VR Experience in Mont Kiara mall KL

 

The VR operator recommended City Spaceship that is the most popular ride for adults and kids. He added that the pixel definition is better and the ride is more exciting. I said "Ok" and paid RM$30 for the VR experience.  Anyway I am not really a big fan of roller coaster rides. I think I should be able to brave 3 minutes of VR. 

I was buckled up to my seat, piloting a spaceship in a futuristic city. There are no enemies on my tail.  The spaceship zooming fast forward while my seat was rotated to 90 degree angle swaying one side then to the other. I gripped tightly on the handle bar. This was already too exciting for me. After the ride was finally over, the operator said that the machine is capable to rotate a person 360 degrees and recommend that I could try the next time. 

Observing Natural Lighting for VR World Building

 

You can observe the whole urban landscape of KL in the hotel high floors. The integration of building , the roads , traffic , and greenery resulting from urban planning can be a good source of reference for VR world building.

The change of weather can be interesting too , provided you are not in a hurry to explore the city. 

The photograph above was taken just after the rain. The group of buildings on the lower right appears to have more volume , you can see which building are in front , which are behind. The directional lighting from the opening of clouds accentuate the buildings in front , while the ones behind are blurred by the fog.  

If it was clear bright afternoon sunlight , they would all receive the same amount of lighting and thus would seem to appear flat to my eyes. I can only judge their distance from overlapping buildings.

Warisan Merdeka Tower : AR Inspired Photography

 

 

I noticed a distant building taller than most from my hotel in KL. The weather was getting bad , looks like a storm coming up. The gloomy atmosphere reminded me of Gothem , the fictional city. 

I used the concept of AR , to augment the reflection of the hotel lounge lighting and shelving into the scene. My shot, was angled in such a way that the shelving appeared like movement lines of winds overlaying on the dark floating clouds.... 

The composition looks like a god structure pointing to the light above.

Singapore Writers Festival 2018 : VR Kafka by Goethe Insitut

 

I remembered my first VR experience, it was in SWF 2018. My friend had his book launch there. I remembered carrying a backpack PC and wearing a VR head gear that was attached to a cable. The cable tug my head if I move too far away from the center. One user per time . There was a long queue.  

I remembered being amazed when I saw myself as an insect in the mirror,  I moved my many legs and the reflection responded. I heard voices outside the room. The voices was getting louder and intense. I remembered searching quickly the drawers and bed. Found a key somewhere to open the room door. 

The End. 

Rolling Credits.

I asked my friend if he had found the key ?

What key ? he replied . 

The key to the door I said.

He was eager to try the VR experience again to get the key this time.

But eventually he did not because the queue was just too long.  

 

NYP AR Final Project : AR Learning Activity

 

Design Concept

 In a typical classroom based training, the facilitator presents the lesson topic in the form of a lecture aided with presentation slides after that closes the learning topic with an individual or group activity to reinforce the training. This activity can be an AR Learning Activity.

The lesson plan for one simple AR learning activity is about 15 minutes and consist of the following

•       5 min facilitator briefing of learning activity 

•       5 min learners doing the AR activity

•       5 min learners discuss on AR experience
  

      Gamification can be employed in the design. Learners assemble the parts in the correct orientation and sequence , the success product animation will be played.

 

NYP Design Thinking Module : AR app to Reduce Food Waste

 Design Prototype Video

 

Design Concept

 Diners order food when they are hungry and therefore they tend to over order. If all the dishes and their portion can be shown in AR on the table, diners can visualize the amount of food before they place an order. This should help to reduce over eating as well as reduce food wastage.

 

Visualization Mode

There are two modes. 

The exact portion mode displays the AR dish in exactly the same size as the real dish. This can be done using 3D scanning technology. What you see is what you get.

The calories view however distorts the sizes of all dishes on the table base on calorie estimate for that dish. 

 

NYP VR Development Project : VR Dungeon Game

 Learning Objective

The Google Cardboard does not come with hand controller options. The user can however interact with the virtual environment with his eyes, by gazing at the virtual objects to activate it. 

• Using gaze with timer to select
• Using gaze to teleport or move the character
  
  

  Game Main Character Design

  
  
   You are a small ball of light ! You cannot fight. You give light to your party members to aid their fight and blind monsters with a burst of light. You are the main character without you , without light no human party can navigate the depths of the dark dungeon. But your party do not see that , they see you as a support role , assigning you with scouting work , putting you out there in the front line alone to look for treasures , traps , secret doors and to identify monsters , what type , what class , how many. 

