Liu Wei swore that this was definitely the most spectacular and magical thing he had ever seen in his life. Even though he had been a director for many years and had directed blockbuster with special effects, he had never seen anything like this before.
Lu Zhou was far away in Jin Ling City. He was lying inside the laboratory at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study. His consciousness was wandering in the virtual reality world, constructed by the Star Voyage One quantum computer hundreds of kilometers away.
He stood in a blue world with silver lines dividing the ground into countless cubes.
Suddenly, a person appeared next to him.
Lu Zhou glanced at him and smiled.
“You have to move. Otherwise, you can’t feel the full effect of this system.”
Liu Wei snapped back to reality and had a smile on his face.
“Sorry, just standing here alone… is shocking enough.”
“Do you feel better now?”
“I feel a lot better.”
Liu Wei took a deep breath. He then followed the procedure instructions and looked at his right wrist. He saw an operation interface appear on top of his wrist. He moved his fingers and selected the modeling tool.
The second his index finger touched the icon, white light particles began to gather toward him. They were like sand particles in space, floating in the air in front of him.
He felt a sense of connection with the virtual world. He started to imagine a scene from a certain science-fiction blockbuster movie he saw.
His consciousness continued to dig into his memory. The white light particles in front of him began to change shape and color, gradually forming a model in front of him. Finally, they turned into a spaceship, albeit a weird-looking one.
“This is amazing.”
As Liu Wei looked at the spaceship in front of him, he was as excited as one could be.
He was like a child, standing on the beach. He looked at the sand spaceship he built with a sense of accomplishment.
Even though this 3D image was still somewhat abstract-looking, since many details had not been polished, but considering the fact that this was the first time he had been exposed to this tool and that it only took less than ten minutes to read this level, this tool was quite amazing, to say the least.
Lu Zhou walked next to Director Liu and glanced at the spaceship made up of countless light particles. He reached out his right hand and those light particles began to change shape under his control. An airplane cantilever shaped object was “installed” on the spaceship.
Lu Zhou noticed the surprised expression from the director. He retracted his right hand and opened the control interface on his wrist. He then turned off the modeling tool.
“The real strength of this system is that it allows multiple people to collaborate at the same time and integrate the ideas of multiple people into the same model. Originally, it was intended for scientific research, but our system engineers found that it was also applicable in other fields, so we designed many different versions. For example, the version you are using now is the enterprise version we developed for video and film production.”
Lu Zhou looked at the crude model of the spaceship in front of him and said, “In fact, we recommend leaving the construction of the models to design professionals. After all, there might be thousands of models in a movie scene. This job cannot be done by one person alone.”
Liu Wei looked at the simple spaceship he had built and felt somewhat ashamed.
“You’re right… It seems like my imagination isn’t strong enough.”
“This has nothing to do with imagination. It simply takes a lot of time to sculpt the model details. After all, the logic of the human brain is not the same as that of a computer. Our brains have amazing abilities in processing images. We use fuzzy calculations to ignore irrelevant details. But a computer is different, we have to continue doing fuzzy calculations in our mind until the computer can understand what kind of graphics we want.”
Lu Zhou paused for a second then continued, “So far, we are working with VR helmet manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi to encourage our users to actively participate in this huge project, which is to model landmarks and special real-life objects. Based on the popularity and votes, we will adopt some of these models into a library. The designer will also receive awards such as cash or gifts.
“In addition, there are some models that are classified as fantasy. We give users total freedom and open the right for them to create custom entries. As long as it complies with regional laws and regulations, users can choose to share whatever they want with the community.
“Using the data processing capabilities of quantum computers, we will continue to improve our virtual world modeling using community cooperation. We will ultimately create an artificial paradise that’s equivalent to the real world.”
“This idea is amazing!” Liu Wei said after hearing Lu Zhou’s plans.
As a creative worker, no one knew better than him what all of this meant.
This meant that creativity and imagination would no longer be restricted. All ideas and creations could come to life.
