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Add 3d objects to the gallery

Overview

Name of explainer: Add 3d objects to the gallery

Creative theme: Showcase month

Software used (for this explainer): Unity

User level: INTERMEDIATE

This is explainer 5 of 8 in this series

This series includes:

Edit photos to include in the 3d gallery
Edit video clips to include in the 3d gallery
Create a Unity project and import a gallery scene
Add photos and videos to the 3d gallery
Add 3d objects to the gallery
Add sound to the 3d gallery
Export a gallery tour as an mp4 video
Export the gallery to a VR headset

The Software

This series of explainers uses the following software:

Photoshop for image editing. Similar results can also be achieved using Paintshop Pro (available for a one-off fee) or GIMP (free). See image editing month for full details about these applications and step-by-step explainers.

Premiere Pro for video editing. Similar results can also be achieved using VEGAS Pro (available on subscription or for a one-off fee)or Shotcut (free). See video editing month for full details about these applications and step-by-step explainers.

Unity for working with a 3d gallery scene. See Virtual Reality month for full details about Unity and step-by-step explainers for getting up and running. We’re also using Modern Gallery, a PAID Unity gallery asset to import into our project and navigate in VR:

Finally, we’re using AMBIENS AT+ videoclip, a PAID Unity asset that lets us export Unity camera movements as MP4 videos at up to 4k resolution:

At time of writing, the combined cost of the gallery and camera recording assets is approximately 80 GBP / 100 USD. You may also find FREE 3d assets that will work just fine! Have a look at Sketchfab, CGTrader and TurboSquid, making sure to search for FREE or low-cost assets. The Unity asset store has regular sales so keep an eye out for discounts on the above!

The gallery at the end of this series

Here’s how sections of your gallery could look at the end of the project. Tap an image to view it in a larger window:

If you choose to export a gallery tour as a video file (explainer 7) or send the entire gallery to a VR headset (explainer 8), here’s how your gallery could look! The VR section is streamed from a Quest 2 headset:

The pre-requisities

This is an INTERMEDIATE explainer series overall, though the individual image editing and video editing explainers are suitable for beginners.

If you’re new to IT / computing, the explainers in this series relating to UNITY are not likely to be suitable. To get started with 3d software in a beginner-friendly environment, we recommend the free Tinkercad. See makeuseof for a helpful overview of 3d design.

Why would I do this?

Our ‘viewers’ will expect to see images and video clips in our gallery, but having a fully 3d space means we can include additional 3d objects. These can be used to further illustrate our installations, and could even be made ‘grabbable’ for our explorer to pick up and examine 🙂

Let’s do it!

Click the play icon to watch this video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can also watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.

Good to know

This is a recap explainer. See Virtual Reality month for full step-by-step explainers for setting up Unity, editing a 3d VR scene and exploring it in a Meta Quest VR headset.

Popular 3d objects can usually be found online and downloaded for FREE. Complex models are often chargeable, as are those with more limited / niche appeal. There are many online resources for 3d models – These are the ones referenced in the explainer:

CGTRADER (where we sourced the free Eiffel Tower model used in this explainer):

SKETCHFAB

TURBOSQUID

In the explainer we create a new material and apply it to the Eiffel Tower model. For a full introduction to Unity materials and textures, have a look at this overview:

Where to next?

We’re adding a 3d Eiffel tower and a 3d Arcade cabinet to our gallery. These add to the scene but they’re ‘static’. In VR month we also made specific objects ‘grabbable‘ (using options available in VRIF) to offer true interactivity. We also created simple ‘waypoint‘ animation, which could be used in our gallery to slowly move objects around or rotate a ‘plinth’. You could even use a moving platform to walk your visitor around in a guided manner! If these processes interest you, see our explainers from VR month 🙂

Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂

Notes and updates

There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in June 2022. This page was last updated in June 2022.

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