High-Level Project Summary
Our group, Polaris, have developed an Augmented Reality (AR) application in Facebook and Instagram social media. Being able to track your surroundings and take photos, the users can visualize digital three-dimensional stars in real life. Not only will they learn about Stellar Variability, Intrinsic and Extrinsic variables but also be able to share this experience online with their friends, enhancing the science and astronomy community with deep interactive and immersive learning. Furthermore, we have connected our solution to the social media hub database, allowing us to measure metrics such as openings, shares, savings and impressions, wich help us to scale our project.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that display digital objects in real surfaces through a camera. Our solution, available in Facebook and Instagram social media, was designed in the Spark AR app, but we also used Photoshop and Illustrator programs for other purposes.
We used node-based programming similar to Javascript to code and many other objects such as materials, textures, 3D objects, shaders and animations.
The users are able to track their flat surface and onde this happens, a digital star appears and start telling what Stellar Variability is. Our User Interface (UI) uses buttons located in the middle-down part of the screen where the user can tap this buttons and change experiences to learn more about extrinsic and intrinsic variables.
The importance of AR to our project.
Our development consisted in prototyping sketchs similar to level design. Later, we progressed to a 2D protoype in Illustrator and then we moved to Spark AR, where we developed the experience and launched to the mobile experience. Some of the technolgies used was:
Types of technology used:
- Plane Tracker (tracking the plane),
- Gyroscope/Accelerometer (allows you to rotate and explore the environment in 360°),
- Volumetric Light (image manipulation technique that consists of giving volume to light),
- Distortion (distorting objects through of textures such as noises),
- Rendering (of scenes and objects, allowing you to edit them).
We have connected our solution to the social media hub database, allowing us to measure metrics such as openings, shares, savings and impressions, wich help us to scale our project and look for improvements such as:
- More effects explaining contents;
- Application of real databases;
- Translation to other languages;
- New teaching methods.
You can scan the QR Code to experience our solution. Thank you!
Space Agency Data
All contents and textures developed were based in NASA's database, including texts, code and colors. Websites about stellar variability, polaris, cepheid variables, supernovas are some examples. Also, the GCVS - General Catalog of Variable Stars (June 2022 Version) was used.
Hackathon Journey
Developing a total new solution in 48h was both a challenging and amazing experience. What inspired us was the opportunity to use innovation and education, looking for new teaching methods. As a group, we learned about Stellar Variability and its importance towards our lives.
In the beggining, we divided our teams into couples: documentation/research, programming and deisgn. This multidisciplinary and diverse organization allowed us to perform efficiently throughout the challenge. We established deadlines and respected them.
We'd like to thank all the people included in the São Paulo, Brazil edition and especially our programming teacher Victor Rosetti, who inspired us since the beggining.
References
https://www.aavso.org/rotating-variables-mapping-surfaces-stars
https://www.aavso.org/stellar-evolution
https://www.space.com/15396-variable-stars.html
https://youtu.be/7ohkKiZTJOg
https://theplanets.org/stars/the-algol-star/
https://www.space.com/15396-variable-stars.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/star-astronomy/Eclipsing-binaries
https://www.viewsonic.com/library/education/6-benefits-and-5-examples-of-augmented-reality-in-education/
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/sun-9ef1c68fbb944147bcfcc891d3912645
Tags
#augmented reality #art #education #immersive #star #polaris