IKEAVirtualRealityShowroom-FactsandTechnicalDetails
After winning an FWA Of The Day for our IKEA Virtual Reality Showroom, we shared some technical and other exciting insights with the readers of the portal. Check it out...
What did you aim to achieve with the project?
The Virtual Home Experience is an in-store VR application at the center of IKEA's Home Furnishing Hub - a playful lab where IKEA focuses on inspiration and co-creation with customers. Therefore, the application was designed as an interactive showroom that invites users to visualize various combinations and think beyond and try them out. Our goal was to create an innovative, emotional 3D product experience with joy in the application for every IKEA customer, which is now also available in realtime.
What technical challenges did you encounter and how did you solve them?
As the first public VR installation of its kind, various aspects of the application and the hub had to be reconsidered to make the Oculus Rift suitable for unattended use in a store that welcomes thousands of people daily. Special attention was paid to easy integration, health notifications, foolproof interactions, and smooth cable management. Installed as a prototype in Germany's most vibrant city, Berlin, IKEA and Demodern provide daily insights for further development - with the help of application analytics and a broad spectrum of qualitative user feedback directly at the point of sale.
What does winning the FWA award mean to you?
We are always super happy to win an FWA. It is a huge platform, and it is the only website we keep returning to for good projects and inspiration.
FWA has always been there, and the peer-review process makes it very valuable to us.
The following tools were used:
Starting from 3D renderings in 3Ds Max and Maya, we developed the interactive experience and real-time 3D elements in Unity.
For concept design and visual implementation, we used the Adobe Creative Suite, focusing on After Effects to create animations and interaction sequences.
To learn more about users, we track their behavior using analytics data.
Three hot facts:
Users of all ages instantly understand gaze interaction, and the experience can easily remain unattended.
Day transitions and 3D audio create a truly immersive environment.
There is a cat-themed Easter egg.