RIO TINTO

Borderless connection with 360 video, 3D visualisation, and a personal touch.

“High end tech with a lo-fi aesthetic”

2020 was tough on everyone, and workers at Rio Tinto’s Tom Price Mine were not exempt. The Viewport team created a VR app to provide miners and their families some much needed connection. An uplifting experience that kept everybody safe. As part of their meticulous effort to uphold safety standards, Rio Tinto’s annual Family Day was another luxury that had to be foregone in 2020. We seasoned our high end tech with some lo-fi touches, keeping the user interface (UI) simple and intuitive; always a top priority at Viewport. In this instance it served to create a personable feel to engage people of all ages.

Any item can be created in a virtual world, size is no barrier. Our process creates a visual flow that avoids repetitive patterns, making user experience (UX) more realistic. We made a digital twin of the mine site and rendered it in cardboard. Then we put this cardboard copy (see what we did there?) into a VR app. Instead of bringing families to the mine, we put the mine into family pockets. Now they can take their loved ones everywhere.

“We put the mine in families’ pockets.”

Instead of bringing families to the mines, as was done in previous years, we put the mine in families’ pockets with an uplifting experience that keeps everybody safe.

The Rio Tinto Family Day app gives a closer look at the day’s of six miners; using 360 video, 3D visualisation, and the personal touch of good ol’ workplace friendships. Overlaid on a map of the mine site, cartoons of our miners were used as reference points to daily mine activities, in an informative and entertaining manner. We achieved this interactive experience utilising 3D and gaming engine software, we enhanced raw 360 video for a powerful end result. Once this process was complete, we brought these twin items into the build, and re-created the world. Bring the world together with VR. Everything exists in context, or environments, in VR, we can make them around client needs. The base architecture, platform foundations, UI and UX are key components for any build. Our artists and developers are in constant and seamless collaboration to make platform specific products for mobile devices, touch screens, AR apps, VR or in the case of the Rio Tinto Family Day App, a hybrid of the above.

“Universally safe, accessible, uplifting experience” with virtual reality.

You need formal preparation and qualifications to safely navigate a mine site. The Rio Tinto Family Day app has completely changed this reality. Now families can connect with their FIFO loved one’s from the safety of their own homes. Our genuine up close look at Rio Tinto’s world class Tom Price mine, has unlocked a level of visibility into the on-site experience previously unheard of. 

Available now on iPhone and Android, Rio Tinto Family Day is a hybrid VR mobile experience, allowing users to experience it with or without a VR headset. Viewport provided 400 branded headsets which shipped directly from our Studio to families around Australia. 

A big thank you to Rio Tinto for selecting us, to collaborate and enhance connection.

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