---
title: 'Pre-XI Readme'
disqus: hackmd
---

Infinite Chemistry
===
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## Table of Contents

[TOC]

## Interactive Capabilities

The current interactive capabilities that a user has is as follows:

### Laser pointer related movement:
* Selecting a molecule with a laser pointer and holding down the trigger of that controller moves the game object in synchrony with hand movement.
* Selecting a molecule with a laser pointer and either dragging ones finger forward or backward across the left touchpad causes the molecule to zoom either away from or towards a user.

## Grip related movement:
* Reaching inside an object with a controller will cause a transparent blue sphere to appear around the object. When this appears the user may press the grip button to move the game object with their hands.
* Grip movement is enabled by a small blue sphere called the touchIndicator that appears on the user’s controllers when they hold down the grip button. The user must touch this blue sphere to grip anything that is grip interactive i.e. rotational rings, molecules

## Scaling a molecule smaller or larger:
* This is performed by the user pressing both grip buttons while their controllers are inside an object and then moving their hands towards or away from each other to scale the object.
## Rotating a molecule:
* Each molecule is encircled by three different rotational rings that will allow the user to rotate the molecule on the three different axes.
* During rotation the molecule itself is parented to an empty gameobject called rotationHelper. Then rotationHelper is rotated causing the molecule to rotate. After rotation is finished the molecule is unparented and the transform.rotation of rotationHelper is reset to (0,0,0).
* To rotate the user will grip inside one of the rings and then move their controller along the current axis of rotation. A mathematical plane is created from the position of the hand at the start of rotation. The distance from the hand to the plane is what determines how much the object is rotated.
* Rotation can be canceled by pressing the opposing grip button.
* Snap rotation is when the molecule will only rotate on 45 degree increments. To enable snap rotation hold down the trigger as well as the grip button simultaneously on the controller you are using to rotate.

## Player movement:
* Player walk:
* Holding forward on the left joystick will move the player in the direction they are currently facing. In this way the user can move in any direction that they might want to.
* Player rotation:
* Holding down the left grip button while also pressing the left joystick to the left or right will rotate the player to the left or right.
* Player teleport:
* If the user presses forward on the right joystick a laser pointer will appear. If they point this laser pointer at a game object tagged “ground” a blue indicator will bob up and down. To teleport, the user releases the right joystick and the user will be teleported to where the laser pointer was previously pointing.
* The user can cancel teleport movement by pressing the right grip button at any time.

Almost all interactive capabilities are aided by visual interaction indicators that help the user intuitively understand what is happening and how to use all of these functionalities. For instructions on how to use all of these interactive functionalities enter into the tutorial scene and try it yourself.

## Structure of an interactive molecule


The top level of an interactive molecule is the molecule anchor which is an empty game object. The ObjectRotation script is attached to this molecule anchor. The order of the children that are attached to the molecule anchor is very important and should not be changed. This is because the molecule game object is being parented and unparented during rotation. Additionally scripts use this order to find particular game objects in their start methods. For more details concerning rotation see the “rotating a molecule” section of interactive capabilities above.

The order of the children of the molecule anchor is as follows:
1. / 3. : The three rotational rings x, y, and z.
4. : rotationHelper: an empty game object that aids in rotation (see “rotating a molecule” above)
5. :indicatorsAndHelpers: an empty game object that has a collection of attached indicators and helpers that are used in interactive capabilities.
6. The molecule game object itself. The interactive script is attached to this game object.

Should I keep this following section in our is it irrelevant? Should I just add more to it?
## Further details on interaction schema

The Interactive script that is attached to the molecule game object communicates with the PlayerInput script in order to know how the molecule should be behaving at any particular time. The PlayerInput Script monitors the players use of the controllers and keeps track of what molecule the player is interacting with. The PlayerInput script is composed of laser pointer movement, swiping, hand grab movement, and scaling.

## Next steps going forward
* A solid foundation has been built that allows users to interact with molecules in 3d space in a way that enhances the players understanding of molecules. Instead of being static and abstract concepts that are confined to paper the user understands molecules as they really are, complex 3d shapes. Our next major goals are as follows:
* Developing chemistry lessons and quizzes in VR. Many of the elements within the tutorial such as the instruction screen, helper molecule, and task indicators will build the basis of how lessons will flow. Our first foray into lessons will be flash card type functionality where students will use 3d molecules to complete orbital or stoichiometry questions.
* We want to rebuild the chemistry lab table so that the user has a home base for their molecules and lessons.
* Currently we have legacy code that can connect to a website called PubChem so that users can upload any preprocessed molecule and view it. However it is in beta stages and will not be found on the current version of the project.
* The fundamentals of the interaction system has been created. Currently the aesthetic is functional but part of our next steps is add effects and enhance the interaction indicators so that they are pleasing to look at and are more explanatory of what the user is currently doing.
* Ability to build stick and ball models in VR.
* Radial menus will be added to the right touchpad.

## Current bugs that we are aware of
* Sometimes the controllers are loaded facing the wrong way which paralyzes the user from interacting with the environment at all. You can fix this by restarting steamVR but a solution is being investigated currently.
* On the first play in the unity editor swiping an object towards the player will freeze unity for ten seconds or so and then will resolve itself.

Code Review
===

> Player input ,
> Interactive,
> Object rotation,
> Then in tutorial scripts
> help molecule,
> Instructions,
> Task indicator

Tutorial
===

{%youtube V6ao4i7K8j0 %}

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## Appendix and FAQ

###### tags: `InfiniteChemistry` `Pre-XI`