I've always been interested in immersive tech, specifically VR.
I've been learning how to develop VR experiences using the Unity game engine. The Greenland Project was the first job and project that had me working with VR technology. I worked on this project for about a year, and in that year, I learned a great deal about how VR works and how to design for it. My primary role on this project was to serve as the lead VR designer and developer, working with the Topography data models prepared by the TACC team and gathered by scientists.
The main goal of the project was to provide an experience that scientists could use to view their data in a 3D space more immersive than a screen.
The hope was that scientists could get close to the data, take a better look at it, and have more control over how they view it.
The main thing I developed and designed was the method for how the player would move around in the space, using hand tracking as the control method. We reasoned that many of the scientists we worked with had never used a controller before, so we hoped that using the user's hands and simple hand gestures would provide more intuitive controls.
The main way I devised to move was using your hands to "slide" and "stop" yourself in the direction you wanted to move.
At first, I thought of having the user grab with their hands away from their body to start the movement. Unfortunately, because the hand-tracking detected your hands, this method was flawed and somewhat inconsistent.
Instead, the users would start with their hands gripped to their bodies, then open their palms to activate the movement and let them slide around.
I also added a menu accessible by pressing an interactable button on the user's wrist. It offers a return-to-home option, a drawing mode for marking points, and an exit button. All of this is easily accessible by the wrist at all times.
Hand tracking, combined with the menu, provided an easy, controller-free way to move around in VR, allowing users to see their data up close and not behind a screen. This project was a fantastic learning experience that taught me a lot about hand tracking and VR design and development.
