will lose the tracking of the cat.
- Don, all your filters are so much fun.
Like, I'm pretty inspired by them.
And so, I gotta know-who inspires you?
Like what other illustrators or creators out there?
- Ooh, Dunaway Smith, stuff's amazing!
She has these geometric
augmented reality things.
And then another friend of mine,
Stephy Fung,
she's got these fantastic virtual outfits,
cool cloth simulations.
They inspire me all the time.
- Speaking of fashion...
I think I could really use your eye.
Would you be willing to play a game with me?
- Around fashion?
- Yes!
- Okay!
[engine starting]
So, I asked the graphic team to kinda, you know,
mock up some filters for my ideas.
I have no idea exactly what I'm trying to go for,
but I figured that you could take a look
and let me know if I'm going in the right direction, yeah?
- Yes! Be happy to help.
- So my fans know me as 'Big Boss',
and of course I need a look for that.
So tell me what you think of this mock up?
- Ooh! I love the colors. And I love the shine.
You got the angular shapes that
kind of bring a lot of focus
to the center.
[Keke] Yeah.
- You got the crown that says 'Boss'.
[Keke] Right!?
- One thing I'm thinking you could do is,
you can animate the shoulder spikes so that
they come out.
Pshh!
- Oh my gosh!
I love the animated aspect,
'cause I love the shoulders pop,
you know what I mean?
That's like a little throwback to the eighties
when the shoulders were super strong 24/7.
- Mm hmm, yes.
- So I think I love the idea of like,
it can go down, but then it can come back up again.
So I was thinking about my metaverse movie premiere look,
so check this out and let me know what I need to do
to raise the stakes?
[Don] Woo!
So for something like this,
I'd probably use Spark AR, and like,
just create a bunch of cameras that would literally,
it'd look like a camera just floating around
and they're all trying to
get the best angle of you.
And every time you turn,
they have to adjust themselves.
You know?
And you're just like, you know? [cameras clicking]
- Don, I knew you were the perfect person to ask,
because not only is it fabulous and giving a moment,
but it's also giving some humor,
and I always love to give that.
You know, I don't take myself too seriously,
so the idea that I can give you all that class and sass,
but then a little bit of a comedy show...
the kids will gag!
[laughing]
I love it, I love it!
[laughing]
Well, that's all I've got!
Thanks for playing the metaverse fit check with me.
Ready to get back on the road?
- Mmhmm, let's go!
- All right.
[intergalactic sounds]
So how, how else do you imagine the metaverse playing
into your effort as like an educator?
- Like in the long run,
I wanna build a planet-sized education system.
- Ooh, so you wanna be a teacher in the metaverse?
- Well, I would like to be like the catalyst
that made education free and accessible
for everybody in the world.
I always think what kind of ancestor I want to be,
that's the kind of ancestor I want to be.
- Come on ancestor, yes!
I love the ancestors, I call on 'em every weekend.
[laughing]
- Oh, I love that sneaker mountain.
- I don't think it's my size though.
[laughing]
Speaking of ideas, the future jobs that are gonna be
poppin' up in the metaverse are all gonna be around
how big of an idea can you imagine?
- Oh my gosh, yeah.
- Seeing how fast AI's improving... And it, you know,
people can give a single text prompt,
and generate worlds now.
I honestly think the people are gonna build the best,
most exciting and engaging worlds in the metaverse,
are gonna be the ones like the poets.
- Yeah!
- The ones who can like verbalize a world,
they have the language and their brush strokes
are literally just like literary devices.
- Oh, I love that so much,
it really gets me so excited.
And I think that's the point of like, you know,
when we talk about tools,
or even when we talk about "Are We There Yet?",
it's really about us all coming in,
adding what we want to make it what it is, you know?
It's not gonna get there without each and every one of us
being able to say, 'Hey, I have an idea.'
[Don] That's what I mean,
we won't be able to even imagine what the world's gonna,
I mean, it might look like this.
- Exactly.
But, also it might look way wilder than this.
So, if you think culture is fast now,
this is like the slowest it's ever going to be.
[shutting down sound]
[laughing] Sorry...
[laughing]
- Well Don, I hate to say goodbye, because-man,
this has been a blast riding around town with you, man!
- It's been amazing!
- I think now you've given me the inspiration
to try my hand at some AR.
- Yes! - Yeah.
- Please!
- Well, don't be mad when I start blowing up your phone,
or worse-taking your job!
[Don gasps]
[laughing]
- Join us next time, you guys,
in the metaverse and see where else we go,
and who else is gonna be joining me on our journey.
Can I borrow the cat filter?
- Oh, definitely. Here you go.
- [laughing] Thanks!