Master's thesis: Presence in VR tutorials

IDXPO 2019

The project Twin Star Supernova were a collaboration between four Master students at Chalmers University of Technology (me among them), and Universeum in Gothenburg (called IDXPO 2019). The trailer to the side here were made for another exhibition that we were asked to have by and at Tekniska Muséet in Stockholm, and thus includes photage from the first exhibition at Universeum.

The project is developed in Unity 3D, the graphical design were made in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as in Figma, and the sound design were handled in Audacity.

An external page at IDXPO 2019 for this project can be seen here.

Project summary

Twin star supernova is an interactive experience that allows the user to explore supernovas, black holes, and the stars red giants and white dwarfs. The experience lets you create a supernova by steering stars in space with your body (using Wii Balance Boards). The whole thing is viewed on a large panorama screen.

Twin Star Supernova got its name from the binary star system Type IA, that can create a supernova when a white dwarf steals mass from another star (in our case a red giant) until it reaches critical mass and explodes into a violent supernova.

Twin star supernova was created as part of an Interaction Design project, in collaboration with Universeum in Gothenburg, for the exhibition Showing the Invisible. While supernovas aren't invisible, their process of creation may be difficult to grasp, as well as the forces in play.

The target audience for the exhibition is 12-16 year olds, and our aim was to increase their interest in science. However, people of all ages seemed to enjoy the experience!

My role

During the project, as I happened to be the one in the group that had the most prior experience with Unity 3D, I set up the general structure of the project and took care of some of the more technical things, such as getting the Wii Balance Boards to work in Unity (which was not trivial, as they are basically ancient technology at this point). I also did all the sound design, and edited the video.

The design as a whole was a very tight collaboration between us four, and very iterative. I personally felt that the process was very rewarding and we are all very satisfied with the result.