A 360° 3D virtual environment designed to test the capabilities of the Eight360 Nova Simulator for immersive experiences.
Role(s):
Environment Designer
Team:
Alca Bu, Jirayuth Wannasirivisan, Xuefan Cao
Tool(s):
Unity, Blender
For:
RMIT EPIC Workshop
Category:
#vr #interactive #collaboration
The Epic Workshop is an experimental rapid prototyping workshop provided by RMIT as part of an elective for the Master of Design in 2025. The challenge is to explore the use of emerging technology such as VR Quest 3, Looking Glass, Rokoko MoCap Suits, Haptic Technologies and NOVA Motion Simulator (360 degree Motion Simulator) through the lens of design.
Space Oddity is one of the projects produced during the rapid prototyping that focuses on the exploration of the Eight360 NOVA Motion Simulator. The prototype is produced within 10 days with a goal to explore the affordability of the tool. With a team of four cadets, I collaborated as an environment designer to create a fully explorable 3D environment in Unity and conduct user experience research to assess interaction and immersion within the spherical VR device.
An explorable 3D environment that challenged the limitation of the Nova Simulator by demonstrating its use in interactive virtual environments with imaginary zero gravity.
In the initial ideation stage, the group chose to explore the theme of space and zero gravity. This decision came from the realization that the simulator only supports movement along two axes (x and z), making it difficult to replicate vertical motion. Additionally, most previous projects created with this tool, such as car and helicopter simulators, focused on controlled movement. In contrast, this project aims to emulate a free-wheeling experience by using the simulator’s spinning mechanism within a zero-gravity space virtual environment.
My main responsibility in the group is environmental design. I set up obstacles and floating items within the space, working with colliders and textures to ensure they align with the group’s intended narrative and experience. In addition to this role, I also contributed to sound design by arranging spatial audio and adjusting reverb based on each location in the environment.
I also act as a bridge between the asset designer and the programmer. All assets, such as models, UI elements, sound, and particle effects, are first integrated into my Unity file before being passed into the main build, where the driving mechanic is implemented.