Das Digitale Objekt 2018

Supplementary AR App to a Published Anthology

About

‚Das digitale Objekt 2018‘ is a supplementary augmented reality application to the anthology ‚Das digitale Objekt – Zwischen Depot und Internet‘ of the Deutsches Museum, which deals with the digitization of cultural-historical objects. QR codes next to the articles can be scanned inside the app to experience additional AR content that put the content of the anthology in context. Among other things, there can be 3D models, videos, animations and other texts be viewed and interacted with. As a highlight, the arcade game Space Invaders can be played in AR.

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Project Details

Period
Team Size
Platform
Language
Game Engine
AR Framework
2D Graphics Program
Versioning

08/2020 – 11/2020
3
Android
C#
Unity 3D (2019.4.8f1)
ARFoundation
Gimp (2.10.20)
Unity Collaborate (git)

Employer

Research Institute of the Deutsches Museum, Munich
Department ‚Deutsches Museum Digital‘

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DeutschesMuseumDigital.DasDigitaleObjekt2018&gl=DE

Project Description

The project came about when I was a student assistant at the Deutsches Museum and was set up within a few months to show how existing physical and digital content can be put into context with the help of augmented reality. The different approaches to digital expansion were chosen to stimulate an examination and discussion of augmented reality as a medium.

The 3D objects were provided so we could focus on programming the app with ARFoundation, a Unity package which allows working with Augmented Reality in a multi-platform way within Unity.

For example, we integrated the 3D model of the coffee plant of the open-source app ‚Kosmos Kaffee‘, which was developed by Fluxguide for the special exhibition ‚Kosmos Kaffee‘ of the Deutsches Museum and is also subject of the anthology. While in the original game the player controls the growth of the plant via user input, we changed the code a bit so that after scanning the QR code the simulation runs automatically.

Features

11 different AR scenarios to experience after scanning QR codes in the anthology
Interactive 2D and 3D objects: rotation and scaling possible
Simulation of a growing coffee plant of the open-source app ‚Kosmos Kaffee‘ developed by Fluxguide
Arcade game ‚Space Invaders‘

Space Invaders

We created our version of the game to match the anthology: the game objects correspond to the themed 3D models.

Player Cannon
Aliens
Shelter blocks

‚Terracotta Soldier‘
‚Fountain Mask with Oceanus‘
‚Fulda Sacramentary‘

Although we initially stuck to the original game rules, technical issues appeared concerning the stability in the AR version, so we simplified the game to create a smooth gaming experience.

Game Mechanics

There are 15 enemies constantly moving horizontally and from top to bottom
The player can move from left to right and shoot projectiles at the enemies (with each enemy hit the player earns points)
There are 4 static blocks in a row under which the player can take shelter
Shelter blocks are destroyed by colliding with one of the enemies
The player dies if colliding with enemies (game over)
The player wins if all enemies are dead
To have a good view of the moving enemies, the smartphone has to be moved to the left/right

Controls

Arrows
A-Button
Reset button
Menu button

Moving sideways left/right
Attack
Reset the game
Back to main menu

My contribution

Implementation of 5/11 AR scenarios:
1. 3D model of the ‚Terracotta Warrior‘ of CultLab3D
2. 3D models of ‚Fountain mask with Oceanus‘ and ‚Fulda Sacramentary‘ from the Bavarian culture portal bavarikon
3. 2D image with link to Rijkstudio, a platform developed by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to share free-to-use collections with the public
4. Growing coffee plant of the app ‚Kaffee Kosmos‘
  – Adjustments to the existing C# code for the growth simulation: automatic start after scanning the QR code, speed change etc.
5. Main part of the game ‚Space Invaders‘
  – Most of the game logic
  – Adjustments to the AR version in terms of user experience (e.g. appropriate placement of game objects in space, speed of enemies etc.)
  – User Interface (button design using Gimp)
  – SFX: added 8-bit sound effects (Creative Commons) -> background music and explosions when projectiles are hitting something
General rotation and scaling of objects (rotating using 1 finger, scaling using 2 fingers)