INTERIOR INSPECTOR - AUGMENTED REALITY APPLICATION

May - June 2021

As a part of the course Advanced Digital Tools for Heritage Conservation, I created an Android application called Interior Inspector. Building conservators generally display and document the results of material surveying by creating a colour or wallpaper stair, but due to their small size, it can be difficult to visualise what the interior or exterior looked like in a specific time period. The Interior Inspector application aims to demonstrate applying the historical layers to entire interiors, allowing the viewer to gain a deeper understanding and properly visualise what it looked like in the past eras. The user can switch between different documented historical eras and rotate around the room, which offers a more interactive experience.

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The application uses MR (Mixed Reality), combining the marker recognition and direction calibration of AR with the digital environment experience of VR. I chose to demonstrate the potential use of the application by building virtual backdrops of my bedroom in different time periods. The backdrops are not based on historical evidence of the building itself but are modelled as hypothetical interior designs using known style elements of two style periods: the 1960’s and the Jugend (a.k.a. Art Nouveau) style. The historical furniture and interiors are modelled with the Maya software. The wallpapers and floors are UV mapped in Maya, and textured using a seamless texture created with  Adobe Photoshop. The application contains several different scenes, including the start menu, information page, map, AR camera with image recognition, 1960’s room and Jugend room. The application is built with Unity Game Engine.