AR Prototype: Cyberpunk Version World

This personal mobile AR prototype explores a simple world-building premise: digital versions of the physical world are always present, and an AR device acts as the portal that reveals them. The prototype visualizes that idea as a cyberpunk layer with location-aware content that could eventually support navigation, contextual information, or entertainment.

I built the experience independently in Unreal Engine 4, treating it as a compact real-time integration exercise across AR camera processing, portal rendering, shaders, VFX, animation, and Blueprint interaction.

Table of Contents

• Prototype Concept
• Cyberpunk Camera Treatment
• Portal Rendering and VFX
• Hologram Character
• Environmental Holograms
• Demo Video

Prototype Concept

The experience presents the cyberpunk world as a persistent digital layer rather than a separate level. The player approaches a portal in AR, looks through it to preview the alternate version, and then crosses the boundary so the treatment expands across the full camera view.

That transition drove the main technical challenge: the same cyberpunk treatment needed to work both as a localized effect inside the portal and as a full-screen treatment after entry.

Cyberpunk Camera Treatment

I implemented the look in a post-process material applied directly to Unreal's AR camera image. This kept the treatment compatible with the portal composite while giving me shader-level control over the captured physical environment.

The image-processing stack includes:

• A color-grading lookup table authored through Photoshop.
• Bright-region extraction and blur to push practical lights toward a neon appearance.
• A thin animated fog texture to add movement and atmosphere.
• A darkened LOMO-style vignette around the edges and corners.

The result turns the live camera feed into a stylized cyberpunk view without requiring a reconstructed 3D version of the surrounding environment.

Portal Rendering and VFX

The portal combines scene color sampled behind a translucent surface with Scene Capture content for the hologram cat, grid, and supporting planes. Compositing these sources allowed the alternate visual layer to appear only inside the portal before expanding to the full view.

The portal itself uses circular particles, ribbon trails, and event-triggered sparks. These effects give the boundary a readable shape and provide visual feedback as the transition activates.

Hologram Character

I integrated a rigged and animated cat asset, separated its source animation take into usable clips, and connected them through an animation state machine. A character Blueprint provides the lightweight logic and triggers needed for the prototype interaction.

I authored the hologram material from scratch. Screen-aligned dots communicate a projected display surface, while semi-random glitch motion introduces instability and reinforces the cyberpunk presentation.

Environmental Holograms

Additional dynamic materials extend the visual language into the environment: a ground grid, directional road arrows, and floating cat-adoption panels. These elements are intentionally lightweight, but they demonstrate how location-aware AR content could guide the player and communicate contextual information within the same world layer.

Demo Video

• Watch the prototype video on YouTube