Project Summary
Virtually navigate the GTID building through an immersive 360° video with the goal of virtually inviting prospective students to "visit" campus during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The reality of COVID-19 was the motivator and challenge of this project. As the department was considering creative marketing efforts due to the physical restrictions, there was the need to provide prospective students a way to virtually visit the building.
Quick adoption of a remote atmosphere was imperative to leverage the multimedia capabilities of AR and immerse students in the hands-on studios and labs that characterize the program.
In hearing about this challenge, and because of my post-production experience, I jumped at the opportunity to collaborate in this interactive problem solving experience.
The Challenge
Research & Collaboration
Stakeholder Needs
I collaborated with the Marketing & Events coordinator to understand the needs of both the prospective students and the department.
- Immersive tour of the building
- Focus on labs and classrooms details
- Show equipments available for use
- 360° tour to be hosted on a cost-effective platform
- Accessible / Easy to share
- Needed to fill gaps of in-person tours
- Quick turn around time
Platform Analysis
Deciding on a hosting platform that would be used to host the virtual tour was a challenge because of the amount of options. A few key questions were brainstormed in order to narrow down the options. Conducting an analysis helped this process even further.
Components
When planning and assisting with the marketing efforts, the following components were identified as most important. These were kept in mind during every step of the collaboration and creation of the virtual tour.
Recording 360° Footage
I joined the Marketing & Event Coordinator to learn about the space and give feedback about post-production considerations. Due to the empty building, the constant movement of people did not have to be addressed (which limited the experience), but made the environment and camera set-up easier to control.
Limitations
While the lack of students may have hindered the virtual experience, the projects left behind by all of the students made up for it. This was beneficial when recording the 360° footage since the collaborative atmosphere was left intact. In the 360° footage collected, the user can sense the environment of the studios and labs - allowing for full immersion into the future projects prospective students will work on in the future.
Post-Production
Stitching
To create a cohesive visual experience, each 360° footage was stitched using Adobe Photoshop for pictures and Adobe Premiere Pro for videos. The process involved stitching them into an equirectangular format with a 2:1 aspect ratio.
Longitudinal Rotation & Editing
Some of the images and videos were captured with the intended initial viewing orientation "behind" the user. These images and videos needed to be edited to have the initial viewing section in the middle of the image (in 180-degree format). For this step, the image and videos were rotated longitudinally to get access to the seam and edited to stitch them together. This process also involved manipulating the image to erase the tripod and any other blemish.
2D Image Overlays
Each area presented in the virtual tour needed to be titled, so the minimal text animation was included to inform the user the room they were virtually in. A minimal text, size, and animation were chosen in order to decrease the disruption to the virtual experience, allowing the users a full visual of the location. This step was done in Adobe After Effects.
Injecting Spatial Metadata
In order for YouTube to differentiate the video as a 360° video and provide the VR options (spherically displayed to allow for swiping, click and dragging, viewing in VR mode), metadata needed to be injected specifically identifying the video in a 360° format. After a long time waiting for the video to upload, the video now had VR capabilities: the keyboard and mouse could be used to look around and the VR icon appeared on the window.
User Testing
With specific images and videos in the correct 360° format, we conducted limited evaluations for the VR view of the tour. Because of COVID-19, user testing was conducted with any family members that were around (not entirely representative of the student population, but our best bet during lockdown). Our evaluation was focused on the motions and the perception of height while using the VR cardboard.
Final Product
The final 360° virtual tour was designed and processed to solve the challenge brought on by a pandemic. For a program as immersive as is Industrial Design, where the building, labs, studios, and equipment are the main point of attraction, it was imperative to bring students into the GTID world.
Mobile Experience
When watching the 360° virtual tour on a phone, users can turn your head/body or turn the view with touch gestures. While watching the virtual tour, users can pause the video and continue looking around at their own pace.
Desktop Experience
When watching the 360° virtual tour on a desktop, users can change the view with their mouse, by clicking the directional arrows on screen, or by pressing the 'wasd' keys on the keyboard.
VR Headset
When watching the 360° virtual tour on a desktop, users can change the view with their mouse, by clicking the directional arrows on screen, or by pressing the 'wasd' keys on the keyboard.
As students and parents continue to explore college options, this 360° virtual tour will provide students a key to the industrial design facilities, to immerse themselves and aid their decision making process.
Improvements
As students and parents continue to explore college options, this 360° virtual tour will provide students a key to the industrial design facilities, to immerse themselves and aid their decision making process.
Spatial Audio
To create an even more immersive experience, a script and audio recording would be conducted to narrate and direct viewers optical view. Ambiance sound would also be included to mimic the environment.
Conduct Thorough User Testing with VR Headset
When shooting the footage for the 360° virtual tour, we kept the 360° camera at eye level to mimic the height of the average human. But when viewing the virtual tour using a VR set, a short person will feel much taller, making the experience a little unnatural for short people. On the contrary, tall people that viewed the 360° tour, didn't notice this at all. While this issue was addressed by vertically rotating the image or video, this time-costly step could have been avoided by checking the footage during the shooting stage.
Include Location Map
Think of the map location feature when you played 007 on Nintendo64.* When the video is on a specific lab or classroom, including a small map in a corner of the screen so the user can visualize a floorpan.