#hardhatvr

We have Louie to do the 3D modelling in the group, I also help some part like chair and joystick modelling but more on texture. As we want to do a high level of simulation VR project, we have to make all the modelling become more like reality as hard as we can. A requirement we set for our project is we have to let the user feel they are inside a real bobcat car when they wear the VR. 

My part is making the texture we need in unity as we want the user to have higher experience in VR. Add the texture/material is the easiest way to make a grey rubber 3D modelling become a real car in Unity. We have checked the real bobcat car from our research, so we have a list of the texture we need.

-Orange -White -Black -Grey -Grey blue -Transparent Glass

It is easy to do those colours texture as all you need is changing RGB values. The hard part is glass. Fortunately, I did that last year and still remember how to do that.

During finish my reflection statement, I notice that our project missed something that should be there. We talked about those things when we do the set-up, but you know, we don't have enough time. So in this blog, I would like to talk about those things which should be in our project.

1. Gaming chair

We have the idea of using a gaming chair at the start of the year. In that time, our plan is we can play the project by lie in a big and soft gaming chair, which also more like you are in the driver sit. The reason we do not have the chair is we can't find one that we can borrow. Louie and Tim said that they might have one can borrow from their friends or brother, but in the end, they say No.

2. Joystick button

We do think about using the button on the joystick, some audience in the open studio also ask me do those buttons do anything? Sadly we need to tell them none of those button works. The reason is we think it is not necessary to use the button. Imagine you can do all the control with two joysticks, would you still want to waste some time to write another script about using buttons?

3. Stable the joystick

The last one is the only thing we forgot to do. When we finish the set-up, we have a chat about should we use some tape to stable the joystick on the cube or not. In that time, the result we have is Yes. Then, the funny thing comes, none of us remembers that until the open studio starts. It is a mistake I have to say. Fortunately, only a few people notice that problem and they don't care about it.

So we finally come to the last stage of our project, the open studio. Everything is ready for the show. In the day before the open studio, I am quite nervous because I am worried about if no one likes our project. The project is good, but I believe there is something to improve. With the feel of worry and nervous, we walk into the open studio.

It is quite simple for our set up, but we sure it is comfortable to play. One thing we write in the plan is to check which position is the best for the user to hold the joystick. The only thing I am not happy with is we don't have a restart in the game, which needs a person always stay with the project to start and stop by click in unity.

I am glad that we have so many audiences that interested in our project, which makes me believe using VR do attract people. A funny thing is none of them wants to play the project until we have a brave guy did. They interested in VR but also afraid to play something they don't know. During the waiting time, I chat with some audience to introduce our idea and how the VR works. Most feedback I get is they are surprised with the project and believe it is so creative and fun.

We also have some young audience like 6 or 7 years old. They are braver and interested in this project than their parents. I remember a child who impressed me, that kid restart the game like three times as he always fails at the middle stage. I am happy that some people told me our project is the first VR thing they play. Some of them never play VR or never hear about VR, but it doesn't matter.

In the last week before the open studio, I have complained about we can’t finish the project to Tim nearly 100+ times. This is the same problem I always worry about every semester before the open studio or showcase. I thought it won’t happen when I become year 3 but I was wrong.

To finish our project, the first and important thing we have to do is catch Louie. It is like we miss a key gear in a big running machine which always has some problems comes out. I really hate we need a person come studio for a talk about the next step plan but he always late. I am not saying Louie is a bad person but sometimes he does make we mad. Fortunately, we finally get him in this important week, thank god.

A sad thing we meet during the final set up is the game chair idea finally been removed as we can’t find a person can borrow to us. It would be great to have a moveable chair in our project, but not this time.

The code is alright because I am nearly dying on that. Imagine only sleep an hour in three days just to solve some coding bug. I like programming and unity before, but now I would like to kick them as far as I can. I am so happy that Louie and Tim could help me in improving the arm movement code in unity, it does save the project.

We also have Sahaj to finish our concept statement prototype and the poster. It is good that we get a person who wants to do writing and document job for the group, thanks.

I also worry about our cable as we have lots of equipment need to plug to the multi-board. In total, we have used three multi-board, two joysticks, two stands and a full VR equipment for our project, it is a big project.

So I have tested the VR headset for our project today and see what problem I need to solve. And, right, there are lots of bugs.

The first one is the camera. I waste like 10 min to find why can’t I use VR in the project as my other project can automatically start the Steam VR. It is really annoying to me, this shouldn’t happen. And just after 5 min, while I complain about this problem other people, I suddenly find what caused this problem.

I forget to install the open VR package in unity, so unity doesn’t know why I plug the HDMI and USB into the laptop for. It is just a simple mistake, but really waste me like 10 min.

The second one is still about the camera, yes, the camera again. The code I use is just copied from what I have done of my COMP770 paper, which I could tell Stefan I really learn something from this semester, at least about this code. The problem is the camera does follow the car but stop work when the car rotate. To be honest, the time I used for this problem is way less than the first problem. I just add one line code.

Yeah, I have the position code already, just copy it and change to the rotation, done.

I love this project, I never do a project like this can use that much skill I have learned from another class. I do take more record but don’t know how Tumblr works for upload multi videos, maybe I should upload them one by one?

Having a mission/quest in a trainning simulation is important, otherwise how would the user know he is doing right or not? The idea I have is split the project to three part, we have the first part for user understand the basic control and movemnt of the frontloader car. In this stage the user will have enough time for understand how the joystick work. We could have some introduction text on the box around or somewhere for support.

Then the second stage should be something like the driving test, the user need control their movement slowly and try not crash any box on the road. Our goal is trainning the user to be good for driving the frontloader car, which understand the speed control is the most important part. We will build some box wall, all of them will have physic colldier to create physicl effect when crash with other project.