The TAC Road to Zero interactive experience is a permanent installation located at Melbourne Museum. It draws upon decades of TAC research and pedagogical practice, and is co-created with practicing teachers. Part of the Victorian Government’s Towards Zero vision, it aims to reduce road trauma in pre-learner drivers by building knowledge and awareness that will empower young road users to make safe decisions. The experience comprises of 10 individual touch points, each highlighting different aspects of road safer. From a technical point of view the experience utilizes a rang of cutting edge and well establishment hardware and software components, these include Oculus VR, Touch Screens, Projection Mapping, Face Mapping, Rotary Encoders and WebGL.
While there were 12 interactive touch points throughout the experience this post will focus on the application development by myself, namely “Safer Systems”, “Meet Graham” and “Body Build to Survive”.
Safer Systems
As the user approaches the experience they are presented with four different road environments (City CBA, Outer Suburban, Rural, Suburban). Each environment is displayed on two screens, a touch screen laying at a 10 degree angle which displays a top down orthographic animated view of the road system and a wall mounted screen displaying a backdrop of the environment. Once the user picks an environment they are prompted to activate the experience by tapping their ZeroCard (NFC Card) on the embedded NFC reader. Upon tapping their card the user will be presented with onscreen instructions introducing the experience and informing them that they will be helping to improve the safety of three key areas within the environment. The user can select one of the three hazard areas by interacting with the touch screen. Upon opening a hazard area a short animated sequence will play demonstrating the issue with the area. The user will then be able to selected from 3 improvement. After selecting each improvement a new animated sequence will play. Once they have made their selection they will be prompted to move on to the next area. Upon completing all three areas the users results will be saved to their online profile.
Body Built To Survive
As the user approaches the experience they are prompted to activate the experience by tapping their ZeroCard (NFC Card) on the embedded NFC reader. Upon tapping their card voice over will begin playing, introducing the user to the experience and informing the user about what they are going to learn about. The user will then be prompted to select a mode of transport to explore (pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist). They will make this selection be turning a large dial which is connected to a rotary encoder. Turning this dial will send data to the application (much like turning the wheel on a mouse). Once a mode of transport is selected the user will be guided through a narrative which explains what their body would need to look like to survive a crash at various speeds. This is communicated with an animated sequence of a body morphing from a standard body to something akin to marvel’s Hulk. The users face is also superimposed over the animation to help the user relate to the subject matter. In addition to the animation voice over is used to explain exactly what transformations the body is going through. Once this process has been completed an animated gif will be created and saved to the users online profile. Finally the user will be shown some tips on what they can do to protect themself while travelling via their selected mode of transport.
Meet Graham
A large interactive screen that invites visitors on a digital exploration of TAC’s well-known Graham sculpture, discovering why he’s built the way he is and how he compares to our bodies. Users can drag viewpoints over hotspots for more detail on Graham’s features. The interactive is enhanced with printed physical models of Graham’s body parts to each side of the screens.
The “Car Showroom” app is a simple interactive experience, designed to highlight the difference in safety features between old and new vehicles. This is achieved with a physical turn table and model car and a large wall screen. As the user approaches the interactive an attractor message and animation prompts the user to rotate the turn table. Once the user interacts with the turn a 3d model of the car appears on the wall screen and mirrors the rotation of the physical model. The 3d model is split down the middle, with one half representing an old car (blue) and the other representing a new car (red). Rotating the car shows and hides key safety features. The application is built with Three.js and uses custom GLSL shaders to allow for the old/new colour split while simultaneously allowing the car to be rotated.
Role & Responsibility
- Application Development of the following activations
- Meet Graham
- Safer Systems
- Body Built to Survive
- Installation
Software Development Credits
- Ryan Nankervis – 3D Artist
- Seb Fletcher – 3D Artist
- Ashley Morris – Digital Design Lead
- Nicci Hurwitz – Digital Designer
- John Tantoco – Digital Designer
- Jamie Foulston – Digital Designer
- Pete Shand – Software Development
- Mark Davies – EP
- Matt Roberts – Producer
- Kate Bennett – Producer