Latest Video Demo
(With commentary)
My goal for this week was to look for better unity assets for my art deco motifs in the main circular hub. Thanks to a classmate, that suggested I create a 'better' art deco look and feel, I went back to look for low poly assets, since the main hub does not need to be so in detailed, since user is not moving there and they are only learning and interacting with objects idly.
Image source: Unity Asset Store - https://assetstore.unity.com/?q=art%20deco&orderBy=1
Additionally, I took a break from the main hub and went back to continue building as much of the internal machine as possible, this week I'm focusing on getting probably the most important part working, the "governor".
The governor is responsible for controlling the speed in which the gears turn, (e.g., if user put the break near the turntable, that would stop the governor and therefore stop rotation altogether. I know I won't be able to get every little individual piece assembled inside the internal machine, but as long as user can learn at a high level, what happens inside, when they rotate the hand crank or put the break on, that is the learning outcome I care about the most.
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Unfortunately, I could not any existing internal machine 3D assets, and other than being tedious, I cannot afford to hire a 3D modeler right now, which is why I want to try to do it myself to save costs.
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Secondary research on internal machines:
source: Youtube.com
How to clean/fix motor overhaul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDpsJK8J7WQ
Blockers:
Blocker: The (45degree) rotation is not working as intended
The core of my experience are 'learning' stations, or stops that the user goes through very 45 degrees. taking inspiration from Disney's carousel of progress, the platform where user stands rotates very slowly (to not cause motion sickness) to take them to the next learning content, starting with the 3 main types of vinyl records and sizes: 78rpm, 33(1/2)rpm, and 45rpm.
Each 45 degree rotation is triggered to a boolean flag (e.g., the first one being "allRecordsLearned == true"). The second station features learning the set up of the gramophone and some music playback for user to enjoy vintage tunes. after another boolean flag is true, that triggers the next narrator audio clip and next 45 degree rotation (clockwise), so on until the user has rotated 360 degrees and arrives at the epilogue and, then end credits scene.
The problem I am having is, the first bool flag triggers the first rotation, but instead of stopping after 45 degrees, the platform keeps rotating continuously in the Update() function...
I've tried using swish case statements, with a bool function checking if each condition is met to trigger the next rotation, etc. and even have asked AI to take a look at my code to see what I'm doing wrong, but so far no luck.
Update: Solved.
Tutorial Videos
I will be using short tutorial videos for users to understand the VR interactions in lieu of animating 2d sprites. This will save me time, so I can focus on the functionality.
Action Items For Next Week (W3):
Action Item: Keep trying to use AI to help me solve the functions, otherwise, ask XR lab head of dev to look at my code and help.
Status: (DONE)
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Action Item: Ensure station 1 works well, with the info panels, vinyls moving forward toward user, then stopping and being displayed alongside their info panels and AI clips
Status: (IN PROGRESS)
Comment: N/A
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Action Item: Continue working on the internal machine parts, and making the governor animation work well. also work on UI panels inside so user can hover to get more info, etc.
Status: (IN PROGRESS)
Comment: N/A