   

  Game Supporting Character Design

  They are an egoistical and self centered lot , who think they themselves are the main character in the story, that the world evolve around them. Their job is to fight and that they do very well indeed and often brag about having the highest kills. They take all the credits and treasure that you find. When they are in a good mood ,  praise you a little  that gives you more energy to burn brighter , you live by their praises. But as you grow stronger you eventually earn their real respect. 

  
  

  Game Concept Design

  

  It is essentially a leadership and politics game. You are light , you do not die but your human party do. You can only tell from the message board that they need your support and they are about to die. Who you choose to support in the dire situation will see an increase in respect bar and may or may not decrease the rest of the members respect whom you did not helped. The total sum of respect if positive will increase your light energy bar that will get used up when you burn more light or get negative comments. If that happens, you are burn out and you are unable to light the dungeon for your party. They have to resort to torches or light spells to light the dungeon while you take a break from the party to recover.
  

   

  Game Prototype in Unity Game View
  

  
   

  Game Prototype in Google Cardboard
  
  

  
  

NYP AR Development Project : Reforestation

 

This was my first AR project for AR development in NYP. I modeled the 3D assets in Unity, the bio-capsule and the tree. The tree was done following the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZxbKBBTAMs .

It was a fun AR to reintroduce nature back into areas one would least expected it such as in the office. Unfortunately I realized that a selfi photo with the trees was not possible because the AR tree will always be in front of the photo. 

 

Mythology Relooked AR Art Exhibition ( Funan Center Singapore ) September 2022

 

It was a delightful surprise for me to stumbled upon the AR Art exhibit in Funan Center shopping mall. The building facade has been renovated, having retail mix of stores to appeal to the young. It used to be a famous  IT mall, however the new building layout has a reduction of IT stores, and replacing them are new local fashion stores , chill out cafes and even an urban rock climbing featured wall. I would call Funan a new generation hybrid mall.

This AR technology Art exhibit vibrant colored illustrations blend in fittingly to the mall's concept of being the place where trendy youths hang out.

Looking up close, the paintings contain the hero and villain in Chinese mythology. It does not matter if the viewer is clueless on the subject, the bold colors are enough candy to the eyes and serves as a mood lifter. 

You scan the QR code with your smart phone and it takes you to Instagram AR app. You flip the camera view to the painting. The AR maps very precisely to the painting until you put your hand in front of the hand phone camera and the AR painting animation snaps right to your hand. 

The slight movement animation, makes the painting come to life. The AR graphic and animation has remarkably augment the painting. It is a good application case where modern AR technology repackages the story of traditional Chinese Mythology.   

AR Origami Butterfly

 Testing Blender .fbx Export to Unity 

I have followed this YouTube to create the Origami in Blender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cixq3Lyph-w

I have chosen origami animation for testing for .fbx import into Unity because it contains two kinds of Blender animation : 

• Shape key animation
• Armature animation 

The .fbx setting in Blender is as follows :

In Unity,  I have used the animation controller to start the origami animation.

The overall Unity scene looks like this.

My first build attempt .

In my first attempt , I have forgotten to uncheck loop pose mode , and that causes butterfly to unfold back to the original  square paper form at the start of the animation.

My second mistake is that I have forgotten to render on both sides. I googled on how to render on both sides in Blender and it lead me to the forum page.

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/212253/how-to-get-same-texture-on-both-side-in-render

My second attempt is better but there is still room for improvement for the rendering of shadows.

We Live in an Ocean of Air ( VR Experience Art Science Museum Singapore )

 

This 15 minutes VR experience is worth the ticket price. There are only 6 participants allowed in the area in a session to give us enough space to move around. I carry a backpack processor with a cable connected to the Microsoft Hololens headgear and ear phones attached to the side of my ears.

Looking through the Hololens, I saw a grid room in front of me. I heard the facilitator explaining the safety instruction " If a grid wall appears in front , it is the boundary , do not cross it. You can see other participants as red particles. Now please take a step forward."  We did and entered the VR environment.

In the beginning there was only darkness , a woman's voice emerge to instruct us on a breathing exercise , and when I exhale , I am surprised to create many blue round particles of air in front of me. I waved the air particles with my VR hands  shaped in red particles. I see at a other participants red particles hands without bodies and I try to distant myself away from them. 

The more air I blew the more blue particles I create that gave a body to my breadth. I waved my hand to disperse the floating particles. The surreal imagery of alien trees , the sound and music of the forest , and its dark environment gave me the sense of the unknown and immerse me thoroughly as I moved slowly like an astronaut in the alien world.