3D Calculator
Documented by: Keyin
Group Member: Tiger, Ben, Yeji
Project Description
This project is meant to reimagine using a calculator in a three-dimension space. Instead of pressing buttons at fixed positions to get a result at a fixed screen, doing calculation within our project can have more freedom and the visualized process in 3D can break the regular mode but create a functional and portal experience with a calculator. We built the calculator world as an alternate world which is composed of blue grids and glowing cubes. The participant can move, turn around and even float in the sky while manipulating the cubes to do the calculation. Besides the calculator world, we also made a realistic bedroom scene where the alternate calculator world can be triggered by the normal calculator on the desk. Rules in the two worlds are quite different and we tried to utilize the realistic bedroom world to exaggerate the alternate part in the calculator world.
Process and Implementation
Initially after we did the brainstorming, we had quite a few ideas that were possible to extend. We finally chose the one with the idea of 3D cubes. The other ideas, for example, building an alternate backyard, can be fun as well, but we prefer to play around the flexibility of simple 3D shapes in a limited space and make things creative but also simpler and clearer. We thought about the application of 3D cubes including doing the calculation and doing the programming, because most of our group have CS background and these are indeed everyday activities for us. In this project, we implemented the 3D calculator.
The scene would start from an ordinary bedroom and the participant is able to move around in a room scale. When the participant picks up a calculator on the desk, he will be transported to another alternate world with only the calculator and glowing cubes in sight. Originally in VR environment, we thought about making the cubes throwable and the result would drop down from somewhere in the sky so that it could be very immersive and alternate. But later since the project was redirected to be built on PC, in order to adapt to the PC experience where we mostly interact with the mouse, keyboard and the screen, we simplified the effects and dragging objects became our main way of interaction in both scenes.
We were firstly divided into two to do the two scenes separately and then combined our work together to make it a complete project. When we worked on our own scene, we also thought about the consistency like how to change the scenes and the way of interaction. Tiger and I were working on the first scene and we initially used SceneManager to shift between two different scenes. Ben and Yeji played with visibility in the same scene instead. But it seems both ways can work and here we go with the latter one, because in this case, it’s more convenient to match the camera setting in the two scenes. We met some problems when we did combination, mostly in losing some material and texture. But we fixed them one by one and also improved the effect on the calculator when doing the transition.
The calculator scene is utilizing snapping to connect cubes and do calculation. By applying the different movement speed and rule, the participant can gain more freedom in this scene. The cubes that involves calculation will turn blue while others remain red, and the result will pop up on top of the “=” cube. If there’s anything wrong with the arrangement of the cubes, the result will show “Error”. As for mouse interaction, it includes left clicking, right clicking, middle clicking and scrolling. It may take time to get used to using this 3D calculator, but it indeed provides a total different experience for this everyday activity.
More detailed process can be found in Development Journal. And here are demos of our two scenes.
Evaluation
The alternate part of our project lies in the calculator world which can be obviously sensible due to the different environment setting from the real world and the unlimited movement direction for the participant. To guide the participant to interact with the calculator, we made the glowing effect on the calculator whenever the center of the screen is directed to it. Accordingly in the alternate world, we have a big glowing cube functioning as a desk and the calculator is put in the center with the same glowing effect whenever directed. It gives the indication that the calculator is a switch to shift between two scenes. However, compared to the natural interaction of throwing and moving objects in the first realistic scene, the way of interaction in the second alternate scene may not be that intuitive because we are using different clicks on the mouse. But we think adding some instruction can be useful. In general, our project has successfully achieved what we want to create. Even though we deviated form the very original thoughts which was set in a VR world, we still watched the core interaction of our project and made the experience as enriched as possible on PC. The different choices made in the premise of different environment settings is also part of our learning experience.
Agency
The main interaction of our project is no doubt playing with the 3D calculator where the participant can clicking, dragging and moving with keyboard. The action is meaningful because it will finally show the result a person using a calculator is expecting. As I mentioned in the evaluation, we could make the way of interaction more obvious by adding some instruction. But thinking from another angle, the participant may have a chance to explore the alternate world in his/her own understanding by figuring out how to make it work, considering the WASD keyboard and mouse interaction are very intuitive on PC. With very simple setting at the beginning where there’s only a cube with “=“ and a cube functioning as a controller at hand side, It should be easy to find out how to create new cubes and connect them. Besides, we also have designed an action of shifting between two different things. We made the position of calculator fixed and added the highlight effect when it’s hovered in order to indicate it is a medium connecting the two scenes. It also makes sense in a way the participant will desire to see the working space of a 3D calculator when he chooses to click the glowing calculator on the desk. Moreover, we picked the starting point right in front of the staircase in the first scene because we want to encourage the participant to move around and explore by him/herself. And that’s how we think about the idea of agency along the process.