KIT724 VR Devlog

Introduction

The developed application “Museum” is used to provide a virtual museum of midlevel items. People interested in visiting museums, people who want to learn about arts and crafts. Aspiring historians and others can use the app to study about all kinds of crafts from early ages.

Description of Application

The application “Museum” is based on the idea that people can learn about items from the past that most people have never really explored much.

 Virtual Reality, in this case, can make the process of providing a view of the products more fun than what traditional museums have been providing. So, to provide a fun experience as well as to give knowledge on the subject, this application was designed.

History is one of the major subjects which can benefit a lot from investing in various modern technology like VR. This can help increase student interaction and make them more focused on the subject. The main advantages of using Virtual reality for the project are listed below:

·      VR can contain multimedia including text, pictures, audio and so on along with the items 3D model. So, this provides more details and increases people's interaction and attention toward the subject. 

·      A 3D model of all the items is shown on the VR. After the app runs, all the 3D model of the items is shown on the map, with which a user can interact with it.

· Users can grab the models and get a closer look at the designs and patterns of the medieval period.

Significance of Application based on the scenario

Technologies is constantly evolving. Traditionally, we view virtual museums on flat-screen computers, TVs, or through augmented reality (AR). However, because most people do not have real-life experiences, they are unable to capture as much of the public's interest. Because they are just connecting with this technology through the usage of simple gadgets like a keyboard, mouse, joysticks, etc., people are not feeling anything through this technology. However, this programme offers experiences that are as close to reality as possible, giving users the impression that they are inside a real museum and are attempting to interact with it using virtual hands since they are unable to recognise that they are in an artificial setting. Therefore, without incurring any expenses or requiring extensive travel time, this application offers the experience of visiting a museum.

Significance of interface technology

Virtual reality offers an immersive environment where users may interact with the aid of virtual hands and buttons, increasing user engagement and producing unique experiences, in the context of my VR museum apps. Users of VR technology have the impression that they are in real environments, hearing real noises, and touching real objects. They can experience the real-world museum through virtual reality. Due to mobility issues, some people are unable to travel, but they can still visit museums while seated at home. For real-world interactions in the museum, virtual reality provides virtual hands, buttons, and hand-grabbing mechanisms. VR allows visitors to move around the museum in a way that is not possible with other types of technology.

Interaction Design

The main interaction in the VR application is grabbing objects, light switches with an object and teleportation. We need a real environment-like experience within the programme so that users can feel items and attentively examine them. The virtual museum's interactions offer a huge variety of user experiences. Due to the inability to throw or even touch objects at a physical museum, people's urge to interact with rare objects must be satisfied through virtual reality (VR) interactions. As a result, in order to create real-life experiences in our virtual environment, we require active interactions.

Possible Interactions

• Grabbing all 3D models – able to grab rare items that people cannot touch in a real museum
• Alarm System - breaking an item may play an alarm to make a user aware
• Hand Gesture –
• More Items - Only 4-5 models are available in the application, which can be improved using more 3D models

Technical Development

This application uses a VR interface enabled by using the Oculus Integration package inside Unity3D. For testing the application, an Oculus Quest 1 was used.

When the application is built, first the map is loaded, after that through OVRPlayerController, a user can interact with the environment without any problem. All elements of VR such as virtual hands, colliders, planes, and so on come built into the package. Because of that, development time was reduced drastically.

Description of 3D Models

There are 4 main 3D models along with a 3D map used in the application. The source and how it is used are presented below:

1. Egyptian Tomb: Cat Statue

Source - https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/historic/egyptian-tomb-cat-statue-119784

Author - Nokobot

Use case - used as a medieval period artefact in the museum.

2. Vase Egypt

Source - https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/vase-egypt-free-149689

Author - Fomenos

Use case - used as a medieval period artefact in the museum.

3. Greek Temple: Vases

Source - https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/historic/greek-temple-vases-149134

Author - Nokobot

Use case - used as a medieval period artefact in the museum.

4. Stylized Hand-Painted Dungeon

Source - https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/stylized-hand-painted-dungeon-free-173934

Author - L2S Arts

Use case - used as a museum map area. The whole building is regarded as a museum.

References