OVERVIEW
AR Virtual Museum Experience is an augmented reality historical exhibition created for the Royal Wagenborg shipping company.
Visitors explore one of the company’s oldest ships through an immersive AR portal experience that blends the physical environment with a fully virtual historical reconstruction.
Visitors begin the experience by standing at a designated location on the ship and using a tablet to scan the environment. Once the correct position is detected, an AR portal appears in front of them on the tablet screen.
As visitors physically walk forward, they can see themselves stepping through the portal into a virtual recreation of the ship. Inside the experience, users freely explore historical objects, exhibits, and informational descriptions placed throughout the environment, transforming the ship into an interactive digital museum.
Engine
Unity, C#
Platform
Android
Project Type
Team
Primarily Role
Gameplay Programming
Client
TRAILER
How the AR Portal Works
When visitors stand at the designated location and hold the tablet in front of them, an AR portal appears on the screen along with an interactive sign beside it.
By tapping the sign, a virtual character appears and explains how to begin the experience. Visitors then physically walk toward the portal, and after passing through it, they enter a fully virtual recreation of the ship that is aligned with the real-world environment.
Inside the experience, visitors are greeted by a 3D recreation of one of Royal Wagenborg’s oldest captains, specially designed for the project. Users can interact with the captain, who guides them throughout the experience and introduces different parts of the ship and its history.
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
Built the portal placement system using AR plane detection and touch input
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Detected flat surfaces through the tablet camera
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Allowed the user to tap a valid surface
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Spawned the portal entrance at the selected location
Implemented portal transition logic
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Checked the user’s position against the portal
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Detected when the user crossed through the portal
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Switched the experience from real-world view to virtual ship view
Managed inside/outside portal visibility
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Separated real-world and portal content using layers
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Controlled what the camera renders before and after entering
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Ensured museum objects only appear correctly through/inside the portal
Implemented museum exhibit and portal visibility systems
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Added historical objects to the virtual ship environment
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Ensured objects stayed visible in the correct portal state
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Supported descriptions/exhibit-style content for the museum experience
As users walk through the actual ship, they see the same locations recreated in real time on the tablet within a fully immersive 3D environment surrounded by the sea.
The experience includes environmental effects such as flying seagulls and ambient ocean audio to enhance immersion. Throughout the ship, visitors discover virtual historical objects and exhibits that do not exist in the real environment.
Beside each exhibit is an interactive screen that can be tapped to play recorded videos from Wagenborg employees, providing explanations and historical stories about the displayed objects.
Visitors can continue exploring the ship to discover additional artifacts and learn more about the company’s history through interactive storytelling.
