Project 1

Theme

My theme for the project EAT IT was nothing too specific. I was more interested in using a particular style to represent things rather than confine myself to a domain. The style I went for in this project was low poly art. Low poly art has been used to represent 3D objects for a long time. It started as a trend when 3D animation came into the picture. It’s a great way to design video games or Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications because it is easier to render and definitely speeds up the process. In applications like the one we just developed, it is very important to keep up with real time. Hence low poly architecture seemed like the perfect way to design the application. Moreover, apart from ease of rendering, it is very pleasing to the eye and gives a cartoonish look. This is what I was going for in this project.

Assets

ANIMALS PACK, Low Poly - GBANDREWGB
Building Apartment - LOWLYPOLY
Lowpoly Modern City Decoration Set - KARBOOSX
Fantasy SFX for Particle Distort Texture Effect Library - MOONFLOWER CARNIVORE
Free Low Poly Nature Asset - MARCO
Fruit Pack - ASTRO3D
Low Poly Water - EBRU DOGAN
Low Poly Nature Pack (Lite) - VALDAY TEAM
Low Poly Vehicles Pack Lite - KUZKAY
Monotype Text Plugin - Monotype Imaging
Lime brother_Basic3 Display - YunXi Zheng (SamMi)
Glazed donut_simple model - JoelHdez
Low-Poly-Park - THUNDERENT's Assets
Ranger's Stadium - GILBERTHB
Voxel Basketball Hoop - Stadalf
Sadness of dustbin - digitalizedurbantales
Simple low poly village buildings - 3DJBEEBS
Small Particle Pack - FIRE95

List of Sounds

Coca Cola Fizz Sound - 1 hour studio
Kyrie Irving Drains the Clutch Three in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals - NBA
ROOSTER SOUND (Cockadoodledoo!) [15+ Different Sound Effects] - Sound Effects ツ
Cafe Music - Jazz & Bossa Nova instrumental Music - Relaxing Background Music - Cafe Music BGM channel
8 Hour Nature Sound Relaxation-Soothing Forest Birds Singing-Relaxing Sleep Sounds-Without Music - johnnielawson
Pokemon Red, Yellow, Blue Battle Music- Trainer - pokemasterCrystal

Drive Link

Project 1

Link to YouTube Video

Project 1: Eat It

Getting Started

1. Open Unity (prefereably 2018 version)
2. Download Assets folder from link given above
3. Open a new project in Unity
4. Copy contents of Assets folder into the Asset folder of new project
5. Open SampleScene.unity from Assets folder
6. The scene should load
7. Press Play button in Unity to start the application
8. Build application to any device that supports AR

Remember to have Vuforia support for the project. Link given below.

Unity with Vuforia Plugin Tutorial

Models Created

1. Burger

2. Basketball

3. Low Poly Wolf

4. Low Poly Tree

5. Trophy

Key Features

1. Placemat

The placemat represents an ideal breakfast scene in AR. The idea is to watch TV while you eat in a futuristic setting. The scoreboard and text are billboards so they are always visible. The table replicates a basketball court and has 3D models like the basketball hoops, billboard, stadium and trophies. The scene also includes an animated mascot walking along the sides of the court.

2. Drink

The drink is a reinvented form of Mountain Dew. The drink 1 augments into a mountain dew can with a small scene with low poly trees and snowcapped mountains to serve as a representation of the cold, fresh beverage. The scene also includes an animated ice warrior and a fat man at the top of the can who is constantly in the motion of drinking the beverage.

3. Cereal Box

The project includes three different cereal boxes.

1. Healthy Option (Wheatles)
   

   This is the healthy option for cereal. It shows a nice graphic cereal box set in a farm. There is a farmer who dances at the front. The cereal box also has 3D text to add to the experience. The left side of the box shows a small scene of crops growing. There is a particle effect to simulate rainfall. The back of the cereal box shows incentive to buy the cereal with a free telescope. There are two more particle effects employed which show a bonfire and a starry night. The top of the box shows crops growing and the right side of the box shows different kinds of fry fruits.


2. Unhealthy Option (Wheatles)
   

   The second cereal box offers an unhealthy option which is donut cereal. The inspiration for this comes from The Simpsons' Krusty the Clown. Some features include a lego man dancing in the front and a donut that rotates at the top. The back of the box has instructions on how to eat the cereal with 3D text.


3. Custom Cereal Box (Nature Flakes)
   

   The third cereal was a requirement for graduate students and the graphic created shows a dense forest with low poly animals on all the sides. The models of the same are present in the scene. The scene also shows birds circling and tall trees to emulate the graphic. Since the graphic included a water stream, a part of the scene shows water. The animal models included are bears, squirrels, rabbits and birds.

4. Magazine

The magazine shows a futuristic representation of what a magazine could look like. Currently, magazine have two sides to hold the pages together. But with the help of technology, this problem need not exist. With the help of virtual buttons, we can switch the pages of the magazine. This particular magazine is called Speed Trap and it is a magazine about cars. The advantage of using augmented reality for magazine is to use 3D space to give the user a more involved experience. There is text around the magazine in 3D space. The second page includes a particle system to simulate smoke from the back of the car.

