Interactive Design Blog

The time has come, as someone said to talk of many things... but more importantly the time has finally arrived to unveil my Capstone project to the world...or at least faculty, staff, and students at the University of Miami during the 2024 Student Interactive Media Showcase.          More images coming soon!

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Because getting VR to align with the real-world was causing me some major stress!   Tech Issues and Solutions Error : Measuring in Unity - Objects deployed on the headset were not aligning with the real-world counterparts.  The floor plane also seemed off. Solution:  I created a grid in Unity and in my real-world room with the goal of aligning the two manually. The margin of error was too big, so I searched for additional solutions.  I was able to find a Measuring tool that provides real world dimensions.  The user can set different units of measurement.   The floor plane was still causing problems because it seemed to be too low in physical space.   The solution was adjusting the camera in Unity to start at y position "0".  (I cannot tell you if it is was initially at ) and I accidentally changed it to .44) Make sure the camera launches from the "Floor" level.   ...

Baby Steps  Animation: Adding a bit of  2D magic!  Integrating 2D to transition to lead the eye to the new scene. How to create a sprite animation How to trigger animation Design: Adding Texture  video Next Steps Fix scale issues to ensure accurate mixed reality overlays Solution for surface area covered Determine framing device to explore the historical narrative Continue building assets

 Please Pardon Our Digital Dust - Construction in Progress Let's get to the goods.  Below is a video capture of a second prototype deployed on the Oculus Pro headset.  The goal was to see how the mixed reality content integrated into the real world. To get to this point I needed to brush up on my Maya modeling "skills" and start building something. Resources Cuban Heritage Collection  Home to the largest repository of materials on Cuba outside of the island and the most comprehensive collection of resources about Cuban exile history and the global Cuban diaspora experience.   Luis J. Botifoll Oral History Project    A digital collection includes videos, outlines, and selected transcripts of oral history interviews conducted principally with members of the first generations of Cubans to leave the island after the Cuban Revolution. ...

Issues! Get your Technical Issues! The goal for this week was to iron out how I was going to build the experience within Unity.  My project needs the following in order to function correctly: Pass-through AR/VR Plane detection Depth sensing Interactable elements such as buttons that can be pushed and objects that can be grabbed There are several methods to begin developing a pass-through mixed reality experience. Using Unity's Mixed Reality template (available with Unity version 2022.2.9f1) The downside is that developers cannot see pass-through while testing on the laptop. I would need to build the app and test it on the headset to see how the mixed reality is deployed.    With the Meta Oculus Integration  The downside is that it is more difficult to make interactions such as the raycaster. Building ...

The time has finally come to produce a project that encapsulates my time as an Interactive Media graduate student.  I have 16 weeks to scrounge together my skills and make something that speaks to my interests and meets the requirement for the program.   Additionally, there will be a final presentation on my capstone project that needs to include a comprehensive overview of my process, research, and findings. This blog will act as my online journal and it will be updated at least once a week documenting the design process. Ideation The entirety of last semester was devoted to exploring concepts, pitching the concepts to the class, take notes, and keep iterating on the idea. My concept has gone through at least six major changes.  The one steady component has been the integration of Virtual Reality software such as Unity and Unreal as a tool. Current Concept Below is a slide deck of my most recent exploration. Original Co...

The Assignment Teaming up with art history students, our class had just three weeks to develop a functional virtual reality experience.  Choosing 'Thermae - A Roman Bathhouse Virtual Experience' as my group's project, we were fortunate to have clear design goals and assets at the ready. With no time to waste, we quickly set to work, bringing their vision to life. The "Final" Product  (It actually needs some refining but this will have to do for now...)   My Role My role was to bring together all of the assets and to make sure that there was uniformity in the final product.  In addition I was responsible for writing the scripts that triggered interactions such as: Teleporting to specific areas of the scene Revealing and hiding information Playing specific animation "takes" created by Ace Designing Menu Interactions Incorporating animation created by Ace Use UI design by Natalia ...