Trinity Grapher

Inspiration

We've all been there or will eventually have to be there – Calculus III. We see every week a new equation graphed in the xyz plane but only have a piece of computer paper to represent the data. Your brain has a hard time trying to figure out how this shape can even possibly exist. It might have taken weeks to understand complex 3D equations when now it could take a matter of minutes with our Educational Hack.

What it does

Trinity Grapher is an interactive medium for students who have trouble visualizing difficult calculus formulas/equations on 2D paper. Bringing in a third dimension brings math to life for students.

How we built it

We build Trinity Grapher in Unity using the aid of the SteamVR Utility kit. This framework allowed us to detect things such as controller and headset motions and inputs. Other than that, we were left to our own devices to figure out a successful Hack.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest challenge would be the re-rendering of meshes while the VR headset was still loading the environment. Meshes would often not load and would appear invisible to the user.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to detect collisions between the raycast of the controller and an interactive button on menus. This was difficult but surprisingly rewarding.

What we learned

The four of us learned a lot whether it came from C# syntax, Unity Hub, Implementing UI, Github, Computer Logic, and more. For our second Hackathon, I believe our ambitions were well met.

What's next for Trinity Grapher

AR – If this software was more MOBILE, it would be easier to implement in the classroom. Being able to display these calculus functions on a desk would be more accessible to the public while also being convenient.