Nicolas Frois - Nature as you paint it

Nature as you paint it is an interactive instalation made for a local museum.

In this installation, visitors can hand-paint one of fifteen local wildlife animals printed in specially design templates, then, visitors can scan their paintings on an interactive totem (which consists of a camera and a screen with a big red button that's very satisfying to press). Finally, the camera identifies the scanned painting and creates a 3D version in a simulated ecosystem with the texture painted by the visitor. When the new animal enters the simulation, the camera focuses on it and displays scientific information about it.

The software, made in Unity, has 5 different ecosystems with 3 different species each, all of them have hand-made 3D models with specific animations based on images of real animals, they also have a unique sound effect that was specially designed by the sound design team that worked on the project.

An interesting design problem:

This project was a collaboration of many different teams, I was the creative director of the project and I was also in charge of the development of the software. There was a dedicated team for the creation and installation of furniture and painting for the gallery. Meanwhile, my team and I focused on developing the various software components and defining the hardware equipment and connections necessary for everything to work.

The main design challenges were:

● Making the installation very intuitive to use so visitors could use it without the need for museum staff in the room.

● Making the installation visually and audibly engaging so the experience would stand out within a museum full of activities.

● Delivering complex scientific information about local fauna in a user-friendly manner.

● Making it easy to turn it on and off, and collect usage metrics, so as not to add more work to the museum staff.

The idea behind this project isn't new; it's a well-known experience offered by many museums around the world, but the execution of the various aspects of the project by the different teams was impeccable.

The first key design decision was the large red button on the interactive totem. This button controls when the visitor takes a photo of the painted animal. This creates a haptic connection with the action of scanning a new animal. The software's response is to display a roulette wheel animation with the silhouettes of all the animals before choosing the identified animal, adding a sense of anticipation and suspense about which new animal will appear on the large screen at the back of the room.

The second key design decision was the art style of the environments and animals. It was inspired by Paper Mario. Since the animals are hand-painted, we sought to maintain consistency, so the environments retain this handcrafted style.

Finally, it was essential to present the scientific information concisely. This was achieved by reviewing the information repeatedly to ensure it was concise and clear. The rest of the technical decisions were simple: make the software start and shut down automatically while recording information about its daily usage.

This project was a huge success, frequently cited as a visitor favorite due to its beautiful visual presentation, immersive audio, and ease of use.

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