Vuforia and AR Design

In Week 4 we were introduced to prototyping for VR and AR as well as asset creation using a variety of programs. For Week 5 I continue exploring these capabilities in its sense of interactivity. The technical experiment I will discuss is about creating an AR experience in the software Unity and an extended engine – Vuforia.

Vuforia is an AR reality software development kit (or SDK) to enable AR applications on mobile devices. Developers can use 3D models to be interactive with the real world through its image registration capabilities (Vuforia, 2020). Here I have a butterfly responding to this image of my hand which was possible through using Vuforia.

It felt essential to learn how to install and use the Vuforia engine to gain an experience of creating mobile AR, different from the mobile VR we learnt previously. It was a bit complicated to download but it all worked out in the end.

I reflect on the design principles of AR Design which Unity and Vuforia demonstrate through its software. One thing that fascinates me with such AR engines is its interface capabilities that metaphor from physical to display elements. In my case, the interaction metaphor would be the photo of my hand which would then trigger feedback of display elements to appear on my screen.

Image retrieved from Billinghurst M. (2020).

Related to this, is the concept of physical and virtual affordances which technologies like AR and VR magnify to our real world. Affordance is "the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used... Affordances provide strong clues to the operations of things.” (Norman, 1988). We can refer the used assets in AR as virtual affordances which copy real objects, look virtual and carry a design interface. These are good for bringing to life our imagination. However, we become acutely aware of the differences between relationships between real objects and virtual one.

Tangible interfaces (TUI) is another topic that teaches us how physical objects make us smart, increase understanding and aid collaboration (Norman D., 1993). Although, on its own TUI is limited to its object properties, display properties and separation of object and display (Billinghurst M. 2020). I relate this to an example of ARgroove; an AR rhythm game with a tangible interface which uses collaborative tools and interaction as gameplay.

If we combine TUI with AR, the limitations of TUI are overcome with better display possibilities, merged tasks and private views. This is referred to as a tangible AR metaphor (Billinghurst M. 2020). Going back to Vuforia, it is clearly possible to create tangible AR designs that are superior to restrictive and non-interactive AR games. As a complete beginner, it was exciting to learn the first step towards creating an optimal AR or VR experience.

Overall, without an idea of the direction I would like to go with MR design, I cannot say for certain whether Vuforia will be the engine for me. However, it is definitely a viable method to create simple to complex AR experiences and I will definitely come back to tinker around with Vuforia as a design tool. I would like to see how interaction can be enhanced to chip away the contradicting qualities of the virtual and physical world.

References:

Billinghurst, M. (2020). Designing Mixed Realities. Designing Principles for MR

Norman, D., (p.9., 1988). The Psychology of Everyday

Norman, D., (1993). Things that Make Us Smart

#mixedrealities #des241 #unity #vuforia