AR + PRODUCT VISUALIZATION

For the 2024 Industrial Design showcase at SCAD, I collaborated with the talented Phillip Höltgen to develop an augmented reality (AR) experience that allowed visitors to virtually "hold" MIDIGO, his portable music production device. We drew inspiration from both the AR Satellite Posters and the original exploding renders to show the parts of MIDIGO.

THE PROCESS + SOFTWARE REMIX

The project began by optimizing the original mesh in Rhino, where Phillip reduced the polycount to 20% of the parent geometry. Then, in Maya, we assigned the corresponding materials and grouped the components with shared motion.

In Meta Spark Studio, I refined the materials and programmed the animations. To recreate the disassembling effect accurately, it was crucial to reference Phillip's renders. In the patch editor, I created Transition nodes to translate each group along the Y-axis with a brief delay between them, while a Loop Animation controlled the 360-degree rotation of the model. A combination of Pulse and Delay patches triggered all these actions two seconds after the effect was opened. Finally, a handTracker was essential to keep everything in place. I love that this feature works seamlessly with both front and rear cameras!

Meta Spark Studio’s Patch Editor set-up for transition animations.

THE SHOWCASE

Phillip designed a booth that incorporated technical specifications of MIDIGO alongside each 3D-printed part and a QR code for visitors to explore the AR experience as they transited the space.

TAKEAWAYS

This project was an excellent opportunity to incorporate the hand tracker features from Meta Spark Studio and truly explore the capabilities and versatility of AR when it comes to product visualization.

Phillip plays with the AR model while I hold a physical prototype of MIDIGO.