Inspiration
Texas A&M University is a historic institution grounded in tradition. However, the contributions of Aggies of color and women have often been overlooked. As the student body becomes more diverse, the campus should reflect it and become more inclusive and welcoming. This involves convincing students rooted in tradition and fundraising for artwork and other projects. With our app, we aim to help Ags envision a more inclusive campus and raise awareness and financial support to make that vision a reality.
What it does
When you open up the app near points of interest on campus, you will be able to see statues and information about Aggies of color and women who have embodied the Aggie spirit and played a role in our university's history.
How we built it
We used the IOS Development environment, along with the new Metal API for running the 3d graphics of AR Kit. All in the IDE Xcode. We chose Metal for the low-overhead, accelerated performance that it provides.
Challenges we ran into
For running the 3d environment we used Apple's Reality Composer...... DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ Converting our 3d files to the .USDZ, was an absolute Nightmare It made us go through seven different types of 3D file conversions from .FDX to .DAE.
After giving up, grokking the documentation and debugging till 4 am, We found the issue of FDX python bindings for Mac. After, Installing the dependency.....EUREKA! We got a .USDZ file.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We’ve been able to accomplish a lot in the last 24 hours. From listening to problems, and later developing a fully functional solution that can be readily implemented. We’re proud to have created an app from scratch to showcase multiple cultures in different locations of the University of the heroes’ significance. We were able to implement an augmented reality and interactive experience, where you have the chance to not only read about the heroes but also stand next to them and take a photo. We began the initiative to allow people to donate for the real establishment of these statues around campus. Lastly, we not only wanted to add artwork around campus, but took it a step further where you can scan the artwork to learn more about the country of origin, such as where the painting originated and a fun fact about that country. Our team had several different strengths, and we were able to collaborate together to create a one-of-a-kind product.
Some cool features in App
_ Map with Location services
_ Augmented Realism elements
_ Fun Facts about Art
_ Donation button redirects to a donation page
_ Status Indicator for 3d position of Virtual Object
_ Take Photos with Exhibit
_ Nearby Exhibits to visit
What's next for Unsung Aggies
We hope to actually implement this product in order to create an additional feature for visitors to experience when they come to visit Texas A&M. It not only showcases our cultures but also inspires potential students and parents to want to become Aggies so that they can incorporate innovative ideas to enhance their college experience. We also hope to merge this into the Howdy to prevent the downloading of another application, which may become inconvenient later on. Lastly, we want to incorporate many other ideas and marketing strategies to fundraise money to make these augmented statues into a reality, and spread the cultural diversity of our Aggie culture.
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