Chapter 5 of “Designing Immersive 3D Experiences” focuses on prototyping your XR designs in the real world before you commit to any one method. As I’ve learned in my college design classes, prototyping allows you to quickly try out many ideas in a simplified form without having to invest time and energy in fully developing them. Not only does this method let you spot errors and correct problems with your designs quickly, it’s much easier to fix design issues while prototyping than it is when the project is almost finished. AR and MR prototypes can be as simple as UI designs sketched on plastic transparencies, which allow you to conceptualize how the program will work with the real world environment.
This chapter’s exercise involves folding and flying 10 different designs of paper airplanes in three stages, modifying the prototypes over time to try to make them fly further than before. Since the book requires that I don’t look up folding instructions beforehand, and because I hadn’t folded paper airplanes in a while, I came up with some interesting designs.
My first five planes were tested in a hallway, with plane 4 going the furthest overall. Examining it, I hypothesized this was because of its long,thin shape, and a long fold down the middle allowing air to pass through.
The second stage was to fold three more airplanes based on the design of plane 4, and test them and the previous winner to see which one was best. Surprisingly plane 3.5 won easily,with plane 4 only making 4th place. I guessed that plane 3.5’s triangular shape and extended flaps made it more “plane like,” and allowed it to fly further than plane 4.
Finally, I needed to fold two more planes based on the new winner, and fly all three to determine the champion! Once again, plane 3.5 won handily, even though my two new planes (4.0 and 5.0) also had extended flaps and middle folds. The winning plane was much more compact than the other two, which reduced its drag and let it fly further than the other larger ones. Although I’m not an aeronautical engineer, this prototype process taught me a few tips on how to make a good paper airplane, while showing how rapid testing allows you to discover and correct product issues on the fly.
Next time I get to play video games for the chapter exercise! And I know just the game to practice with. Stay tuned!
Sorces:
Stevens, Renee. Designing Immersive 3D Experiences. Pearson Education Inc., 2022.