gramXR

Inspiration

gramXR is inspired by the growing need to connect people through visual storytelling in immersive spaces. The concept blends the best of social media platforms with the transformative power of XR, enabling users to share and explore images in a deeply interactive and personal way.

What it does

gramXR is an experimental immersive social image-sharing platform designed for the Meta Quest. It allows users to upload, share, and explore images in a virtual space. Users can curate galleries, interact with shared images, and engage with friends through comments and reactions, all while experiencing a 3D environment enhanced by XR. This project is still in development and serves as a proof-of-concept to explore how XR can revolutionize social media.

How it was built

gramXR was built using Unity and Meta's Interaction Toolkit, which enabled the creation of intuitive and natural hand-tracking interactions. The platform utilizes cloud storage APIs to manage image uploads and retrievals, with the content dynamically displayed in virtual environments. Advanced spatial anchoring ensures images are positioned seamlessly within the immersive space, while the platform leverages Passthrough capabilities to blend the real and virtual worlds effectively.

Challenges

Building gramXR as an experimental platform came with its own set of challenges. Creating a robust image-sharing system that handled uploads and downloads efficiently within Unity was one hurdle. Ensuring seamless integration of the Interaction Toolkit for intuitive controls and implementing spatial awareness for image placement were additional technical difficulties. Designing an engaging user interface in 3D space that is accessible yet experimental was another key focus area.

Accomplishments

Despite being a work in progress, gramXR has achieved several milestones. Successfully integrating Meta's Interaction Toolkit for smooth hand tracking and spatial interactions, enabling real-time image sharing, and demonstrating an immersive gallery experience are major accomplishments for this experimental project.

Learned Experience

The development of gramXR has been a valuable learning process. We gained experience in leveraging Meta's Interaction Toolkit to create seamless interactions, managing cloud data in an XR environment, and optimizing Unity's performance for immersive experiences. Additionally, working on the project deepened our understanding of designing experimental XR interfaces and tackling the unique challenges of combining social media with immersive technology.

What’s next for gramXR

As an ongoing experiment, gramXR will continue to evolve. Next steps include refining features such as personalized gallery customization, exploring support for video sharing, and implementing voice-driven interaction. Plans are in motion to add enhanced social features, such as collaborative galleries and virtual events, while continuing to experiment with new ideas. Ultimately, gramXR aims to reach a stable phase where it can be showcased on App Lab for further user feedback and testing.