Development tool selection
As development lead, I helped choose the development tools. Unity was a client requirement.
BabySteps
Development leadership, interactive storytelling systems, and custom mesh animation for a mobile AR experience.
RoleDevelopment Lead
EngineUnity · Client requirement
PlatformMobile AR
ContextMaster of Digital Media
Project trailer
BabySteps in motion
Watch the team trailer for the AR storytelling experience.
View the CDM projectThe project
BabySteps lets expectant parents explore their pregnancy through AR storytelling and a changing 3D model. The experience connects narrative sequences, layered visualization, and week-specific information to the progression of the pregnancy.
My focus
Building the systems behind an evolving AR story and making its animation work on a phone.
01 / Responsibilities
Development work
User interface
I implemented the experience’s UI. Playtesting revealed unclear controls and next steps, which we refined in subsequent iterations.
Sequence runtime
I implemented the runtime that drives the storytelling sequences and helped create the overall sequence system. Another developer authored the story within those sequences.
Layered 3D visualization
I integrated the 3D model and implemented controls to fade selected layers in and out.
Model transformation
I implemented the model’s transformation over time, using the custom mesh animation approach described below.
Week-based content
I implemented a database of pregnancy weeks and tips, with progression tied to the passage of real time.
Bringing Alembic animation to mobile
The constraint
The supplied model animation used Alembic and would not run on the target phone in our implementation. We needed another way to reproduce the important changes in the model.
Our approach
We captured the mesh frame by frame for the most important animated parts and built a custom mesh animator to play those captures. I contributed to that solution and implemented the model’s transformation over time.
The result
The custom animation approach enabled the model’s changes to be presented as part of the mobile AR experience.
- 01 / CaptureRecord key animated meshes frame by frame
- 02 / ReplayDrive them with a custom mesh animator
- 03 / IntegratePresent model changes within the AR experience
03 / Outcome
Refining the interface through testing
The finished experience combined AR visuals and storytelling to help people connect with their unborn child. Playtesting exposed uncertainty about what to do next and what some UI elements meant. We revisited the interface and refined its guidance and controls in response.