Individual reflections – Vlad Bobeica 293145

List of main contributions to the projects:

Marker-based AR - participated along with the team in creating a Space shooter game in Unity by importing the 3d models & working on animations, and object collision.

Markerless AR - imported and adjusted 3d models of the solar system, and created the information panel present on top of each solar system object.

VR assignment - created the room RGB lights effect controlled by a switch.

AR assignment - took part in creating the navigation route required to reach specific points of interest.

From the first XRD lesson, was taught the different types of interactive experiences such as AR which enhances a user's real-world environment with computer-generated graphics. VR is a technology that allows a user to interact with a computer-generated environment as if it were a real place, this requires the use of a special VR headset. XR is the umbrella term that includes both VR and AR, as well as other technologies that enable immersive experiences.   

 My XRD project development journey started with the implementation of a marker-based AR app. Our team agreed on making a space shooter game that would have a spaceship playing against the bots. At first, we had no good understanding of how to implement this idea but after some hours of researching the work started. The team managed to create some spaceship-shooting graphics, but our biggest challenge was trying to figure out the collision between the bullets of the spaceship and other objects in Unity. After some spent time, we managed to make some sort of collision by enabling the collision parameters of the spaceship bullets, but that was not enough for a smooth-looking experience and also it needed much more functionality to implement, all of that would cost us too much time, so decided to switch to another project. The new project was pretty easy to configure, it was a representation of different models of cars, Vfuforia platform allowed us to do this by using a phone camera to look for a specific marker. When the marker is detected, the app can display the car on top of the marker in the camera view. In conclusion, the first project was very challenging at first as we decided to implement a relatively complicated project, but shortly we realized that it was too soon for creating such a game at the begging of the course.

    In our second project, I discovered how markerless tracking works. The project made with ARCore represents the simulation of the solar system that appears on the ground plane. To do that ARCore is using a technique called "environmental understanding." This allows the ARCore app that uses a device's camera and sensors to analyze and understand the layout and geometry of the environment around the user, even in the absence of any specific markers or images to track.

    In the process of developing AR, I have not encountered major obstacles except for the problem of scanning in low-light conditions, where the marker would not be recognized and the object placement was not very accurate.

    Our created projects is offering some value to the users, by offering them a fun experience that will make them enjoy the splendor of new technologies, and most importantly it can be helpful in getting knowledge in a new practical way. For example, the marker-based AR project can show how any desired car could look in real life. The Markerless AR project is teaching us how are planets aligned in space, having the possibility to compare their size as the scale is matching the real size, and you get the possibility to read some information about the wanted planet. The VR project allows users to dive into a real-world place (which in our case was XR lab) allowing you to fully customize and enjoy the place by interacting with objects, this could be helpful for creating a future design and seeing/trying a preview of it. And finally, the AR assignment helps the user in finding a specific room/place in a building, we tried to create an AR navigator for the VIA campus.

    At the end of the course, we got 4 projects that gave me an enormous amount of information in a completely new field for me. Working in Unity made me encounter some performance issues generated by some visual effects from the post-process profile, this was present in the VR app, where at running fps low rate could be felt. For fixing such issues it was decided to give up on some visual effects. Also not all the projects have been finished as we planned due to a lack of experience in the field, the most important being the last XR project where the navigation didn't work at the campus due to the same scale calculation mistakes. However, I am really thankful for the chance to work with the newest immersion technologies by using modern devices, this made me look at the world through different eyes.