Brief
The New York Times commissioned us to recreate the Apollo 11 lunar site for an AR and VR experience to commemorate the 50th year anniversary of the moon landing and the public release of the astronauts’ photography.
Approach
We were tasked with creating accurate models of the landing site to be viewed inside the New York Times digital issue as well as on Oculus Quests at a 50th celebratory event. The reconstruction of the scene was based on large amounts of research provided by NYT, which included maps, stitched panoramas and precise photo locations placed in a physically accurate 3D scene. The content was built and optimized for mobile hardware (phones and Quest) and developed in Epic’s Unreal Engine.
Impact
The final result was a mixed reality gallery that housed select photos and panoramas accurately placed in the recreated landing site. It was our aim to give the user the view that Neil Armstrong had while taking these photos on the surface of the moon.