Paint it green!

Inspiration

I wanted to create an AR experience that would let us see how the places we live in could be if instead of cars and streets we had gardens with grass and flowers! A medium like this is perfect to make us transform what we know and see every day into something different, more natural and beautiful. I was drawn to this concept by my background in Architecture and the concern about the permeability of our cities, the visual impact of what we build, even if we are so used to it, and the possibility to change everything to face climate change.

What it does

With your back camera active, move your finger on the screen: following your gestures grass and flowers will appear on the nearest surface. After a few intervals, trees and butterflies will appear as well on the path you're drawing. If you stop touching the screen and start the gesture again the old trees will disappear and new ones will be created. After 15 seconds grass and trees will gradually disappear. Grass and trees will move slightly as if there was wind. The white cylinder indicates the path you are making with your finger. You can walk through your creation while drawing it if the tracked surface has a good enough contrast and variation in colours. Bird chirping sounds will be heard while drawing.

How I built it

Mostly patches were used to create the experience. The pan gesture will trigger the movement of the emitters that will spawn grass and flowers. The faster the movement of your finger on the screen the wider and denser will be the area covered with green. An animation is used at the start of the gesture to make everything smooth. The script receives pulses sent from patches and registers the position of the cylinder: tree models will be moved to this position and will stay there for 15 seconds or until the pan gesture is re-initiated; their spawning animations (scale increase and decrease) will be triggered by the same pulses.

Challenges I ran into

Optimization was the main concern while creating this filter. Tree models had to be reduced in size and tris number as much as possible and their number had to be limited to just two models or the framerate would drop visibly. I would have loved to include bushes, birds and more models but that was not possible for this reason. Particles had to disappear after some time or the number would become too high to make the filter work properly.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I love the non-realistic rendition of the trees and grass and how they are hit by the lights.

What I learned

This challenge made me understand how much simplicity and responsiveness are important to create an experience that will capture the imagination of the users!

What's next for Paint it green!

I would love to make the experience even more customizable while keeping it optimized. At the same time, I am certain I will create more and more filters that allow us to transform ou surroundings!