Globe AR/VR
Globe AR and Globe VR were my first steps into designing augmented and virtual reality experiences. Created for an assignment for university, I explored various ways of engaging with the user to allow them to explore the importance of climate change in an emmersive way.
Globe AR allows the user to place and interact with the Earth as it orbits right in front of them via their mobile device’s camera. The user is able to alter global temperature, with a simple visual indication along with the ability to activate buttons to view facts as to how the world would change as a result of said temperature increases.
Globe VR echoes the design of Globe AR with a few changes as a result of the jump to VR. This allows the experience to feel more immersive, putting the user in outer space, with the earth rotating right in front of them. Like Globe AR, this allows the user to make physical changes to the Earth in real time, providing them with a perspective they may not have otherwise considered.
I created a sphere and applied a map of the world material to make up the globe. In order to illustrate when the user has changed the temperature value, I used a simple hue/saturation shift to alter the colour of the world map material, a slightly warmer, softer orange for the second stage, and a darker, more alarming red for the hottest value.
The bulk of the development stage of Globe AR was spent creating and adding functionality to the user interface. I wanted the user to be able to increase the temperature, and then be able to click through facts relating to how the Earth would change if it were to increase by the temperature value set by the user. I was able to achieve this through creating panels that would display at given temperatures paired with a group of buttons, with each button activating another panel containing the fact. I designed this in a way that upon the user altering the temperature, the current displayed fact would disappear.
Globe VR built upon Globe AR by further immersing the user in an outer space setting, but this time the Earth is already in front of them, rotating in orbit. Globe VR functions from the scripts I produced for Globe AR, only tweaked for VR development. Globe VR was developed with the Unity XR Plug-in, giving me to ability to make changes in the inspector and allowing me to produce rapid prototypes and test them on the Meta Quest 2 within a matter of minutes.
Once the VR scene was set up, with cameras and controllers being assigned appropriately, I ported over the assets from Globe AR, adjusting the user interface to fit the desired resolution and rearranging it to better suit a VR space. Again, the user can alter the temperature of the Earth, and select buttons to display facts at the selected temperature increment.
James Pennell
itch.io: https://james-pennell.itch.io/