Spider AR [Week 4]

This week we focused on AR image tracking using Vuforia. Vuforia Developer allows us to use model targets to project an image into 'the real world.' Unity uses my laptop camera and recognises the photo of an astronaut to project a spider. I picked a free spider model from the Unity Asset Store because I thought a giant spider would be a cool thing to display. But after holding the spider up to my face, I saw that it was terrifying. I instantly thought about the possibilities in using AR to elicit emotional responses, much like I have already seen in VR projects. This experiment was easy to complete, and I can see the value in using model trackers in prototyping. It doesn't take any time to set up and gives a great result. It's a first step in creating an AR experience - later stages involve making trackers out of the environment to project without tracking.

I used this video sent to me by lecturer Prasanth to help me create this AR experiment.

This spider can serve as an excellent mock-up for an AR project. An excellent prototyping cycle may be identifying needs and then building an interactive AR version of my idea for further evaluation. Say I would make an AR experiment that showed a giant spider crawling on a person's body. Using the Vuforia model tracker, I can create a basic prototype that demonstrates the spider model next to a person. I can later add animation to the spider to give the prototype more depth. If the mock-up meets designer or client expectations, then I can go back to designing the experiment. It's an excellent tool for mixed reality designing.

#MixedRealities

Reference

PSK. (2020, August 19). DES241 Week4: Introduction to Vuforia with Unity. 2019.4 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caPQNjIWR4w