Project 3

Introduction

This project a VR model of a classroom, particularly the Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL) at UIC, with some extra elements added that we could hypothetically see in classrooms in the future.

Description

In this classroom, all of the students are animated, including myself. Because the classroom is socially distanced, all the students have lots of space to work. Some items on my desk are my laptop, pencil and paper, and of course, my programmer mug!

The objects on the desk all have appropriate colliders and are set up to be interactable. For example, you can knock down the plant and lamp.

I decided to implement a kitchen/snack bar theme for this classroom, adding a refrigerator, sink, oven, microwave, and coffee makers.

Other additions to this classroom include some comfier chairs, as well as bookshelf (as a relic from the physical world where people used to read physical books)

Code

Source code: https://github.com/zaynabj/cs428project3

Instructions to build and run:

First you need to install Unity

1. Go to https://unity.com/ and download and install UnityHubSetup

2. Open Unity Hub and click on Installs, and then click Add

3. Click the download archive, and click on the Unity 2019.x tab

4. Find Unity 2019.4.1f1 and download to Unity Hub. Install Unity, documentation, and the build support for your machine

To open and run my project in Unity:

1. Go to https://github.com/zaynabj/cs428project3, select Code, and in the drop down, select download zip. Once downloaded unzip/extract it.

2. Open Unity Hub, go to the projects tab, select ADD, and add the unzipped folder.

3. In Unity, navigate to Assets/virtualuic-evl/Scenes and select the scene "EVL"

4. To run it, press the play icon. This should run the VRTK simulator inside Unity.

Sources

Clothing models:

• http://www.makehumancommunity.org/clothes/male_crude_tshirt.html

• http://www.makehumancommunity.org/clothes/m_trousers_01.html

• http://www.makehumancommunity.org/clothes/elvs_hooded_sweat_jacket1.html

Laptop: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/electronics/hq-laptop-computer-42030

Large Plant: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/vegetation/plants/plants-150261

Mug: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/interior/ygs-mugs-96665

Drawers and Lamp: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/interior/lamp-model-110960

Chairs, Small Plant, Fridge, Bookshelf, Sink: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/furniture/toon-furniture-88740

Pencil and Notebook: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/school-supplies-96667

Background music: https://freesound.org/people/tyops/sounds/484301/

Oven, Microwave, Shelves, Drawers, Espresso Machine: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/coffeeshop-starter-pack-160914

Coffeemaker: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/electronics/kitchen-appliance-asset-180419

Discussion

If people become comfortable engaging with each other in this kind of world, it would be interesting to see how it would change human interaction. For one thing, this technology would make it possible to interact with someone who is not in the same room, but instead of using video and/and or audio, you would be able to see the whole person in 3D. The disadvantage of this compared to video is that video is still better at conveying emotions and facial expressions. However, as VR technology improves, it could be possible to get avatars that look as realistic as a video.

That is, if we want them to be realistic. There are many ways to be embodied in VR – because the setting is a synthetic world, our representation of people would likely be synthetic too. Individuals could create their own avatars and design them as they please. This could influence society in various ways. Because people would likely design their digital selves to fit cultural beauty standards (which can be exclusive to a lot of people), it would reinforce these standards, and limit diversity. This could lead to people feeling more pressured to conform to these standards in real life as well, where it’s not so easy to do so.

Another important consideration is how to factor touch and personal space into these interactions. Without physics, it would be possible for people to move through each other (or other objects), but this may feel creepy. People value their personal space, even in VR, so if we are going for a realistic feel, it would probably be best to implement colliders. We may make an exception to this rule for moving through crowded spaces, or we could simply allow people to teleport. Another way to include touch is through the use of haptic technology, which can simulate the experience of touch using vibrations. This would make the experience super realistic, but I’m not sure if that would make people more comfortable with it or less comfortable with it. Usually, when we see robots that look and act extremely human, it feels creepy because the line between human and robot seems to blur. The same goes for making a virtual reality too realistic. Personally, I enjoy virtual reality for gaming, and I could see myself using it for research or visualization purposes, but the line between synthetic and real is always clear. Not just logically, but emotionally. Virtual reality experiences are synthetic, so they should feel synthetic. This is my personal opinion, but I think this would be an interesting topic to research and find out how others feel about it.