PaintAR is a prototype that enables you to paint in a 3D space using AR and full body tracking technology. Dance and move around while creating your very own work of art! With just a smartphone or a tablet, you carry around every tool needed for creating art, making the world your canvas. PaintAR aims to make art engagement accessible for all, presenting a concept that gives you a fun and immersive experience.
The prototype was developed by the students Julie Sofie Berntsen, Julia Hellem Brandt, Ruben Caldeira and Daniela Lipcika as a part of MIX301 - Media Technology: Theory and Development. This course is an introductory course to the Master's Programme in Media and Interaction Design at the University of Bergen.
The students made a prototype consisting of two parts; a visual representation made with Figma, and a practical part made with Unity. The visual representation shows the user interface consisting of functions and visual elements that would be included, while the part in Unity is the practical part with the core features for painting.
The experience was designed to be more exciting and immersive by including the element of a 3D space for your canvas. Doing this allows you to move into the painting with the phone or tablet being used. The painting will exist in a 3D space where you can see it from all angles, and both from the outside and the inside of the painting!
The students have used full body tracking technology when developing the prototype. This allows for your body to be the paintbrush. You can track the different body parts (feet, hands, and head) when painting, either all at once or separately in different combinations.
Another aspect of PaintAR is the social community. After having created a painting, you can share it with your friends. Your painting will then be “attached” to the place you created it, existing in the virtual world of this prototype. Sharing your painting will then let your friends be able to seek it out with their own phone or tablet! All paintings, including your friends’ and your own, will be pinned on an interactive map, enabling you to explore the paintings, and to further encourage active art engagement.
