Dragonfly Catch Mixed Reality Demo

  • 2018

  • Role: UX/UI, Prototyping, 3D Animation

  • Personal Project — Team: Designer, Engineer

A magic leap prototype that places dragonflies in a user’s environment. User’s can catch dragonflies with a net visualized on the 6DoF controller and use gestures to preview how many bugs they have caught.







Concept / UX

A prototype Magic Leap One app that places dragonflies in the user's environment, and the goal is to capture them. The bugs understand the pre-scanned space, fly around it, and land on surfaces like tables and walls. The user must catch the dragonflies with the net that is available in the hand holding the controller. In addition, the user can check how many bugs they have caught previously by combining two hand gestures: a closed fist that changes to an open hand.

previsualization created in Cinema4D






Spatial Computing Ideation









Prototyping and UX

Shaders and motion sequences that were created and applied in Unity brought the dragonflies to life. I designed and animated the micro-interactions, like having the bugs disappear into puffs of smoke and particle trails when they are caught. When interacting with the app, these create unique and interesting moments for the users. For future iterations, I want to add spatialized audio to make it easier to know when bugs around are around or behind you, but outside your field of view.


design iterations in Unity







Working With Limitations

After trying to place content with hand tracking, I found that the ML platform's near clip plane can be restrictive, especially for users with shorter arm lengths. The 3D dragonfly that is viewed on the user's hand, had to be scaled down from the initial concept. This was done so that the dragonfly is visible at a distance that is comfortable for all users.

wings get clipped & trail is ragged







Design Solutions

When utilizing hand-tracking for Magic Leap apps, you find that there's some latency with the headset's tracked hand position versus where your actual hand position is. As a work around, I wanted the dragonfly to emit a trail, which helps it appear to have a smoother motion even as it lags behind your moving hand. The design and animation of the particle trails went through several iterations. But all of this testing enabled creating the most natural and compelling experience.

smooth trail to make motion appear fluid