Project 1: Things Will Never Be The Same
Above: Time and Date widgets
Below: Temperature and Humidity widget
Introduction
This project is focused on Augmented Reality. It allows people to keep track of what's going on around them with AR widgets. With the use of image target markers and a webcam/smartphone, the user can view these widgets in the real world displayed on a desk.
Within this application the user can view widgets such as a clock. It will show the user the current time and update appropriately in correspondence to your system's time. The calendar widget shows the date and updates as well.
The other three widgets pull information from OpenWeather and display the appropriate information. The temperature and humidity widget display the temperature in Fahrenheit and humidity as a percentage. The windsock widget displays the wind speed as well as the direction it is coming from. The windsock will face the appropriate direction and change size based on the wind speed.
The final weather widget displays the corresponding icon depending on the current weather for the location. The user can click the right or left arrow to go through all the icons.
Github
The link to the git page can be accessed here. Click on the button "code" and download as a zip. You will need Unity 2019.4.1f1 and Vuforia Engine 9.3 installed on your machine as well as a webcam/smartphone and the set of main Mars Fiducial Markers linked below.
http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/428/20files/4%20mars%20markers.png
http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/428/20files/2%20more%20mars%20markers.png
Once you have everything above, you can run the project by clicking the play button within Unity. Face the webcam/smartphone at the markers to display the widgets. Below lists which markers display which widgets.
Astronaut marker - date (Calendar)
Drone marker - time to the minute (Clock)
Fissure marker - temperature and humidity (Thermometer and Beaker)
Oxygen marker - wind speed and direction (Windsock)
Mars marker - weather icons (Listed here. For this assignment we will only be looking at the day icons)
To view all weather icons, the user can use the left or right arrow keys to go through them.
Above: Weather icon widget
Below: All five widgets
Video
Sources
Texture(s)
Wood on the clock and speed/direction widget: https://unsplash.com/wallpapers/nature/wood
Sounds:
Rain (rain): http://soundbible.com/1158-Rain.html
Light rain (shower rain): http://soundbible.com/1192-Light-Rain-And-Crickets.html
Rain Start with Thunder (thunderstorm): https://www.freesoundeffects.com/free-sounds/thunder-sounds-10040/
Wind (mist): http://soundbible.com/1810-Wind.html
Snowing (snow): http://soundbible.com/633-Snowing.html
Sunny Day Sound (clear skys): http://soundbible.com/1661-Sunny-Day.html
Cicada Sound(few clouds): http://soundbible.com/920-Cicada.html
Rainforest Ambience(scattered clouds): http://soundbible.com/1818-Rainforest-Ambience.html
Thunder HD (broken clouds):http://soundbible.com/1913-Thunder-HD.html
Will these kind of widgets be popular in the future with the use of AR glasses?
In the future when people are regularly wearing AR glasses, 3D widgets will be quite helpful. If they were to be seen on a desk or table, it frees up space and only displays when the user is looking in their direction. This allows them to utilize more of the space if needed. It also allows them to only have to look in a certain direction instead of having to pick up their phone or go through their computer to find this information.
I think the most helpful widgets would be the date and time. Typically when looking for one, the other is easily accessible as well, so it would be a good idea to combine these as well. If not, the date on the calendar could be combined with what is on the agenda for the day, as seen on calendar widgets now. This would be helpful for me since I sometimes forget things easily, so I check my calendar often.
If I were to use AR glasses with these types of widgets, I would like to see the temperature implemented with the weather icons instead of having them be on different markers. Whenever I open my weather app now the only things I pay attention to are the weather icon, temperature, and chance of rain. It would be nice to have all of these elements combined into one widget just so I can see them all at once. The possibility of adding a three day to a week view of the weather would be nice as well. It would make more sense to combine them all into one, but if that is too much information all at once separating the widgets makes sense as well.
I do not really see myself looking at the percentage of humidity within any weather applications, so personally I would get rid of it in the temperature widget. Even though it would not be helpful to me, it could be useful for others. I think it would be nice to be able to customize the widgets as a user to either show the humidity or hide it.
As for the windsock widget, I do not personally see myself using that. It is not something I particularly pay attention to in my usual weather app now, and that probably would not change if it were to be a 3D widget. Although it is not something that would be of interest to me, it could be quite helpful for others. The only thing that I would change to the widget is the size of the windsock depending on the speed. It can get a little confusing if the windsock is changing size, and not knowing how the scaling works. I think it would be better to omit that and only have the windsock face a certain direction in correspondence to the degree angle that is taken from the weather website, and have a little screen near it with the wind speed in miles per hour. The screen can keep the direction of the wind as well just in case the user is unsure of cardinal direction.