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Polysound | XR | Music
Interaction work for music creation in XR
My interaction work for PolsoundXR. A finalist prototype built for the XR Design Challenge 2024.
Interaction work for PolysoundXR
This is from the team build of Polysound XR an immersive music creation prototype built for the XR Design Challenge ‘24 in which we were a finalist. My job within the team was to work on the main build with Tomas focusing on visual & interaction design and this is the work I produced.
Object Interaction
Rings Interaction
In our initial discussions we knew we wanted the experience to be 360º within the space so I built an interactive ring section to test the idea. This worked but the rings proved troublesome as a full 'sequencer' due the the array creating too many collisions and too messy for instrument changes.
Grouped structure cubes
Tom built a second example which worked a lot better. By utilising a cylindrical structure built from squares the interaction was a lot cleaner. When I updated with the instrument signifiers & toms logic we ended up with a result that worked. Toms sequencer logic after this really tied it all together.
Gesture Interaction
Instrument selection
To feel 'free' and for speed it makes sense not to have a traditional UI to pull up and interact with so adding a swipeable interaction that easy to access through palm up made sense.
Instrument selection
There are four instruments in total and they are represented as shapes. This visually consistent and provides instant recognition with a uniform visual language as well as scalability.
Spatial positioning
Sound is generated realtime and manipulated depending on spatial positioning. A unique sounds is generated from each hand and tones vary in volume from left to right (X) & pitch from top to bottom (Y).
Play Gesture
A thumbs up on the left hand triggers the play sequence. This was a main function and having it on the same hand as the instrument selection meant the gesture was clean with no clashes.
Stop Gesture
It felt right to use the thumbs up gesture on the opposing hand to remain understandable and recognisable to the user for a smooth experience.
Reset Gesture
We needed a way to reset the sequence so to balance out the interactions it felt like the right move to invert the stop gesture to keep controllability restricted to hands and with something that takes a touch more effort to recognise.
Conclusion
Working on the Interaction for PolysoundXR was cool! Super fun to try and work things out. Yes, there was a lot of testing and a hell of a lot of failures (Including sickness and headaches) but with persistence we were able to get it to where we wanted. Overall, great to work with people that had the same passion and enthusiasm for XR.
Recent accolades:
Play:
Notes:
Beyond the frame. Into the Experience.
Hey i'm Chris - someone who's always been drawn to creativity, connection and making things that matter. Whether i'm working on a personal project or collaborating with others, I care deeply about doing things with heart and intention. I specialise in graphics & motion, 3D & Extended Reality (XR), creating immersive and impactful work for entertainment and brand experiences. This space is a reflection of who I am and what I love - a mix of ideas, experiments and things i'm proud to share. I'm forever evolving, always learning and always open to new conversations. If something resonates with you or you're curious about collaborating i'd love to hear from you. I don't share that much commercial work online but you can check out more of my work on Behance, Vimeo and ArtStation.
Looking to collab?
Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss a particular project(s) ✌️
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Location: London | hello(at)hillierforshaw.co.uk
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