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Paul Mlyniec: Multi-Dimensional

By Ethan Leikach

It’s dark, cold, and not very summer-like for it being the middle of July.

Paul and I are sitting in a room that is meant to keep us focused on the task at hand. We sit there for an hour; more precisely, he watches and instructs me while I attempt to build a castle in a three-dimensional digital world. Having no prior experience using the technology, I barely scrape together an object

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that somewhat resembles a castle in the hour given. Afterwards we move to the next room for the questionnaire, the purpose for which was to be referenced in a Kickstarter campaign soon to be launched for MakeVR, the virtual reality program.

I distinctly remember two things from that interview. The first was Paul telling me that if I said anything negative that it would be taken out (even

though I had only good things to say), and the second was his reaction to me saying that I felt like a God when in control of this virtual world he had created. It was the same look a young child would have on his or her face after eating chocolate for the first time: one of pure exhilaration.

To the dismay of many (Paul first and foremost) the fundraising campaign didn’t go as planned and

it ultimately wasn’t a success. This, however, didn’t dissuade Paul from the passion he put behind his work, nor did he lose confidence that the product would eventually be enjoyed by countless others. He is resilient and ever-adapting to the challenges that face him.

Paul Mlyniec is a man at the top of his respective game: the world of digital creation, 3D printing, and motion tracking technology. With an unparalleled tool for virtual design known as MakeVR (the VR standing for virtual reality) Paul has the world at his fingertips. Literally anything imaginable can become reality in this environment of pure invention.

Once an item has been created using MakeVR it can be made into a real physical object by way of 3D printing.

There are some limits and parameters (such as size, shape, and materials) to what can be printed, however; if used properly it’s not a stretch to say that nearly any object can be produced. Finally, and probably most im-

portant is how users are able to manipulate the virtual world to their will, so that there is something worthwhile to be printed. That is where the Razer Hydra motion tracking controllers (similar, but far superior to the Wii controllers) come in extremely handy.

With intuitive movement gestures based

around a central tracking device the learning curve is lessened greatly even for first time users.

To really understand how this trio of technological advancements came to be, Paul’s life must be put on rewind: “I

was at UC berkeley and discovered that painting really was the thing for me.” Paul also stated “I was doing pretty ordinary 2D things.” When he was an art student at the University of California Berkeley, he knew the direction he wanted his future to head in right from the beginning of freshman year.

Unfortunately only one quarter short of finishing college Paul was forced to leave due to a fire that occurred at his home. From that point forward he made the tough decision to drive a truck thus making sure that the essentials were taken care of for him and his family.

By chance Paul took a holography class, “You know I just thought - hey that sounds interesting.”

This inspired him to continue his pursuit to do what he loved: art. While his path did not include holography beyond that class, in some ways it corrected the slight de-

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tour that the fire had put in the road. Since then Paul has worked a lot on his own unique creations.

These were pieces of 3D art carefully constructed (at one time by hand) on about a dozen layers of clear plastic that covered entire walls from floor

“My son Nate bumped into the Sixense CEO on the freeway. I get a call from him asking what to do and I say try to keep it off of insurance if you can” (Mlyniec). Essentially by a stroke of either luck or fate Paul met the right

to ceiling. The process was not easy and sometimes required multiple retakes to finally achieve the desired result: “I was lucky and stupid enough, maybe, to stick with it all these years” (Mlyniec). Over time technology advanced and made it much quicker and easier to work abstractly on the computer, which is how they were made from then on (as well as being put on Plexiglas instead of plastic). However, It wasn’t until a fateful encounter in 2007 that Paul truly jettisoned into the full-on world of 3D digital design.

man, Amir the founder of Sixense (a 3D digital media software company)b at the right time: “So that night I’m talking to Amir and at that point Amir was charged by Sony to come up with the Wii killer.

He was looking actively for what we do.” Paul’s partner at the time, Jeff, didn’t think that Amir was a serious candidate to go into business with, but he would be proven wrong: “He would have to have money, connections, a history in the industry, and the skillset that would be required to push something like this for-

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ward. He had A,B,C, and D. He had everything.” The two ended up sharing an office for the first six to eight months and then moved into a larger space as the company grew. Paul is a skilled artisan when it comes to his craft, but he notes, without Amir,

getting any traction would be a near impossible task: “Amir is the only guy on planet earth who can do what he does.”

Fast forward four years to see the status of Paul’s original creation, his artwork. A problem still persisted that high-level technology, despite all of its incredibly helpful tools, could not fix. The issue was in the lighting of the art; mainly, that there was none, and no elegant way Paul could think of to illuminate the pieces until he met Sherry Scott. Being an interior

designer for more than two decades, Sherry had intimate knowledge of

was an entirely different situation than lighting the inside of a person’s

the answer was there and in a short period of time the solution was

“I could have been an overqualified spreadsheet programer.” current lighting technologies. This, however,

home. Nonetheless, the determination to find

found. It was simple yet sophisticated: LED light

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rods that would emanate from inside of the Plexiglas. This gave great shadow and depth to the already three-dimensional art that Paul had created. Working together with Sherry created another partnership and friendship.

The most recent of Paul’s achievements is in computer aided design (CAD), The product’s official title is MakeVR. Not only are the boundaries of this device practically limitless, but it is simple in its interphase and can be used to create real objects with the help of a friend, the (3D) printer. Using the dual set of Razer Hydra controllers, anyone can effortlessly traverse through an infinite amount of space that is only justified by what the user makes it out to be. Once an object has been created all that has to be done is have the file downloaded by the printer and in less than a day the said object exists in the physical world. The most utilized material for 3D printing is a hard plastic, but one could use metal or ceramics among other materials in the creation process. While this is

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without a doubt one of the coolest accomplishments of technology in recent memory it is also quite the controversial one. The power to create anything and everything at the touch of a button can be dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. Plastic guns are a huge concern when it comes to 3D printing and it isn’t without justification. These weapons are fully functional and not detectable like their metal counterparts. This brings about the same question as many other similar items: do the benefits outweigh the costs? With 3D printing still in its infancy, or alpha stage, it is hard to say for sure which side it will impact more. The only thing that is certain is it should become a revolutionary piece of equipment.

Predicting the future of technological advancements is never an easy thing to do, but Paul has a clear cut idea in mind for where he would like to be in the near

term. First on the list is to develop educational software for third to fifth graders in neuroscience and history. Paul is planning to put that all into a head mounted display which allows the students to interact in a 3D virtual environment to explore and learn about these and other topics. Part of his plan is a reboot of MakeVR, which had a rough Kickstarter campaign. It still holds much promise and just needs a boost to reach its peak. Paul is very humbled to have had all this opportunity and success in the industry and looks forward to what the future holds because, as he jokes: “Pretty much by sheer luck at that exact time computer graphics was being born. I could have been an overqualified spreadsheet programer.” (Mlyniec).