Everyone had the opportunity to become an artist and present their own imagination to the world.
It was even possible to recreate Beijing or New York using these models…
The development tool demonstration ended.
The light blue particles faded from his surroundings. Liu Wei took off his helmet and returned to the real world.
Prior to this, he still had doubts about whether or not Lu Zhou could complete the preparation of the whole celebration show in half a month. However, there were no longer any doubts in his mind.
Forget about half a month.
If he had a group of professional modelers to help him create his dreams into reality, he could create an entire show in a week!
Not to mention that after the model structure of the Bird’s Nest was scanned into the database, even without the real-life holographic projection system, he could use the powerful development tool to complete his planning of the celebration show.
He had more than two months of preparation time; he actually had five months.
There was only one thing he was grateful for right now. Which was that they did not sign the contract with NTT.
If they had signed the contract, they would at least have to pay a penalty for violating the contract…
Lu Zhou said, “How are you feeling?”
Liu Wei saw Lu Zhou walk toward him. He looked at the helmet in his lap and spoke emotionally.
“It’s eye-opening. I can’t describe the feeling in my heart. I never expected to be able to shoot movies with such a magical tool… I think that when this technology becomes popular, forget about changing the entire film industry, I am certain this will change everyone’s lifestyle.”
“We’ll see what happens then.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “The change won’t come that fast. It will take time for the technology to mature. However, since there are so many talented people involved, I think it won’t take too long either.”
Liu Wei had a look of approval on his face.
He suddenly remembered something, so he said, “Speaking of which, Academician Lu, I have an idea. I don’t know if you… are interested.”
Lu Zhou immediately replied, “If it’s too troublesome, then probably not.”
Liu Wei quickly said, “No trouble, no trouble at all. I’m sure this will be very meaningful for both society and you!”
Lu Zhou sighed and said, “I don’t really care about meaning… But go ahead.”
Liu Wei smiled awkwardly and said, “I talked with a screenwriter friend some time ago, and we are planning on making a movie that reflects the spirit of our country’s respect to scientific researchers who dare to innovate and strive for progress. We discussed it and agreed that if we wanted to resonate with young people, we should choose a young scholar.”
What is that supposed to mean?
You want me to star in a movie?
Lu Zhou already had a headache. He waved his hand and spoke.
“Stop right there, I’m not interested in being an actor.”
Even though he was confident in his acting skills and looks, things like creating movies were a waste of time. It would take almost a year for a movie to finish filming. Even for a small production, it rarely took less than half a year.
He could make a dozen scientific achievements in a year.
Seeing how Lu Zhou seemed to have misunderstood what he meant, Liu Wei quickly explained, “Not for you to be an actor. We want to shoot a big documentary film about your story. The story will probably start from your return from overseas to the success of nuclear fusion. We might add some additional storylines for entertainment’s sake… Of course, they will definitely require your consent.”
So you’re making a documentary movie about me.
So flattering…
After hearing the director’s explanation, Lu Zhou smiled and said, “If that’s the case, then you should have told me earlier. Okay, if you think I have a story worth filming, do what you wish. Film whatever you want, I don’t really care. As for the casting side, I do have some opinions.”
It wasn’t that he cared too much about which actor would play him…
It was just that he was worried that the actor wouldn’t truly reflect his handsomeness. Even though looks was trivial for a great scholar, he did not want to get a bad reputation for his appearance.
Liu Wei said, “You can rest assured! As long as you let us make this movie, we can let you choose every single actor!”
“There is no need for that.” Lu Zhou waved his hand quickly and said, “I don’t have time to choose every actor. Let me just choose the main protagonist actor.”
“Well then, do you have any standards or suggestions regarding the main actor casting? Any suggestion is fine, this is so that we can save you time. Any requirements such as academic background, personality…”
“Oh… I don’t really care.”
Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, “Just choose someone that looks like a model.”
Liu Wei: “…?”