What did you set out to do?

For my final project I worked with Ben Kreimer, a fellow at the Buzzfeed Open Lab. He created 3D models of the Antiochia ad Cragum Archaeological Research Site in Turkey. My task was to put the models into virtual reality using the HTC Vive. I placed audio narration around 'hotspots' which users can teleport to using the HTC Vive controller's trigger for learning about the different recreations.

What did you learn as you began working on it?

There are a few things that I quickly learned when beginning this project. To start, when working with large files and textures over the web it is very important to establish a lossless online workflow to get the best quality and download speed so that everything runs smoothly on both ends. In addition, it's very easy for files and .OBJs to break when zipping and unzipping and compressing and importing and exporting them multiple times, so be wary of that when planning to work in the future. In addition, make sure to test your scripts between versions of any program, because updates (especially for beta products) may break everything.

What did you try that didn't work, and how did you pivot your project in order to complete it?

One thing I tried was putting all the recreations in one scene to eliminate the need to switch scenes. This quickly became an issue because the HTC Vive would begin to lag when I even looked in the direction of another terrain model, so I had to separate each model into a different scene. This actually helped because I didn't have to create a loading screen as the HTC Vive has their own 'home' portal when an experience is loading. In addition, when creating 3D recreations you really have to shoot for what your intended platform is. When viewing the models on a 2D computer screen they look great, but when you are standing on the model the quality of the recreation starts to deteriorate because you are much closer to the texture.