Week 5 Narrow it down

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Time: 09/26-10/02

Client Meeting:

Following our trip to La MaMa last week, we were ready to narrow down the items for the AR experience. We paid special attention to any copyright issues that might occur. For example, we decided not to re-create one of the posters of Blue Man Group. After double-checking with La MaMa, we had the following list:

Production:

With ½ presentation coming up in 2 weeks, we decided to prioritize creating demos for the sofa from Carmilla and the poster of La Marie Vison to show as much interesting interactions as possible, apart from face filters widely used on social media. Research, art, and programming were delegated to all team members.

As we started the production phase, we finally had a team photo!

Team Photo

Design:

To move on with designs, we gathered information online about the two shows and sent an additional request for archival resources to Sophie (Manager of Digital and Special Projects). Due to other business at the archive, additional resources were expected to be available from the following week.

This week, we focused on the creation of AR experience for Carmilla. Understanding that the sofa was not merely used as a sitting prop, but three actors could show their faces through three holes on the sofa to display exaggerated facial expressions and sing, we decided to extend the reality here. When visitors scan the corresponding QR Code, they would be prompted to align the AR face with the physical mask on the sofa. With the alignment, the AR face will start to sing along with the show audio. To allow visitors to learn more about the show, visitors can click on the “Info” buttons and read about the story.

Please see the demo at the end of the blog for proof of concept (the video will be uploaded soon). A more polished version of the demo will be available later in the semester, with updated rigging, UI, audio clips, and more relevant art assets.

Art/UI:

Yutian and Jingyuan worked on modeling, texturing, and rigging the face with the slide below documenting their process.

Programming:

Bokang worked on the simple demo above with asset placeholders, such as buttons and audio clips. The interactions involved were merely aligning the masks and tapping on the buttons, which were proven intuitive in our playtest.