Project 1

Description

This project includes two augmented reality knickknacks mapped onto real-world cubes using Unity 2019.4.28f1 and Vuforia Engine 9.8.

One knickknack is for Seattle and uses a merge cube, and the other knickknack is for San Francisco and uses a class cube. Position the real life cubes in front of the camera displayed by the program while the program is running to see the knickknacks. Each knickknack has various models on top representing its city, seen below. The front of the knickknacks also displays the current weather conditions at the city using OpenWeatherMap API. (The San Francisco knickknack displays temperature in degrees Celsius, and the Seattle knickknack displays temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.) On the back of the knickknacks, there is text displaying a fortune, similar to a magic 8-ball. When the knickknack is turned upward, then turned upside down, and then turned back upward, the text displays a new fortune and a sound is played. The Seattle knickknack uses classic magic 8-ball sayings, and the San Francisco knickknack uses modern sayings, listed below. The knickknacks also play an ambient sound while they are visible.

This program includes a script provided by brivero30 on Unity Forums (https://forum.unity.com/threads/camera-out-of-focus-on-android.979743/) to fix the camera being unfocused when running the app on a Google Pixel 4a 5G.

Build Instructions

1. Install Git onto your machine from here. Git should be in your PATH environment variable. Git is used to install the Vuforia Engine 9.8 package.

2. Install Unity Hub from here.

3. Install Unity version 2019.4.28f1 from here by clicking the Unity Hub button for that version. Select the modules for any platforms you want to build to.

4. Clone the project's GitHub repository into a folder using the git clone command or by downloading the project ZIP file by clicking Code -> Download ZIP on the GitHub repository page and extracting it.

5. Open Unity Hub, click the Open button, and select the project folder. Click on the project with the project folder name in Unity Hub to open it in the Unity Editor.

6. Open Assets/Scenes/Knickknack Scene.unity by double-clicking on it in the Unity Editor Project window.

7. Click on the play button at the top middle of the screen to start the program. To build the program into an executable, click on File -> Build Settings, select the platform you want to build for, click the Build button, select a file name and location, and click the Save button.

Seattle Knickknack

Models From Online

Models I Created

Sounds From Online

1. Waves sound by Ambientsoundapp on Freesound - https://freesound.org/people/Ambientsoundapp/sounds/537850/ (Represents the water in the scene.)

2. Shimmering sound by Widowaker on Freesound - https://freesound.org/people/Widowaker/sounds/459107/ (No sounds were modified. License)

Texture From Online

1. Seattle Seahawks logo from Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Seahawks#/media/File:Seattle_Seahawks_logo.svg

San Francisco Knickknack

Models From Online

Models I Created

Sounds From Online

1. Road sound by Ryding on Freesound - https://freesound.org/people/Ambientsoundapp/sounds/537850/ (Represents the road in the scene.)

2. Ding sound by MashedTatoes2 on Freesound - https://freesound.org/people/MashedTatoes2/sounds/515643/

Texture From Online

1. Seal of San Francisco from Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_San_Francisco#/media/File:Seal_of_San_Francisco.svg

Modern Fortunes

The modern sayings the San Francisco knickknack uses for fortune telling are listed with connotation below:

Discussion Prompt Response

I think that things like this will become popular when augmented reality eyewear is common. People could display small markers on their desk that would take the form of a souvenir from somewhere they have been or show a fictional object or character from media they enjoy. People have trinkets such as these today, but I think that some people would use some kind of augmented reality trinket instead because they can act in interesting ways. These knickknacks can be animated in ways that would be difficult for physical objects to replicate, such as having a person or animal move around the knickknack. Additionally, motion on a physical knickknack would need batteries or to be plugged in, while these digital objects do not. If the augmented reality trinket could be changed at any time, that means that someone could reuse the same marker that they already have to display something new. This provides a unique advantage over having physical objects in that only one marker is needed to swap out an old knickknack for a new one. The augmented reality trinkets could also be interactable unique from physical objects, such as a person or animal on the knickknack reacting when you look at or touch them.

Pieces of a board game could be augmented reality enhanced to provide animations for or change the graphics of the game pieces. For example, a player character gaining armor could be reflected in augmented reality without the physical piece actually changing. It is also possible that the digital models of these pieces could be more detailed than their real-world counterparts, improving the way that the board game looks. The reason for not making the pieces completely digital would be to allow players to physically move pieces around the board, but it would also be possible to only have the board as a marker and display fully digital pieces on top of it. Then, some separate way of interacting with these digital pieces would be needed. I think that board game pieces enhanced using augmented reality will be used when augmented reality eyewear becomes more common because it allows users to see game characters animating in a physical space, while still allowing players to easily move the pieces physically.

Enhancing educational models using augmented reality could also help people to understand how a system moves or its different layers. For example, a physical model of a the bones in a hand could be enhanced with augmented reality to show different layers of the human hand on the model. People could look around the model to understand the physical size and shape of each component added virtually. Additionally, users could physically move the joints to see how the different layers move in augmented reality. Being able to physically interact with the model like this is an advantage over only having a generic marker with the hand placed over it. However, I think it is more feasible to just use a generic marker because separate models do not have to be purchased and stored.