A VR experience using Unity, Maya and the Oculus Quest 2. The objective was to 3D model an artifact and create a VR environment in which to display the artifact and found objects from the past, present, and future. This assignment was done under the instruction of Professor Shadrick Addy.
Project Preparation
The first step of this project was to find artifacts that hold meaning in our own lives that we find worth preserving. For this project I chose polaroid camera. I then found inspiration pictures for the past, present and future of polaroid cameras.
Sketch Style Sheets
The next step was to create sketch style sheets to use for 3D modeling in Maya. this includes three views of the object being modeled, in this case an old fashion polaroid camera.
3D Modeling
After creating sketch style sheets it was time to start 3D modeling in Maya. Building in Maya was easily my favorite part of this assignment. I enjoyed the was I had to think in order to get every angle just right. On the less positive side I definitely wouldn't say that I did things exactly right. Specifically I couldn't get the top view to align with my model but I seemed to be able to work around that. All the different tools in Maya are definitely a bit confusing and gave me a run for my money. Modeling took most of my time even if I enjoyed it the most. I would say the part I struggled with the most was adding the small details that really make it look like a polaroid camera as opposed to a weird grey block. In a lot of ways I had to get creative, but with the help of our TA I ended with something I am proud of
Collecting Models
Once I had the old polaroid camera modeled I had to collect other camera models for my display room. The objects I found had no color/UV mapping, so I used Maya to add color to the models.
Production
Working in Unity really scared me. For a lot of people it seemed like the easier part of the assignment to complete, but for the most part I struggled to wrap my head around the different processes and techniques used when changing the room. Some struggles I encountered were figuring out how to change the floor, importing my FBX files, navigating the room with the controls, and importing found FBX files with their textures. Overall I managed everything with a little extra instruction but I did not have any fun while doing it which was surprising for me and a bit disheartening. When it came to uploading deliverables, I feel I ran into just about every technical problem that I could. First the headset wouldn't connect then the APK files wouldn't build because my project was on the Z drive so I had to transfer it to the C drive but that didn't work so I had to do it again and then when I went back to record everything the oculus wasn't moving with head rotation so the TA told me to restart everything but when I restarted everything the oculus wouldn't connect at all so I tried another headset to no avail and there was no longer anyone available to help me so I left for the night and vowed to try again the next day, hopefully with help, to finish the lingering bits of my final deliverables.
With some help the next day I learned that the problems were that I had multiple cameras and the NavMesh had been turned off so you couldn't move around. With those issues resolved I was able to cast my show room and record it
Final Walkthrough
