Introduction

Simplify your design process for either architects or architectural draftsmen. See your creations in real life, right on your phone before finalizing the product.

No design revisions since last assignment, only design enhancements, as in models added to the application rather than the placeholders.

Technical Development

For Architectural Draftsman AR Tool, augmented reality (AR) was chosen to build the application by using Unity and AR Core. Unity was chosen for its compatibility with AR Core. The project began by setting up basic AR features, including floor and wall tracing. It then enabled object placement and manipulation. Overcoming the challenge of placing multiple objects required external resources, particularly the "Augmented Reality (AR) tutorial with Unity (Make Real-world Applications)" by JoystickLab. Further development is that more items than what can initially be seen, can be selected, and placed in the application, and general visual enhancement.

The key functionality of the application, is three things:

• Ability to place AR object into reality through the application.
• Ability to change what AR object is placed.
• Ability to scroll through multiple objects that can be placed.

These functionalities are working due to Unity’s built-in functionalities, such as the UI scrolling, and the three scripts the application consists of.

1. The InputManager script detects user clicks in the AR environment and creates an object at the clicked location based on the reference provided by the DataHandler.
2. The ButtonManager script manages a UI button and sets the reference object (placeableObject) in the DataHandler when the button is clicked.
3. The DataHandler script acts as a singleton data manager, storing the reference to the placeable object and making it accessible across different parts of the application. It allows the InputManager and ButtonManager to communicate and determine which object to place in the AR environment.

3D Content

As seen in the image above, there is a couch, a chair, and a plant, there is also a green plant, which is just represented by a white square for the moment being. These are all placeable objects in the application, and they are all imported from the Unity Asset Store.

Each 3D model is used for the same purpose, to represent what they would look like if placed into the real world, as a preview before the final placement is done in real life.

Usability Testing

Design and Plan

For testing the current state of the application, the focus is on functionality, ease of use, satisfaction, and if the user could see themselves use this in their work life.

Recruitment

Since I have a good friend that’s worked as a draftsman before, and both my parents are architects, I contacted them and used them to test the application.

Protocol of the testing

I was the one conducting the tests since I have worked with the application alone. Therefore, I observed how they interacted with the application, and guided them in how to use the application when there were any complications

Report of the findings

I found that there were some awkward issues with the way objects were being placed, and that they seemed to be floating rather than being placed on the ground. Another issue was that multiple objects can be spawned on accident when scrolling through the inventory.

It was however appreciated, that it was possible to scroll through a scalable inventory of items, and that they appear once you click on their icon.

Analysis of the findings

From the goal of this testing session, I now know what the focus of the future development of this application is. The first thing to work on is the placement of the objects, secondly is multiple objects spawning without them wanted to be spawned.

Working on expanding the scrollable feature that worked well, would be to have a burger menu where the user can choose what type of items they want to place, and then have a scrollable view of the type of items they want to place.

The people it was tested on can see the application be applicable, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done before it is there.

Addressing the Result of the Usability Testing

Plan to address user feedback

1. Collect and Prioritize Feedback:
   • Gather user feedback and prioritize the biggest issues.
2. Enhance Functionality and Usability:
   • Improve product functionality and usability.
3. Boost Satisfaction and Work-Life Fit:
   • Focus on user satisfaction and align the product with work-life needs regarding architecture and draftsman.
4. Iterate and Communicate:
   • Continuously improve based on feedback and transparently communicate updates.
   • Keep testing and improving, even after it might be used by the desired users.

Changes made to the application

No changes has been made since the testing session, but plans to further work on the application are being made.

References

JoystickLab AR guide:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb1h4A0yB978SQuAeBsxup--7ITPCashH

3D assets:

              Furniture:

              https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/furniture/hdrp-furniture-pack-153946

              Plants:

            https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/vegetation/plants/plants-150261