शहAR

Lakshya Ranwan | Mann Merchant | Saloni Shetye | Sanat Prasad | Sharvil Survase | Guided by Prof. Jayesh Pillai

शहAR

AR Town Builder

शहAR is an interactive augmented reality project designed to function as a town builder. By placing dedicated physical markers, the user can instantly generate various AR objects, including houses, shops, offices, and roads, to create a unique, custom town of their liking. A key feature is inter-marker interaction, which allows users to combine certain buildings to create larger, more complex structures. The core objective of this interactive app is to explore creativity and have fun.


शहAR_Testing

Overview

This academic project was conceptualised, designed, developed, and tested within a two-week timeframe. The project involved collaboration within a team of 5 and was part of a course that aimed to provide an introduction and exploration of the development and applications of Extended Reality (XR) and its various media.

Testing and Sandbox
Game testing and Sandbox

Process

We wanted to use AR to explore how things do not directly combine in the real world can combine in extended reality to form new things. Our idea manifested as an AR town builder.

Concept

Shahar_Concept

Ideation for Markers

We explored a number of concepts for markers as tiles and their combinations. As QR codes are very good markers for AR tracking, we considered combining structural illustrations with QR codes. But we did not like having the visual element and QR tracking element as two separate parts. Finally, we decided to make the markers hexagonal to fit well with each other and combine.

Shahar_Markers

Final Concept

Hexagonal markers that combine at 3 levels to form larger buildings.

Shahar_Final_Concept

Development

We used Unity as the development platform for our project.

Shahar_Development

Features

Structure
The_App
Shahar_setup
Shahar_Features

Future Opportunities

  • Creating a third tier of inter-marker interactions, where three markers can combine to generate even larger buildings.
  • Implementing road markers to enable users to construct roads by defining the endpoints, turnings, and crossings.
  • Adding background music and sound effects and animations that accompany the AR visuals to create a more engaging experience.
  • Improving building generation parameters and constraints for a better play experience


Exhibition

Shahar_Scope