- Make a VR application designed to take advantage of VR's unique capabilities
- Learn to use the LOVR framework and write Lua
- Design a positive user experience
- Connect to the OverDrive API
VR/AR is the next frontier for consuming media. I'm curious about what that future looks like. What capabilities of VR can we leverage to enhance activities we enjoy now?
Following this line of thinking, I thought about what something I love to do: read. How could VR change how I read? How could it improve upon the e-reader? Ever the escapist, I first imagined immersing myself in a different world while reading a book. Later, conversations with friends helped me realize that VR allows you to read without holding a book. Could the lack of a book increase physical comfort while reading? To explore these ideas, I intend to create the VReader, an app that enables the user to comfortably read a book while surrounded by an environment reflecting the setting of the story.
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Competitor apps
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Shortcomings of the competition
- Environments are not well lit
- not connected to an API
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My product is different because...
- I'm using Lua with the LOVR framework
- I'm using an environment related to the setting of the story
- I'm connecting to the OverDrive API
My app targets users like Fanny (a persona). Fanny is in her 20s and works on Amazon's Alexa Experiences team in Santa Cruz, CA. She's curious about new technologies, so she has purchased a Vive. When she's not working or surfing, Fanny loves to read (she loves thrillers especially). She recently started purchasing more e-books in an effort to curb her book-hoarding tendencies. She's intrigued by the VReader app as a new way to experience a book, so she downloads it to try it out.
One day, after experiencing some back pain that forces her to lay down, she tries reading a book but finds it too uncomfortable. Then she switches to reading with the VReader, which turns out to be a great solution to her problem - wearing a headset, she can simply view the page in front of her face and use controllers to turn the page, rather than awkwardly holding the book above her.
In short, the VReader is for the user who is interested in the innovations of VR and improved reading comfort.
https://trello.com/b/a5IPY20K/capstone-vreader
- Back-end Technology: Lua, OverDrive API
- Front-end Technology: LoVR framework, Vive/WebVR
- Infrastructure
- WebVR hosted by LOVR website
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzzh_cthkU7fLWk2M0h5c0c3dVk/view?usp=sharing
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Text and Controls
- The user can read the default text, A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, from start to finish
- The user can comfortably view text displayed on a white page with no blurriness
- The page displays at a comfortable distance in front of the user's face
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Environment
- Upon opening the app, the user can see a room with a day bed, writing desk by the window, and chair, all rendered in 3D
- The environment is well-lit, stylized, low-poly
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OverDrive API
- The user can log on to their OverDrive account using their account credentials
- The user can access any ebook they have checked out from their library through OverDrive
- Any ebook the user chooses is loaded into the default room environment
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Improved User Experience
- The user has the option to increase the font size on the page
- The user can turn the lights off in the environment, triggering night mode which displays white text on a dark page
- The user has the option to read seated or lying down
- The user can grab and move the page anywhere in the environment
- The app tracks the user's eye movements and, after a certain number of checkpoints are hit on the page, knows to turn the page
- The user can bookmark their place in a book