Experiential design - Final project

26.9.2023 - 12.12.2023 (Week 1 - Week 14)

Fadil puthiya madathummal peedikakandy / 0354579 / Bachelor Of Design (Hons) In Creative Media

Experiential design

I joined this module 2 weeks later due to study plan problems and by then most students already started making proposals for this project so I was a bit behind

My first experience with Unity was very confusing and even after 14 weeks I'm pretty confused still but with the knowledge I had and with the help of YouTube I learned how to use this app

I began with designing the application materials and UI in figma

My Initial idea was much bigger and involved 3D objects and 3D animation. I wanted to create and upload 4 styles of skateboard (normal, Longboard, Cruiser and mini skateboard. However, creating all the 3d elements from scratch (because I only have one type of skateboard) was not possible with the given time limit and the clashes with other modules

So i changed It a bit and thought of Adding a skate overlay and an option for the 3d board to move and play around

However, I ditched this idea because It had to use AR foundation and ARcore xr plugin which was confusing to use and I didn't know whether It can be used with vuforia. I complete stopped this and created a new file

I made the decision to reconsider the structure and create a fresh application for our project. The upcoming technological attempt is to develop an application that modifies the appearance of a skateboard and its components, and potentially even clothing customisations using AR. However, I began to see where it would go.

I began with creating a scene and added a canvas and panels and buttons for the landing page UI design

Then I added a scene manager to direct from one screen(scenes) to another and started coding

Then I gave it a levelmanager script to change from scene 1 to scene 2

This is the code of scenemanager and levelmanager to change scenes

After that, I dragged and dropped the scenemanager to the button and gave It a command to change the scene on click, After several tried It finally went from one scene to another

Although I felt very accomplished making it till here I still have a long way to go for the complete project

The next step Is to figure out how camera and image tracking works 

After hours of fiddling around and watching tutorials, I figured out how to do this

then I scanned and uploaded the targets to the Vuforia target manager

Afterwards, I added all the scenes to Unity and built the app. I had a lot of issues and errors but eventually, I managed to finish it

As a final touch I wanted to add a 3d model of myself riding the skateboard to make It even cooler so I found a way to make my 3d model using a tool called polycam. Its not a perfect tool but I experimented to see how it looks

I eventually succeeded in creating a 3D model of myself, which I then imported into Unity to see how it appeared. My original plan was to use artificial intelligence to detect any human and customise their clothing, but it took far too long and had a lot of errors, so in the end, I just got this result, which wasn't too bad at all.

Final result

Experiences

So, when I started this module, I was super pumped about "experiential design." It sounded really cool, you know? But then, reality hit me like a truck – it wasn't what I thought it'd be. Still, I thought, "Why not give it a shot?" Even though I'm not into AR/XR or game development,, and I'm more into  UI/UX I was still curious to learn.

This semester was a wild ride with five crazy modules that sucked up all my time and energy. And to top it off, I had to dive into Unity, which just made everything tougher. Dealing with a mountain of errors almost made me throw in the towel and give up on this project. But somehow, I pushed through, didn't give up, and ended up showing what I had.

Observation

Unity was a real brain-buster for me. Wrapping my head around it was like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded – confusing as heck. I'm amazed I made it this far without pulling out all my hair! But you know what? It's a wild ride

Sure, it felt like I was going through a maze, but I'm strangely grateful and happy. Grateful because, believe it or not, I actually learned a thing or two. Now, whether that knowledge comes in handy in the future is a bit of a question mark, but at least I can say I gave it a shot. It's frustrating at times, but there's a weird sense of accomplishment. 

Findings

To be real honest here – trying to enjoy learning and studying this? It just wasn't happening for me. The whole ride was kind of a downer, maybe because I had way too much on my plate. Got to a point where I was stressed out, I was basically sad-mad the whole time. I was swamped with so much stuff that it turned into a stress-fest, not a study session.  Between the endless errors and the creativity chains, Honestly, if it was just theory and practical stuff, It would've been more fun and flexible. crafting cool concepts with good and intricate details and implementing UI/UX sounds nice

Finally putting this behind me feels like shedding a ton of weight. Stress levels were off the charts, and it's been a bit of a big ride, I won't lie. But it's done, and I'm relieved and finally, I can rest a bit