Week 12 - 15
Weeks 12 - 15 were spent prototyping with Unity software to customise the world. As well as using spatial to enhance my design of the space, it will also help me visualize what my future virtual space will look like. Additionally, I drafted a plan for the second semester. Also, I designed a prototype for guiding people to bring physical space into digital space using 3D scanners.
Prototyping a virtual space in Unity
Unity (game engine)
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a variety of desktop, mobile, console and virtual reality platforms. Unity allows you to import and assemble assets, write code to interact with your objects, create or import animations for use with an advanced animation system.
However, Unity requires me to use my Windows computer instead of my Macbook due to the file size.
Further development from Spatial
As compared to Spatial, Unity allows me to customise my virtual space more. Such as how I can animate the movement of my characters not just walking but sprinting, jumping and even flying. Also the avatar that I’m using can be avatar even from software like Vroid and not just ready player me. Unity can also allow me to easily import a new environment into the space. In this experiment, I have created my own 3D model space and made the characters fly. By making the character fly, it enhance the digital experience and also make it more fun. Additionally, I can use any imported characters. My next step will be to recreate and enhance the digital space in comparison to the spatial design. The goal is to design an abstract space.
Experiment 1: Can I make the character move in Unity?
In this experiment, I wanted to show that I can create character using unity. By downloading the source from Unity store, I can freely use the premade code to mimic human behaviours in Unity. I want to further explore how to use them and if it is possible to add any character design on it.
Experiment 2: Can I change the character to any design?
In the next experiment, I show that I can make any characters to move. By attaching onto the premade skeleton as you can see in this photo. Any character skin can move around freely and behaviour the same way as long as the character design used are rigged beforehand. Reflection: My aim is to create 5 default characters for next semester. I didn't want to customise more because the purpose the marketplace is to buy/sell/trade so avatar doesn't need to be very customisable.
Reflection
I intend to use Unity for semester 2. I have experimented it and felt like there are alot of potential for this software. I have done a few experiments to determine if this software able to do what I want to do. I'm happy with the outcome and I will show development later as I continue to learn more about this software. For now, I will continue to develop the design of the metaverse in Spatial and expand the possibilities for digital space.
Continue prototyping on Spatial
Firstly, I need to make sure that all my files are in .GLB so that it can be supported in Spatial. I have digitally scanned 32 collectibles and exported one by one into this format. I have to import all of them into this space so that I can use the digital asset and display them.
I started placing all the objects that I have digitally scanned (32 objects). Each collectibles are placed on to the pedestal one by one and also adjusted to the correct size and position. In this photo, you can see how it looks like when adjusting it in this platform.
I also added on features to show information of the collectibles, description of the collectibles for buyer to know where it come from. Personally, I feel that I can further develope and improve the UI and also add more function for buyer to purchase or for sellers to list their objects easily.
There is this function where I can upload the artwork and display or mounted on the wall so that people can view it easily. I intend to create a gallery in this space.
Another feature that I added is a video trailer for the collectibles. It is interesting because I can autoplay it when people enter the room. I can make the audio fall out when people leave the room. Which creates a cinema experience.