Tagged: Shader

HoloLens scanning effect in Unity

In a previous blog post I talked about my attempt to rebuild the HoloLens scanning effect as shown in this video. After following the HoloLens Academy tutorials I decided to see how easy my existing shader could be integrated in Unity. It turned out that only a minimal amount of plumbing was needed.

HoloLens room scan

I took the project files from the HoloLens course on spatial mapping (Holograms 230). That course explains how you can apply your own material and a custom shader to the mesh that is generated by the spatial mapper. For quick iterations you can even load a previously saved room mesh. I added a new unlit shader and a material using it. This material is used by the Spatial Mapping Manager script to apply to the mesh coming from the spatial mapper.

Unity shader variables

Most of the plumbing came down to defining variables and using them in the shader. The main animation is driven by the global time. Unity provides this as a built-in variable vector _Time, where the y-component contains the elapsed time in seconds. I added a few variables to control the looks and behavior of the effect like Main Color, Speed, Triangles Scale and Range Scale.

The center of the effect is also a variable that can be configured. It could be updated by using doing a Raycast intersection as explained in the HoloLens Academy tutorials. Currently the effect keeps pulsating every 5 seconds. To only trigger the effect on an event the used global time could be replaced by a separately controlled progress variable.

Differences with original effect

To create the effect of triangles walking across the floor and up the walls the shader needs to calculate uv coordinates based on a world location. Preferably with as little seams as possible. I used the horizontal distance to the configured center point and added the vertical distance instead of using the direct distance to the center point. This works reasonably well on connected surfaces, but note that it is not a real walk across the topology of the mesh.

The effect in the original video has a slightly different border effect that has some more distortions and a different color. I experimented with mimicking that effect, but decided to leave that out. I used the effect in an interactive installation where I preferred a stronger border that looked like a wave was expanding outwards.

The source code of the project is available on Github.

HoloLens Shader Pack

A new version of this shader was optimized for running on the actual HoloLens device. This shader and many others are available in the HoloLens Shader Pack that is available on the Unity Asset Store.
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Rebuilding the HoloLens scanning effect with RoomAlive Toolkit

The initial video that explains the HoloLens to the world contains a small clip that visualizes how it can see the environment. It shows a pattern of large and smaller triangles that gradually overlay the real world objects seen in the video. I decided to try to rebuild this effect in real life by using a projection mapping setup that used a projector and a Kinect V2 sensor.

HoloLens room scan

Prototyping in Shadertoy

First I experimented with the idea by prototyping a pixel shader in Shadertoy. Shadertoy is an online tool that allows developers to prototype, experiment, test and share pixel shaders by using WebGL. I started with a raymarching example by Iñigo Quilez and setup a small scene with a floor, wall and a bench. The calculated 3D world coordinates could then be used for overlaying with a triangle effect. The raymarched geometry would later be replaced by geometry scanned with the Kinect V2. The screenshot below shows what the effect looks like. The source code of this shader can be found on the Shadertoy website.

Shadertoy Room Scanning Shader

Projection mapping with RoomAlive Toolkit

During Build 2015 Microsoft open sourced a library called the RoomAlive Toolkit that contains the mathematical building blocks for building RoomAlive-like experiences. The library contains tools to automatically calibrate multiple Kinects and projectors so they can all use the same coordinate system. This means that each projector can be used to project onto the correct location in a room. This can even be done on dynamic geometry. The toolkit also includes an example of reprojecting the recorded image with a pixel shader effect. I used this example to apply the earlier prototyped scan effect pixel shader onto a live scanned 3D geometry.

Source code on GitHub

Bring Your Own Beamer

The installation was shown at the Bring Your Own Beamer event held on September 25th 2015 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. For this event I made some small artistic adjustments. In the original video the scanning of the world seems to start from the location of the person wearing the HoloLens. In the installation shown at the event people were able to trigger the scanning effect with their feet. The effect starts at the triggered location and expands across the floor and up their legs and any other geometry in the room.

 

The distance from the camera determines the base color used for a particular scan. Multiple scans interfere with each other and generate a colorful experience. The video shows how part of the floor and part of the wall are mapped with a single vertically mounted projector. People seemed to particularly like to play with the latency of the projection onto their body by moving quickly.

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