University of Michigan · Extended-reality course project · Oct 2022

A classroom in VR, with a playable piano

VR Lab Classroom

Eight seconds from the archived Unreal prototype recording, cropped to the scene and presented without audio.2022 team project · archived VRAlpha recording

Maxwell Zuber and I recreated a university lab in Unreal Engine. We added classroom props and a piano that responds to a motion controller.

My role

Maxwell Zuber and I built the classroom and its interactions together.

student collaborators
2

We built the project together in Unreal Engine.

piano tones
4

C, D, E, and G appear in the archived audio assets.

controller interaction
Touch + buttons

Contact plays a note; buttons change the selection.

Starting point

Rebuilding the room

We recreated the lab's windows, computer stations, fixtures, and layout, then added objects such as a printer, violin, trash can, and discarded math book. The piano gave visitors something to play while exploring the room.

How it came together

  1. 01

    Touch a piano key

    Contact with the motion controller plays a default note.

  2. 02

    Change the note

    Controller buttons change the selected note. The archived audio assets include C, D, E, and G.

  3. 03

    Play a melody

    The original write-up describes using those four notes to play Mary Had a Little Lamb.

An illustrated controller points at a four-tone piano diagram beside contact, button selection, and sound-feedback steps.
A diagram made for this portfolio from the original write-up. It shows the controls; the piano's shape differs from the original model.

Trying it in a browser

The browser version rebuilds the room with new geometry and generated tones. It keeps the four-note piano interaction and a short tour of the props. The video shows the original Unreal prototype.

The original Unreal build survives in the project archive. The playable browser version is a later reconstruction.

The recovered write-up credits the piano to the team without assigning individual components to either of us.

Try it in your browser

This demo recreates parts of the project so you can try the interactions.

Explore the browser classroom

VR Lab Classroom

Use WASD or arrows to move, Q/E to turn, Space to interact, or use the on-screen controls and piano keys.

Reports, code, and credits

Original walkthrough

Classroom project by Le Qin and Maxwell Zuber. The archive contains the scene assets and interaction code.

The short clip uses the original prototype footage without audio. The browser version generates its own tones and doesn't reuse the film audio credited in the original build.

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