Navigating the Virtual World
Tools Used
Spline - for worldbuilding and animation.
Figjam - For brainstorming concept.
Illustrator - To create typography to be placed into the environment.
Assignment
Develop a sense of environmental design through the case study of an XR museum experience.
Understand and practice environment design through worldbuilding and prototyping.
My Concept
Build a playful and interactive virtual kids museum environment.
Process
Kids museums are full of imaginitive play and out of the box thinking. I wanted to capture that in a virtual kids museum setting. Below is my thinking process guided by the XR course training material.
Moodboard of Museum Experience
Images I pulled from everywhere and anywhere across the internet I thought captured my intent in this museum experience.
This was my first time using Spline.
Luckily, one of their starter templates was a good starting point to learn the ropes quickly in this software.
Left: Spline starter template I used to save time.
Right: My first test attaching physics to 3D shapes in Spline. It worked! I thought creating a room with blocks to play with would be a great first room for my children’s museum.
Environment Creation
Once I got a good understanding of how Spline works, I started building my kids museum environment from scratch using geometric shapes.
Here’s what the exterior might look like in a spatial environment.
Below’s what an interior room with the blocks might look like once they fall from the sky.
In a real experience, the blocks would land far from the person viewing the room, of course!
I also dabbled with what the map might look like that would help navigate a user’s location in the virtual museum.
Checkout the 360° view of this “build something” room below.
Building a virtual world had so many learnings to it. Here are a few:
Anticipate that people will want to explore upon arrival.
Let the user explore with all senses when possible, including memories and emotions.
Users want to:
Go somewhere they would never go. Be someone they could never be. And do things they would never do!
