QUT ARC Mars VR Project
Developed the 3D Geological Data Visualisation System for the QUT ARC Mars VR project
Developed as part of the QUT ARC Mars VR project
Roles on Project: Research Assistant & VR Developer
About My Work On The QUT ARC Mars VR Project
Since July of 2023 I have been working as a research assistant for the QUT Faculty Of Science on the QUT ARC Mars VR Project: a VR experience with the goal of bringing awareness to the Mars 2020 Perseverance Mission . My work has mainly be involved around developing a VR system that allows users to interact with an interface to view the chemical compositions of different rock samples taken by the Perseverance Rover on Mars.
The first few months of development were centred around extracting data from PIXLISE, a website that contains data on the rock samples taken by the PIXL tool on Perseverance, and formatting that data to be displayed in a 3D representation. From there, work was done to adapt the system to work within the VR environment, and allow the user to manipulate the data by moving around and scaling it.
Since then, more work was been done to include more features such as embodied-interaction based controls and topology maps of each of the samples in response to feedback provided on the system by geologists at QUT. The name given to this system is the 3D Geological Data Visualiser, or 3DGDV for short.
Summary Of Work & Contributions
Conducted research into PIXL and PIXLISE to ascertain what data could be extracted from there and displayed in a 3D format within VR
Created concept storyboards of a 3D Geological Data Visualisation (3DGDV) System
Iteratively prototyped the 3DGDV system in Unity using OpenXR
Turned 3DGDV into a package for use within the larger QUT Mars Project
Outcomes From This Project
This project has allowed me the chance to contribute to a smaller component of a bigger project. Before working on the QUT Mars ARC Project, most of my projects involved me working in university groups on a game project from start to finish, wherein I often had a big picture view of the project, and was heavily involved in management of its production. With this project, I had come into it mid-development, and was asked to develop a component that would integrate with the existing systems of the project. Due to this, I got to experience and learn how to design and develop systems based on the constraints of existing systems developed by others.
I also got to experience using Unity in a non-game application. The end goal of this project is to create an interactive VR experience that educates and brings awareness to the public about the Mars 2020 mission, and therefore has a more serious application compared to other projects I have worked on. I found it interesting to see how I could make use of Unity to develop a system that would help contribute to the overall goal of the project, and view my development through the lens of how this system I was developing could help provide better context and understanding of Mars and its environment to the public and geologists who may end up using the VR experience.
My Process
Early Concept Storyboards Of 3DGDV
My early work on the project involved me undertaking some research into the Mars 2020 mission, Perseverance, and what data PIXL and PIXLISE was recording. To summarise my findings, PIXL is capable of analysing the chemical composition of rocks, and PIXLISE is able to represent these compositions through chemical maps.
Using this chemical map data from PIXLISE, I devised a system to be used in the QUT Mars VR Project, where once Perseverance has scanned a rock, a plane will appear wherein the user is then able to select different elements/chemical compounds and then view the chemical map in a 3D format. With this in as my initial concept, I then set about to develop 3DGDV in Unity.
3DGDV Development Progress Videos
Shown below are some videos showcasing 3DGDV throughout its different iterations of development, wherein I have incrementally added more features and capabilities to the system. The development of the 3DGDV system is still ongoing, so further videos may be added as it continues to be developed.