Create an Interactive Virtual World for the Google Cardboard

Assignment Brief

You are asked to work individually and create a Virtual Art Gallery similar to that in Figure 1, that can be deployed on the Google Cardboard head mounted display. This assignment is worth 50% of the overall assessment for this module.

Figure 1: Example Virtual Art Gallery Layout

The layout and colours used should be your own choice. Also, the artwork or photographs that you display in the Art Gallery can be your own personal preference. One example source of open access images is the US National Gallery of Art:

https://images.nga.gov/en/page/show_home_page.html

The source of the images used must be acknowledged in the assignment description document.

An existing VR Art Museum can be read about here:

https://www.thekremercollection.com/the-kremer-museum/

Implementation Tasks

You must use Unity 2019.4.13f1 as the development environment for the assignment, and the version of the Google Cardboard SDK supplied on the Unity site. You only need to implement the Art Gallery so that it can run in the Unity Play window with Google Cardboard support enabled. Actual deployment of the virtual world onto a smartphone is optional (and no marks are awarded for the deployment step).

The following elements will be required:

1. Create a room with suitable lighting and wall space to hang your pictures. The room should be enclosed and have a floor and ceiling. Use appropriate materials to enhance the appearance of the room.

[8 marks]

2. Create a picture object with a frame and space to include the painting or photograph to be displayed as a texture map. Multiple instances of your pictures should be displayed on the walls of the art gallery, each with a different image.

[12 marks]

3. Add some additional furniture into the art gallery, such as benches, pot plants, etc. More marks will be awarded if you build the furniture from scratch.

[6 marks]

4. Import the GoogleVRForUnity unitypackage and configure Unity correctly for development of a VR scene.

[1 mark]

5. Implement a mechanism for taking the user on a tour around the art gallery. For example, you might use the Google Cardboard button to start/stop motion. Hint: make use of the material from the GoogleVR tutorial from the Lab sessions for ideas on how to select an object, highlight objects, and move towards objects.

[20 marks]

6. Provide short documentation on how you implemented the art gallery, including how to interact within your virtual art gallery with the restricted interaction offered by the Google Cardboard. Cite the sources of any assets used.

[3 marks]

7. Optional Task. Deploy your virtual art gallery onto a smartphone ready to use with Google Cardboard. As Unity generates all of the files needed for deployment, no marks will be awarded for this step. Also, it is not necessary for you to have access to a smartphone to complete this assignment.

[0 marks]

The art gallery is expected to work in the Google Cardboard emulator in Unity 5 play mode, where a user's head movement is simulated using the mouse and alt/control keys to pan or tilt the camera. A left mouse click simulates the Google Cardboard button press (if used).

Export all of the assets needed for your virtual art gallery as a Unity Package (Assets -> Export Package …). Use the following naming convention:

<Surname_Initials>.unitypackage

Submit the Unity Package and you documentation file. Assessment Scheme:

For the global mark (50 = 100%)

• 45-50 (90%-100%): Outstanding
• 40-44 (80%-89%): Very good
• 35-39 (70%-79%): Good
• 30-34 (60%-69%): Fair
• 25-29 (50%-59%): Pass
• 24 (49%) or less: Failed (Reassessment required)