Virtual Inspiration

Inspiration

VR + travel, what could be more fun?

How it works

Visual Inspiration is a Web-VR app that runs on virtual reality head-mounted displays (Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard or GearVR) to explore a variety of buildings, monuments, landmarks and other real world tourist attractions to gain inspiration and ideas for future travel.

Challenges I ran into

It was challenging to render scale of images accurately
Existing Three.js controllers were made for flying or walking but not both, integration of the two was definitely a challenge
Not enough time to implement background scene or ambient sounds to give move context to the landmarks

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

No one has yet tried to render 3D models in VR for travel inspiration!
Successful implementation of a custom control algorithm to allow six degrees of movement in the scene

What I learned

There are a ton of 3D models of landmarks in the public domain, created by skilled 3D artists and locals wishing to share their culture with the world
How to articulate the distinction between 2D panoramic images rendered in VR headset and 3D models experienced in VR