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Grundy’s Virtual Experience

The future, creativity and augmented reality. These are things right up Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy’s alley.

So it was fitting that Grundy, a La Trobe University ambassador, would combine those three elements at the university’s Living Landscape’s exhibition in March.

Grundy ventured to the National Galley of Victoria to take part in an exhibition that utilises creativity to further enhance the environment at La Trobe’s Wildlife Sanctuary.

La Trobe’s Living Landscapes allowed gallery visitors to use their artistic talents to help protect a vital wildlife habitat, inspired by arguably one of the world’s most influential living artists, David Hockney.

Using an iPad with Hockney-style colours and brush strokes to create a plant or tree, visitors then use augmented reality to scan their iPad over a scale replica of the University’s 30-hectare Wildlife Sanctuary and digitally “plant” their creation amid an evolving virtual reality forest that grows as more drawings are added.

For each of the virtual plants created, one will be planted at the university’s Bundoora campus sanctuary.

Grundy, who’s been a La Trobe University ambassador for two years, said it will be pleasing to see the final product at the sanctuary.

“Innovation and creativity are things I identify with. While we’re drawing and having a bit of fun, I think we’ll see the real benefits when we’re in the sanctuary and all the trees will have been planted for the future generations to enjoy,” Grundy told Aflplayers.com.au.

“In that aspect, it’s something really unique and special that you can be here, in this time, drawing it and in the future you can actually step there on the soil where my visual tree is going to be.”