Extended Room | Devpost

Inspiration

The inception of my mixed reality application was deeply influenced by "TheWorldBeyond," an open-source project by Oculus, which captivated me with its vision of extending the real world into the virtual realm. This idea of blending our everyday environments with digital landscapes resonated with my passion for panoramas and nature. I have always cherished spending time immersed in scenic views, absorbing the beauty of nature from a panoramic perspective. Motivated by this, I decided to create an application that allows users to relish stunning vistas regardless of their physical location. My aim was to redefine 'presence' and 'space' by merging the comfort of our living spaces with a vast and varied tapestry of both natural and fantastical settings, ultimately enhancing human interaction with both digital and physical environments.

What it does

My application transforms user spaces into breathtaking environments, whether it's a room perched on a rocky hill, a ledge overlooking mountain vistas, a peaceful forest retreat in a wooden cabin, or a wooden deck on a sandy beach. It even allows users to immerse themselves in an underwater world among coral reefs or in universe. This mixed reality platform seamlessly overlays virtual landscapes over real-world settings, enabling a dynamic and immersive experience right in the comfort of one's home.

The application features a configuration mode where users can adjust the orientation of furniture, enhancing the depth of their experience. Each scene includes a seat, an integral part of the setting, which users can define and customize. During use, the application allows for toggling visibility of furniture, chairs, and even the room's walls or floor to fully tailor the environment to the user’s preference.

Utilizing Mixed Reality technologies, the app not only provides photorealistic scenes but also includes interactive features such as scene-specific soundscapes and the ability to switch between different settings with ease. This functionality enriches user engagement, offers extensive personalization, and transports users to places beyond their imagination, all while maintaining a seamless integration with their physical space.

How we built it

I built the application using the Unity engine. To enhance the mixed reality experience, we utilized SDKs provided by Meta (especially Mixed Reality Utility Kit), which enabled advanced features like spatial tracking and environment mapping, ensuring a seamless integration of virtual and real-world elements.

Challenges we ran into

Seamless Integration of Virtual and Real Worlds: Achieving flawless integration of virtual elements with the physical environment was a major challenge. This required sophisticated spatial tracking and environment mapping technologies to ensure that virtual objects not only looked realistic but also interacted believably with real-world physics.
Hardware Compatibility: Optimizing the application to run smoothly on a broad range of devices involved careful planning and extensive testing.
Environmental Customization: Developing a robust system that allowed users to extensively customize their environments was complex. Adjusting furniture and toggling the visibility of elements like walls and floors required a system capable of handling numerous variables and scenarios. A particularly tough aspect was ensuring precise positioning of furniture items like chairs, crucial for an immersive and functional experience.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One of the accomplishments I am most proud of is my rapid progression from a novice to a capable developer of mixed reality applications. Just two months ago, I had little understanding of how to create mixed reality software. However, thanks to a well-structured ecosystem and an extremely intuitive SDK, I was able to quickly learn and develop an application. The journey from learning the basics to creating a fully functional app that I personally enjoy using has been incredibly rewarding.

This swift learning curve and successful application development are testaments not only to the supportive tools available but also to the hard work and dedication invested in the project. It’s immensely satisfying to see something that I envisioned come to life and function exactly as intended. The fact that I can now share this experience with others, allowing them to explore new environments and customize their spaces in unique ways, is a source of great pride and motivation to continue improving and expanding the application.

What we learned

Through developing my mixed reality application, I learned how to seamlessly integrate virtual and real environments, mastering advanced spatial computing and user interface design to ensure an intuitive and immersive experience

What's next for Extended Room

In future releases of the application, my first priority is to enhance performance and create additional scene variants to enrich user experience. I also plan to expand the personalization capabilities, allowing users to add their own elements to the spaces and share these spaces with others. Another exciting feature I aim to introduce is the ability to explore beyond the confines of the room, creating a more expansive and immersive experience.

Community feedback is incredibly important to me; I want the direction of the application's development to be largely influenced by what the community desires. To foster this, I'm looking to introduce "User Rooms"—spaces designed by the community. Moreover, I plan to implement a profit-sharing system for users whose designs become popular, rewarding their creativity and contributions to the app's ecosystem. This approach not only enhances the application but also builds a collaborative and engaged user community.