Task Brief
After realizing I much prefer the angle of engines similar to game engines due to my familiarity I wanted to look into AR softwares, Zapworks being one of them. It lets you use QR codes and linking images to basically form holograms over said image, allowing for experiences such as museums to make more interactive and engaging exhibits.
However I took it alot differently, due to my little knowledge of making 3D models I decided to use found models to create my scene, the assets are below:
Pikmin ship with clovers and ground (Pikmin 4 Rescue Corp Ship Fan art)
Pikmin models with tops (GameCube – Pikmin 2 – Blue Pikmin)
Green Pikmin Image (Green Pikmin)
They are all pikmin themed because they were easy to get access to, and it meant I could have a lot of flexibility in what I could do within this theme.
I decided to make a scene about the pikmin around the ship, a small tower keeping a white pikmin balanced on a clover and a tower trying to save another being stolen by the ship. I made sure they all had different tops to help them stick out from each other, grouping the assets together helped, it also helped that the ship was also made of different assets, allowing me to move the clover for this effect.
I also added abit of functionality, making it disappear and reappear depending on if it is being looked at, this doesn’t do much but does help with processing if you have multiple of these, I wanted to test how this kind of thing would work with it, in case I did take it further.
Then to finish it and import it into Zapworks I grouped everything into one, exporting it and uploading it with the image I showed. Here is the QR code and image for it below:
Epilogue
Using this was simple and easy, I was shown that you can make it animated as well but given it works off servers so has the limited storage of FrameVR making it animated or complex can make you run into this, limiting on what you can actually do. It does also limit it through having to be on the image, for example for me I had to look at the image side on for most tests, making it half into the display, meaning if for example you use this on a wall, half your experience would be hidden, and also abit awkward to experience properly.
However, it does get around the software and hardware problems alot of VR and AR products have, only needing your phone to use and needing a PC to make. It does run into the problem that if you’re not a 3D artist like myself, you are very limited on what you can do, like using found images, using them as they are, for example I wish I could have altered the pikmin’s pose but didn’t know how or even if I could.
I did use other AR Technologies with this, such as Adobe Aero, I got to use this for abit, honestly it was kind of daunting, you pick a place in the world, get a QR Code and can place stuff in your scene that when you scan the QR Code, it will appear in said place and can be programmed to do stuff, such as run away. This is great for tours and other entertainment fields, however not only does it mean you have to be at the place to experience it, but it means for to be more than a gimmick, I have to go into 3D models and animation, a field I have barely touched.
I appreciate what it does and can see how it can be fun, I would enjoy it too if say for example, a museum used this to make areas more memorable than an encased gun in a silent room. However it is just way out of my field for me to consider using it, which is why after the demonstration I didn’t even try it myself, feeling too out of my depth.
It can be used on a tablet which I tried, however I came across a technical issue, having access to nothing but one asset. Besides this it does help, you can place stuff and edit them in real time while looking at them, I atleast found it alot easier to use between the two methods, despite the asset restriction.
Conclusion
It was definitely interesting to experience and use these software, but because of my lack of experience in fields or technical difficulties I didn’t find myself very interested in taking them much further than I did. I see the appeal, but because of the limitations such as storage room, having to use 3D assets which I have little experience in (and take awhile to make from what I do know).
| References: | ||
| Informational Sources: | Figures | Software |
| VRChat Inc. (2017) VRChat [Video game]. https://store.steampowered.com/app/438100/VRChat/ [10/10/2024] VannyGameing (2024) GameCube – Pikmin 2 – Blue Pikmin [Sketchfab]. https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/gamecube-pikmin-2-blue-pikmin-733390c3dbc54446be216e5d791782ff [10/10/2024] nickheitzman (2023) Pikmin 4 Rescue Corp Ship Fan art [Sketchfab]. https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/pikmin-4-rescue-corp-ship-fan-art-9d0bc5ca93a84e099d8afa873c7a8295 [10/10/2024] | Figure 4, Green Pikmin, Sketchfab (BanduFan2010, 2023) | Adobe Aero (2019) Adobe Inc. [Video game]. https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/aero.html |