Project Overview
Meditare is a virtual reality well-being project developed to explore how immersive environments can support relaxation, meditation, and breathing-based calming activities. The project focused on creating peaceful VR scenes that could provide soothing visual and sensory experiences.
The project combined literature review, VR environment design, Unity development, interaction implementation, and early research planning involving neurophysiological and physiological sensing. It reflects an intersection of health technology, immersive interaction, mental well-being, and human-centered design.
immersive environments developed: waterfall and beach-inspired relaxation scenes
implemented using Unity and SteamVR for immersive interaction
planned evaluation with neuro-sensors and ECG-based physiological indicators
My Role and Contributions
I contributed to the design and implementation of the virtual environments, including Unity-based scene construction, lighting, materials, environmental effects, interaction design, and VR integration. I also reviewed literature on VR immersiveness, calming environmental cues, breathing exercises, and the use of immersive systems in mental-health-related experiences.
My technical work included building interactive VR environments, refining visual atmosphere, experimenting with calming scene composition, and implementing elements that could support breathing exercises and relaxation-oriented interaction.
Advisors
Dr. Suleman Shahid
Dr. Ali Jawaid
Collaborators
Ibrahim Iftikhar and Ahsan Sarwar.
Motivation
Mental well-being interventions often depend on attention, engagement, and the ability to reduce external distraction. Virtual reality offers a way to place users in controlled, immersive, and visually calming environments that may support focused breathing and relaxation.
The design challenge was to create a VR experience that feels peaceful rather than overstimulating. This required attention to environmental composition, lighting direction, sound, reflections, shadows, visual motion, and interaction pacing.
Design Challenge
How might we design a VR environment that supports relaxation and breathing-based well-being activities without causing visual fatigue, distraction, or cognitive overload?
Environment and Interaction Design
The project explored natural scenes such as waterfalls and beaches because these environments are commonly associated with calmness, rhythmic sound, and restorative visual qualities. The design process considered how environmental cues influence perceived comfort and immersion.
Visual Design
- Lighting direction and softness.
- Environmental materials and shaders.
- Reflections, shadows, and visual depth.
- Natural scene composition and spatial layout.
Interaction Design
- Breathing-exercise support.
- Calm pacing and low-pressure interaction.
- Immersive scene exploration.
- VR interaction using Unity and SteamVR.
Project Demonstration
The demo below shows the immersive environment work and the type of visual experience developed for the well-being prototype.
Evaluation Direction
A study was planned at CHISEL to evaluate the well-being experience using neuro-sensors and ECG sensors. These physiological measures were intended to support assessment of stress, relaxation, and mental-state indicators during exposure to the VR environments.
This evaluation direction was especially valuable because it connected subjective experience, immersive design, and physiological response. It also strengthened my ability to approach multidisciplinary research problems involving HCI, VR, health technology, and biosensing.
What I Learned
This project helped me develop practical confidence in building immersive systems with unfamiliar technologies, translating research into interactive prototypes, and considering the relationship between environment design, interaction design, and human experience.
It also strengthened my computer graphics and XR development skills, including Unity scene design, materials, shaders, lighting, raycasting, and VR interaction workflows.