For some time I had an idea of controlling smart home devices via AR UI. And I wanted it to be markerless. So as soon as I saw Vuforia's Area Target feature I knew — that's how I make it.
I imagined a lightweight and responsive UI that will reveal itself when looking at the smart areas of the flat. This was first test of such UI overlaying the heated section of the the floor.
Unity test vs Phone Screencast footage.
Unity viewport
Smartphone screencast
But later I've created an area of particles, arranged on hexagonal grid repeating the shape of the tiles.
First attempts to achieve desired effect of responsive particles surface were based on rigid body spheres, so, ehm....kinda not optimised but so cool!
A WIP sketch of curtains control UI in the same concept
After that I was thinking on how to optimize the UI but save the particles effect.
And come up using actual particle system. The effect wasn't exactly the same, but still responsive.
Heated floor section temperature control
Lights control — on/off and dimming
Curtains swipe control
Aaaand here's the resulting video I've prepared for the Vuforia 1 Million developers contest.
