The Extended Reality Blueprint

4Reference

THE IMPORTANCE OF gathering great reference material cannot be understated if you're producing an experience that is grounded in the physical world. If the experience is more abstract, reference can still be important for inspiration; however, creativity can overtake the landscape freely. For learning and development or sales and marketing experiences, get as up close and personal as possible with the subject matter so that you can properly translate that into a digital representation. Ask for access—the worst someone can say is no.

There are several types of reference material that are necessary to capture. Some require a hands-on approach, while others can be provided by a third party. Regardless of who gathers the materials, there should be an organized method to store everything so that all members of the production team can have access. This can be done through a folder hierarchy in a shared file storage system such as SharePoint or through a collaborative wiki program such as Confluence. Designers, artists, developers, and testers may need to refer back to these materials throughout the process—both for initial production as well as quality assurance, so be as thorough as possible when collecting this information.

Most reference material we collect falls into four categories—visual, environmental, experiential, and auditory. Exploring these categories in the physical world, especially firsthand, will lead to a more authentic experience. There is some crossover ...