Intereactive AR Dino Viewer stations let you unleash your inner paleontologist!
UX, UI, Development, 3D Animation
Toronto
Royal Ontario Museum
2012
Dino Viewer Stations
The Ultimate Dinosaurs exhibit launched in the Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall to much media and audience acclaim. The exhibit features 17 unusual and never-before-seen dinosaurs from the Southern Hemisphere, such as the theropod Suchomimus, the relatively small and feathered Rahonavis, the giant Futalognkosaurus, and the horned meat-eating bull, the Carnotaurus. As the largest exhibit ever developed by the ROM, its focus on innovation provided our team with an invaluable canvas for exploration.
Merging Interpretive into AR
Our vision was to create an immersive experience using augmented reality (AR) to bring dinosaurs to life for visitors. By providing "viewfinders," guests could see realistic, animated versions of the dinosaur casts in real time, enhancing engagement and offering instant access to detailed information about each dinosaur.
Interactive Dino Viewer Stations
To achieve our vision, we used the compass and gyroscope features of iPads to create Dino Viewer stations. By combining these sensors with scientifically accurate 3D animations, iPads transformed into intuitive augmented reality devices. Visitors could point the iPad at dinosaur casts, overlaying realistic animations onto the models. We collaborated with Canada’s Research Casting International to ensure precise alignment between the physical and digital models, focusing on technology optimization and an engaging user experience.
Acclaimed Interactive Exhibit
The exhibit received significant media and audience acclaim. It was featured in Wired, and GeekDad called it the "Best use of iOS technology I've seen." USA Today named it one of the top 10 attractions of 2013. The Dino Viewer stations enhanced visitor engagement, providing an immersive educational experience that set a new standard for interactive museum exhibits. The Ultimate Dinosuars: Giants from Gondwana exhibit would go on to be the most successful in the ROM's 100 year history.
“In my 30 years of designing museum exhibitions I have never been approached so regularly by museum visitors to congratulate us on a job so well done – most frequently they cite as the reason the many innovative ways in the exhibition to experience and learn. This is owing in large part to the media components for which Meld was responsible.”