Hidden World

Inspiration

The concept of parallel universes and hidden worlds has been popular in science fiction and fantasy for many years. Advancements in AR technology have made it possible to create immersive experiences that blend the real and virtual worlds. I wanted to create a world AR experience that let us explore a hidden parallel universe through a drone-mounted magic light. Where the user has full control over the drone, and they can move it around and see what's in that location in the parallel world.

What it does

"Mystery World" is an AR experience that allows you to explore a hidden parallel universe through a drone-mounted magic light. The experience works as follows:

-The user controls the drone using the touch pan feature on their mobile device. -The drone is attached to a magic light that illuminates a portal to the hidden world. -The user can move the drone, and the magic light will show different parts of the hidden world, which the user can observe through the portal. -By moving the drone in the real world, the user can change their views of the parallel universe.

The experience is designed to be an open-ended exploration, allowing the user to discover the secrets of this magical world freely.

How we built it

It is made using AR technologies, including plane/world tracking, 3D modelling, interactivity and Shaders. Here's a general outline :

• Plane/World Tracking: Plane/World tracking capabilities allow you to attach the drone to a real-world object and track its movements in the camera view. With this, the 3d world and the drone are anchored to the real world.

  • 3D Modeling: A 3D model of the drone and world was created using a blender and imported into Lens Studio.
  • Portal Creation: The portal to the hidden parallel universe was created using a combination of 3D modelling and compositing techniques using Shaders, allowing the user to see the otherworldly environment as they move the drone around.
  • Interactivity: The experience was made interactive by using the tap and pan using custom scripting, allowing the user to control the drone and see different parts of the hidden world as they move the drone around in the real world.

Challenges we ran into

The challenge we ran into was ensuring the portal worked the same on all devices. Since this is running on shaders and there is a lot of Render targets used, it was challenging to make it optimised, so it works the same on all the devices also to give the user a great experience in the parallel universe.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

By providing a portal to a hidden parallel universe, "Mystery World" could offer a highly immersive experience that lets users explore a new and fantastical world. From ensuring the portal looks like a hidden world to ensuring the experience looks and feels optimised.

What's next for Hidden World

• Storytelling: Add a compelling story to the experience to keep users engaged and invested in exploring the hidden parallel universe. We could include lore, quests, and character interactions.
• Gamification: Turn "Mystery World" into a game by adding challenges, puzzles, and rewards for players to earn as they explore the hidden world.
• Social Features: Using the connected lens, friends can play in the same experience, try to find hidden objects, and have quests.
• Interactive Environments: Make the hidden parallel universe more interactive by adding objects that users can interact with, such as doors that can be opened, levers that can be pulled, and buttons that can be pressed.

Built With

• blender
• lens-studio
• shader-graph