The goal of my capstone project is to create an interactive web application that allows user’s to explore their home and learn about different items they own and the potential toxins that exist in these products. My main task for this has been to create a model 3d room for a user to “walk” through and be able to click on different items to learn more. One way that we are accomplishing this, is by making a model of a room with all the different items that we want users to learn more about. For example, The room will include a bed, with a bed frame and sheets or a desk that users will click on to learn about the different types of materials used and how that can impact their health. This way, if a user does not want to upload their own room, they can view this model one.
As of now, my project has an object that represents a user. Using the program Godot, the user is placed in the middle of a room with two walls, a floor, and two cubes that represent a bed and a table. The user is able to view the room from the user’s perspective, move around the room using arrow keys, and click on objects which prints out the name of the object to the console. For example, if they click on the cube representing the table, the console prints “You have clicked on the table”. My favorite aspect about this project is how quickly you can improve the quality of the product. Right now, the project is very simple and plain. However, Using available libraries, I can download 3D models and import them to Godot so that I can have realistic looking objects in the room and make the walls and floors look like an actual room. This will help make the program feel more professional and clean. I hope to also be able to incorporate different viewpoints so that a user can look at the room from more of a Birdseye view or from a 1st person point of view.
One way that I believe this technology could be made better would be to have it be a little more user-friendly. While it is not difficult to actually use the program itself, I find myself having to frequently look up how to do processes that I might have already done. Sometimes, I feel as if I stumble upon away to accomplish my goal, so it may not be the “right” way or the best way to get said goal done. Godot is brand new to me, so I know it will take time overall for me to be able to easily make models how I want them to be without having to use outside resources. Overall, though, I have been having a good time tinkering around in Godot and thinking through the best way for a user to experience this product.
Below, you can view the screenshot from the application so far. The capsule in the middle is the “user” and the console below shows the output after I clicked on both of the cubes.
