Over the past few months I have worked with Erica Kreiger to rework the User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) for the S&DVR (Strike and Dip Virtual Reality) Tool. Through this process we have improved the aesthetic, functionality, and interactions of the tool’s controls and menus. In this post I will highlight some of the key changes we made to improve the program. For a comprehensive tutorial video covering all of the updated menus, windows, and functionalities in the tool, a full tutorial video can be found at the link below.
New UI
When Erica and I first started planning improvements for the S&D and S&DVR tool, it was obvious that the first element that needed a change was the aesthetic of the tool. Until this point, all of the menus, buttons, and windows had been grey-box placeholders designed to verify the functionality of each object. After a few design iterations we found a style that felt like it would fit the tool well. Once Erica finished designing and creating the assets for the new look, I was able to implement them into the program.
New Controller Button Maps
The next element to tackle was creating a way to inform new users how to operate the program. I decided that setting up some floating labels to act as button maps would make the controller functionality easy to access and understand. Now when any user enters the program and touches any of the controller buttons, a small floating menu with the buttons name and functionality pops up next to the corresponding button. These menus can be disabled once the user no longer finds them helpful.
New Menu Layout
The next element that clearly needed a rework was the layout of the objects around the menus and screens. During the development of the tool, new functions and features continually got added. These features made the tool very versatile, but eventually started to take up so much screen space that new users felt overwhelmed as soon as they entered the program. So, the next design element to improve became the organization and accessibility of the various functions and features included in the tool.
Through a few design iterations we came to the improved screen layout displayed below. This new layout aims to minimize the amount of screen space that is taken up by menus, panels, and labeled buttons. Tabs on the windows and menus keep the panels organized while retaining easy access to content. We have replaced labels with icons on most buttons and tabs to further streamline accessibility.
New Field Station Features
I decided to add some upgrades to the layout of the field stations used on the field station maps. In order to provide some assistance to newer users or users that are less familiar with strike and dip measurements I added some helpful guides to each field station. Now each field station has a small menu which allows the user to toggle on/off colored arrows that display the strike and dip for the stations slope. There is also a toggle to turn on/off a model of a right hand which demonstrates the orientation and placement of ones right hand when using the “Right Hand Rule” to figure out the strike and dip of a slope.
New Tools Upgrades
While implementing the field station upgrades mentioned above, I noticed the potential to implement similar useful upgrades to some of the S&DVR measurement tools. The first of these upgrades was made to the “S&D Example Set” tool which is essentially a moveable slope cube that users can place along other slopes they would like to measure. The example set then works as a template to display the placement of the strike, dip, and right-hand rule for the slope the tool has been placed along. I upgraded this tool with the same style of menu as I had added to the field stations, allowing the user to toggle on/off either of the strike/dip arrows as well as the right-hand rule hand model.
The next upgrades were made to the “Beginner Tool” which is a grabbable set of strike and dip arrows that can be placed along a slope to make easier measurements than those made using the compass tool. I improved this tool’s usability and updated the layout and look of the built-in tool menu. The upgraded version of the tool gives the user the ability toggle the built-in tool menu between floating above the tool or sitting flat along the top face of the strike arrow. This tool also allows the user to create grabbable clone arrow sets of the measurement currently saved to the tool. These grabbable clones can be moved by the user, but the arrows will always retain the same strike and dip measurement directions.
New Demo Lobby
The last new upgrade made to the program was the addition of a Lobby level which contains a few stations that demo various elements covered in the program. These stations include a strike and dip demo station, a measurement practice station, a field station demo, and a level select station. The strike and dip demo station displays info and examples of what strike and dip measurements are and how they relate to slopes. The measurement practice station gives the user info about taking measurements and provides four demo slopes for the user to practice taking measurements on. The field station demo section displays the layout, versions, and info for field stations found on field map levels. The level select station displays icons and info for each of the levels included in the S&DVR program and can be used to load any of the levels.
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