CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS PROJECT SIGNATURE PAGE PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECT TITLE: Study of Factors in Implementation of Virtual Reality for Developing Microenterprise Level Customizable Products Shopping Applications AUTHOR: Sujitha Govindharajan DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: 04/27/2017 THE PROJECT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE PROJECT COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE. Xr~ Ye ;!!zfzof7 PROJECT COMMITTEE CHAIR 7t4;11­ PROJECT COMMITTEE' MEMBER DATE Study of Factors in Implementation of Virtual Reality for Developing Microenterprise Level Customizable Products Shopping Applications ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sujitha Govindharajan California State University San Marcos Master’s Project Report May 2017 Abstract Virtual Reality is a computer technology, which can replicate real world environment or imaginary environment with the help of virtual reality devices. Though this technology exists long ago, the recent developments in this field are very high. Today’s generation of people are in a world where they wanted to change the way they do things like play, work, and live. The Virtual Reality technology is almost applicable to every field. One major application of virtual reality is shopping. Because today the customers are very proactive in choosing what they want, how they want to shop and where they need to shop. The boom of online retail is huge and the online retail industries have to compete with the changing trends in technology to increase their profits. Most huge companies can afford to change the technology they are using to develop their business. However, microenterprises cannot always afford to make this change. For example, family based handmade crafts shop. Though they might produce a better and more required product that the retail giants, they might not efficiently compete with competitors due to poor online retail methods. The Umbrella VR, which I developed in this project, is a virtual reality android application that can customize and save the created beach umbrella design. It helps bring up the practical difficulties involved in implementing virtual reality in a very small-scale. The purposes of the project are to study the possibility of implementing virtual reality for microenterprises and analyze their results. This application is a very simple application to create hope among low investment businesses that they can utilize the advanced technologies for effective retailing. Page 2 Acknowledgements I am very grateful to my advisor, Dr. Xin Ye whose help and guidance resulted in the culmination of my graduate studies, as well as Dr.Nahid Majd for accepting my request to be on my committee. I also would like to thank and are grateful to my family. Foremost, I am grateful to my parents, in-laws and my husband for their support in my studies. Page 3 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 The significance of the research problem ........................................................................... 8 1.2 The objective of the research project ........................................................................................... 9 1.3 The Definition .................................................................................................................................... 9 2. Literature Review and Related Research .................................................................................... 9 2.1 What is Virtual Reality? ................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Market for Shopping with Virtual Reality and people’s acceptance .................................... 11 2.3 Virtual Reality Applications with Unity 3D ............................................................................... 12 2.4 Virtual Reality Headset .................................................................................................................. 14 2.5 Google Cardboard ........................................................................................................................... 15 2.6 Mobile Application development ................................................................................................ 18 2.7 Requirements of customers in online retailing ....................................................................... 19 2.8 Implementation Aspects of Virtual Reality .............................................................................. 21 2.9 Related Applications ...................................................................................................................... 22 3. Project Overview ............................................................................................................................. 24 3.1 Hardware and Software Requirements ..................................................................................... 24 3.2 Start the App .................................................................................................................................... 26 3.3 Customize the product ................................................................................................................... 27 3.4 Save or Share the design ............................................................................................................... 27 4. Project Design & Implementation ............................................................................................... 27 4.1 Unity VR Implementation.............................................................................................................. 27 Page 4 4.2 Unity for Android Application Development ............................................................................ 29 5. Analysis results of Implementing Virtual Reality as a simple application ......................... 32 5.1 Critical factors to consider before implementing virtual reality application ................... 33 5.1.1 Increased Application Size .................................................................................................... 33 5.1.2 Cost ............................................................................................................................................. 35 5.1.3 Need for the application ........................................................................................................ 35 5.1.4 Skills for Application Development .................................................................................... 36 5.1.5 Risk ............................................................................................................................................ 37 5.2 Advantages of Implementing Virtual reality application for customizable Products shopping android application .............................................................................................................. 37 5.2.1 Strength of Interactivity ........................................................................................................ 37 5.2.2 Telepresence ............................................................................................................................ 38 5.2.3 Ubiquity .................................................................................................................................... 38 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 38 7. Future Work ..................................................................................................................................... 39 Page 5 List of Figures Figure 1 Current Emerging Virtual Reality Trends 11 Figure 2 Support of participants towards Virtual Reality 12 Figure 3 Unity API 13 Figure 4 Unity Game Object paradigm 14 Figure 5 Viewer Body Version 2.0 Schematic by Google 16 Figure 6 Bluetooth Controller 17 Figure 7 Google Cardboard Application Screen 17 Figure 8 Pointing QR code of Google Cardboard Viewer 18 Figure 9 Component matrix of smart phone users 19 Figure 10 Desired Online Shopping Features of Customers 20 Figure 11 Favorite attributes of customers as a function of age 20 Figure 12 Time required for virtual reality application development 22 Figure 13 Screenshot of 4imprint.com webpage 23 Figure 14 Screenshot of Customized Creationz face book page 23 Figure 15 UmbrellaVR application UML use case diagram 25 Figure 16 Flowchart of processes involved in UmbrellaVR application 26 Figure 17 First Scene view of UmbrellaVR application 27 Figure 18 Customize product Scene view of UmbrellaVR application 27 Page 6 Figure 19 Enabling VR support in Unity 28 Figure 20 Audio Manager in Unity 29 Figure 21 Target