Magix

Inspiration

Our group set out to educate UT staff on gender inclusivity in a fun and inviting way. To do so, we were inspired by magic and how it explains the unexplainable. We felt this alluded to the concept of gender and its complexity and used the tropes associated with it. The top hat has been associated with magicians as far back as 1814. Cards tricks date back as we know them to the 18th century. Taking these staples in American media and giving them new meaning through virtual experiences makes the experience more approachable to those new to the subject. Each card we created uses the colors of that identity's respective pride flag to further give personality and meaning to our project.

What it does

Once the QR code is scanned, a cowboy/magician's hat is placed on the ground with a "Tap the hat!" text over it prompting the user to do as such. Once clicked, the hat flips over and 3 cards rise up out of the hat, mirroring standard card tricks and the motion that magicians perform when they tip their hat to reveal the hidden item inside. Each card features the colors of that identity or label's respective pride flag. Another text box above the cards prompts the user to tap on the cards. When tapped, each card will flip over and come closer to the user so they may read it. Each card features a term, a definition, a fun fact, and an example persona of someone with that identity for contextualization. The user can then tap on another card and learn about a different identity until all 3 cards have been read.

How we built it

First, the poster and front/back card textures were created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. These textures were then mapped onto 3 individual cards in Blender and animated. Then, a 3D model of a cowboy hat was sourced royalty-free from online and modified to add horns, textured, and animated to flip over. Both the hat and the cards were exported to 8th Wall, animated and modified, and utilized the world effects platform to be able to work.

Challenges we ran into

Multiple challenges presented themselves along this journey. First, the resolutions within the Illustrator files exported were too low and had to be redone. Secondly, the card models had to be redone in Rhino after the first round of them had been completed. Third, texture mapping for the first time in Blender proved to be a challenge, but with a few small fixes, it was able to be completed for each card. The largest and most time-consuming issue was debugging the 8th Wall code and figuring out how to animate after an event had occurred. However, with lots of sweat, tears, and help from mentors, we were able to figure it out and get the prototype working as intended.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

During this less-than-48-hour timeline, we managed to create a visually consistent and multi-step animated VR experience complete with unique branding not often found in educational tools.

What we learned

During this process, we learned several new programs, that gender isn't easily quantifiable, and that in order to grab an audience, less is more.

What's next for Magix

We intend to expand on Magix's horizons and include more gender identities in a fully-fleshed-out queer magic show.

Built With

• 8th-wall
• adobe-illustrator
• blender
• rhino