See Jonathan Yeo’s Studio In Augmented Reality App

rtist [nofollow]Jonathan Yeo, has spent the COVID-19 lockdown experimenting with new remote ways of painting portraits. Inviting celebrities such as broadcaster Fearne Cotton and Professor Brian Cox to remotely sit for him, Yeo was able to continue painting portraits from afar, filming and sharing the sittings with a wide online audience as he went. This series documenting the process is called FaceTime Portraits. This app showcases the latest episode featuring the chef, broadcaster, author and campaigner, Jamie Oliver. 

As well as this Yeo has utilised Augmented Reality to allow viewers to enter the normally private world of the artist’s studio, rendered in full photorealistic 3D, a highly detailed and textured world where you can you wander around the artworks of Jonathan Yeo’s real studio and see him as he works on a new portrait, or tune into videos of previous sittings playing on the in-space TV monitor.

Jonathan Yeo’s Augmented Reality app is an innovative and creative use of AR, which gives users a unique opportunity to glimpse the artist’s working methods. The immersive AR experience is built on the Unity 3D game engine which showcases multiple forms of capture in a new and innovative way.

The extensive level of detail in the model studio lets the viewer explore in an extremely satisfying ‘doll’s house’ mode by placing it in their own space. Using simple but effective UX design it can be rotated, re-sized or refreshed with one click or swipe. Alternatively, it can be toggled into a ‘full-scale’ mode where the viewer is transported inside the space to engage with the portrait sitting and other pieces of content as if actually in the room.

Jonathan’s portrait sitting was shot from multiple camera angles with all of the footage being edited into one composite piece. It was then re-mapped, synced and projected onto different areas within the 3D space to create the feeling that the user is watching it actually happen inside the studio.

Yeo taught himself to use the software as a means of being able to creatively experiment with all of the technical challenges posed by this project. Using just one developer and his small studio team, he has managed to construct a unique new space showcase his art, opening up myriad possibilities for the future including live in-app events, exhibition openings and much more.