Interactions

1. Object placed on placemat

If any of the cans or cereal boxes are kept on the placemat, the particular product's audio tagline is played. If the product is healthy, a bowl is rendered next to the mat to show that it is edible. If the product is unhealthy, a dustbin is rendered to signify that it should be thrown. Also, the nutrition information is written next to the mat when the cereal boxes are placed next to it.

2. Object's too close to one another

If two object's get too close to one another, there are two things that happen. Firstly, each of the boxes will acquire their signature weapons. All the boxes and cans have their own weapons. Each of the objects also have their own war cry. Hence when two objects get close, the objects will let out their sound to intimidate the other object. When the objects go out of range of each other, they lose their weapons and go back to their normal state.

Thoughts on the Project

We are very accustomed to our daily lives. So much so that some activities become a routine that is meant to be followed instead of enjoying the sweet, tiny pleasures of life. One of these activities is breakfast. After 20 years of eating breakfast, the entire activity has lost its charm. The only times we actually take a step back to enjoy breakfast is when we go on vacation and sit at a breakfast buffet. One of the reasons that we enjoy this is because is a brak from our natural surroundings and we get to experience breakfast in a new location, with a change of scenery. This was the mindeset I had while working on the project. As a young boy, I used to watch NBA on TV while eating breakfast. I used to always imagine what it would be like to be in the stadium watching it. Therefore, instead of going to the Oracle Arena for breakfast, I brought Oracle Arena to me. While this was just a small project, it shows the potential of the role augmented reality can play in our lives. With the right amount of resources and time, the vision that I had during the course of this project is within our reach. The placemat was an example of how easy it is to transport yourself to any place in the virtual world and enjoy your breakfast. The placemat provides an ideal setting for the same.

As for the cans and cereal boxes, it serves as an interesting way of advertising various products and brands. Imagine watching an advertisement on TV for a soft drink. These ads show a happy environment. They advertise of how refreshing a cool drink can be on a hot day. It shows how a community can enjoy the drink together and plenty of other aspects of the drink. They even show the dew drops on the side of the can. It is usually while watching these advertisements that we actually crave the soft drink. Not just for the taste or as a refreshment but basically for the way they portray the drink. However, these ads are only effective when someone is watching the advertisement on the screen. However, with the age of augmented reality this kind of advertising need not be solely to be viewed on screens. It allows for companies and people to advertise their products in real time where it actually counts. A situation where going to the supermarket will be an interactive space with variety of companies endorsing their brands and asking you to choose them. At least from my perspective, if a Coca Cola can tells me to pick him up in the supermarket, it' going to be pretty hard to say no.

Another interesting aspect of having augmented reality on products is the ability to create virtual worlds. For example, we have all seen the back of cereal boxes where there are small crossword puzzles or games to play on the back of the cardboard box. Now, in the age of smartphones and augmented reality, this entire experience can become much more interactive. With the help of augmented reality, these games can be much more interesting and dynamic. Gamification across various disciplines has become a trend recently and providing interaction with the product will attract people to the product.

The age of newspapers and magazines is slowly coming to a halt. With the technology revolution, most people have stopped opting for magazines and newspaper and instead just follow what is happening around the world on their phone. Therefore, these kind of products need a different approach to retain the user base. With the help of augmented reality, flipping through a magazine can become a much more exciting experience. The ability to use 3D models will serve an interesting purpose as customers can visualize exatly how certain products will be in reality. Just as an example, one of the problems people have while going through a magazine is the actual size or fit of the product. Augmented reality can change this perception and show a 3D model of the same product to serve as more information to the customer.

Another thought I had while working on this project was the environmental advantages that could be tackled. Especially taking the example of a magazine. Right now, millions of trees are being cut down to make paper to print magazines and newspapers. It is true that most people have moved on to using computers and phones to go through newspapers and magazines. However, just going through things on the phone and computer doesn't provide the actual feeling of having a physical magazine or book. Augmented reality can solve this problem by providing a virtual 3D environment to make it seem like the magazine is a real physical entity. This could indirectly lead to saving the environment by helping reduce the amount of trees that need to be cut in order to print magazines.

In conclusion, I believe that while augmented reality just seems like a fun alternative to certain aspects, it actually provides a viable solution to various problems that we face in out life. The whole idea of being able to see virtual things in a real space is truly captivating. It provides interactive experiences in the real world. Right now, since products like Google Glass have not caught on, augmented reality is still nascent on the business side of things. I believe that if a product similar to Google Glass catches on and becomes a trend, augmented reality can shape the future as we know it. Hypothetically, the world wants to view things in the virtual world and be part of a matrix like situation but the right product to view the world in virtuality has not yet hit the market. Once the right product is developed, the applications of augmented reality are going to take over.

Future Work

There were a few things I wanted to add to the functionality of the project. Unfortunately, I was unable to add these due to the time constraint.

1. Small games/puzzles on the back of the cereal boxes. I toyed with the idea of having a button on the back of the cereal box which transfers the user to a different scene where they can play a small game.
2. Animated butler on the placemat. I wanted to create apt animations for the butler on the placemat. I wanted him to serve as a nutrition guide expert and tell the user what to eat and what to avoid.
3. Fight scene between different cereal boxes. I would have liked to create a fight seen between two cereal boxes which came too close to one another. I had envisioned a scene similar to a Pokemon battle on Gameboy