VR Assemblage

Company: HP Labs (2018 - 2019)
Team: Jiwon Jun, Alex Thayer
My Role: concept development, 3D-modeling, VR experience, prototyping with Unity
Live Demo: HP Labs All Employee Meeting
Interview: HP Labs Blog | HP Labs explores a new approach to immersive content creation and consumption

VR Assemblage explores a VR application for an immersive and informational content sharing. According to studies (article 1, article 2), VR is effective in improving a user’s concentration and engagement levels. In particular, the spatial and three-dimensional aspects of VR enable a user to focus and memorize what they see better. This project intends to take an advantage of the benefits of VR and envisions its use case for educational purposes.

From 2D images to 3D media including 3D models and 3D scans, a VR space can be curated with various types of content. Expanding the previous work VR Memory Repository, this project investigates how might a user can present a collection of both 2D and 3D media in an immersive way.

In order to explore the concept, the experience prototype was made to showcase our team’s projects as an example. In this virtual space, a user can see photos of our projects and also 3D models created for 3D-printing. Detailed information of the 3D model is displayed next to the models.

Also, a user can grab the 3D models and look into it more closely. This allows the user to get a sense of the real scale of the models and simulate assembly of the parts. Photos of the 3D-printed parts are hung on the wall, and it helps the user understand what the 3D-printed versions of the models look like in reality.

Real objects can be brought into the space using a 3D scanner. Consumer 3D scanners like HP Z 3D Camera allow a user to bring a real artifact to a virtual space, and it benefits the user to present the objects as reference in addition to virtual models.

We imagine that this idea can be broadened to virtual classrooms and portfolios. For example, a VR classroom created with both 2D and 3D content could enhance student’s engagement and understanding of a certain subject matter. Also, designers could use the virtual space to showcase their digital creations more immersively and seamlessly beyond a limitation of 2D screens.

Demo & Interview
This work was demonstrated on live at HP All Employee Meeting and featured in my interview on HP Labs blog.