A variety of new features and upgrades have been made to the bee project over the last few iterations. In this post I will cover each of the following additions and updates in greater detail.
Bees Project Updates Playable Demo
New Bee Model
When I created the initial prototype for this project I found a free 3D model of a bee to import and use as a placeholder while I built and tested the projects functionality and features. During this time our developer team worked closely with the projects subject matter expert Harland Patch to find, edit, and refine an anatomically correct bee model. In this iteration of the project I received the updated new model from Alex Fatemi and integrated it into the project. The following image displays the new model (left) compared to the placeholder model (right).
A playable prototype demo of this step of the project can be found at the link below.
New UI
As the project grew and additional features got added we eventually hit a point where it was time for a rework of the User Interface (UI). Designed by Erica Krieger, the new UI layout aimed to consolidate the buttons for various functions into smaller windows and menus to avoid cluttering up screen space and making the user feel overwhelmed. The new UI design also replaces many of the button labels with informative icons to further simplify and streamline the look of the menu system. The images below highlight the major differences between the original greybox UI (UI Image 1) and the design of the new UI (UI Image 2). The third image displays the new UI (UI Image 3) and shows the progression from the menus initial minimal state (UI Image 3 – left side) and the expanded submenus version (UI Image 3 – right side)
(UI Image 1)
(UI Image 2)
(UI Image 3)
A playable prototype demo of this step of the project can be found at the link below.
Group Colors Update
The next step I took was to rework a feature that had been included in the very first grey-box prototype of this project, the group colors feature. While active, this feature changes the color of the bee’s body parts to bright group specific colors. This makes it easy to distinguish which body parts belong to which larger body segments by highlighting each group in its own color. The image below displays the group colors feature as each group gets selected.
This feature also allows the user to display normal color exclusively on the currently highlighted group while turning all other body parts grey. This feature makes highlighting specific body parts or groups much easier. The following image shows the normal colors version of the group color feature.
Although a prototype of this feature appeared in the first bees project demo, I had to rework elements of the feature to work correctly with the new bee model. A playable prototype demo of this step of the project can be found at the link below.
Bees Project Group Colors Demo
New Controls
In the next iteration of the project, we decided to start testing out some new controls for manipulating the bee model and camera position. The first set of new controls focuses on using mouse input to streamline interactions with the bee model. The second set of new controls adds some inputs to alter the view based on specific camera modes. In the following sections I will elaborate on details of each of these new additions. A playable prototype demo of these upgrades to the project can be found at the link below.
Bees Project New Controls Demo
Mouse Controls
To utilize the new mouse controls feature the user can hold down the control key (ctrl) and the left mouse button while dragging the mouse to rotate the bee model. This control setup lets users rotate the bee model more easily and quickly along multiple rotation axes, as opposed to the original menu control panel utilizing a rotation slider to rotate the model around one axis at a time. This upgrade also allows the user to hold down the right mouse button to pan the camera view around the scene. Although the implementation of the new mouse control is a fairly minimal change, this upgrade was primarily a steppingstone to test the feel of the new camera control before fully implementing additional mouse-based camera controls.
Camera Mode Controls
In previous iterations of the bees project, I had added additional camera modes which would snap the camera view to predefined viewpoints such as top view, side view, and 3D perspective view. In this update I added some controls for these various camera modes that allow the user to move the bee model around the screen without losing the mode specific vantage point. The new controls appear in the top, side, front, and rear camera modes. In these modes the user can move the bee model’s position up, down, left, or right on the screen by pressing the arrow keys. The user can also access a prototype for a cutaway feature to see inside the bee model using the “+” and “-” keys. Holding these keys down will slowly move the cutaway plane through the model, creating a view inside. The image below displays the prototype cutaway feature as the cutaway plane moves down through the model. A UI element displaying the cutaway plane progress can be viewed at the top of each section in the image below.
New Sound Effects
The last upgrade that I integrated into this iteration of the project was the addition of some basic sound effects. Using an audio manager package recently created by my teammate Andy, I implemented a “click” sound when menu buttons are pressed, a “scroll” sound when the sliders are moved, and a “buzz” sound created when the bee model rotates. I also added a mute/unmute button to the UI for any users that would prefer not to use sound effects. A playable prototype demo of these upgrades to the project can be found at the link below.
Bees Project Sound Effects Demo
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