In addition to 3D modelling & animation, I also dabble in a little bit of VR and AR app development, most recently using the Unity3D engine and android phones and tablets (don’t get me started on the hoops you have to jump through to develop an IOS app).
As an experiment I built a quick app that looks for an image from the book (or at least a cropped area of one) and then displays the relevant 3D model, anchoring it in the air above the image.
The first test went well, with the app recognising the images and displaying the correct models. There are a few issues with the reflectivity of the paper causing the camera to lose tracking, and making the model jitter a bit, but there are ways to solve this that I will work into the code while I continue to develop it.
As an additional part, I took some time to remodel the Minnow to make it more optimised and painted some quick textures using Adobe Substance Painter. Then, in Unity, I added a particle effect to the rocket exhausts to give the model a bit more dynamism.
A screen recording of the first and second tests can be seen in the video below:
So what's next?
I plan to continue to develop the App, adding new functionality, such as displaying the stats of that particular ship, removing the need for the images by modelling and printing a tracking object that will act like a holographic projector, allowing the user to select which model is displayed.
I’m also planning on adding exploded views, data call-outs for specific parts and things like that.
Will it ever see the light of day, publicly?
That depends on a number of factors – there are several licensing issues surrounding the TTA IP, so it’s unlikely to be made available in the short term. Longer term, who knows? It really depends on whether there is any interest for an app like this.