Jungle Site Digital Twin

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Overview

Jungle Site was a collaborative project with a client in the energy sector, exploring how digital twin technology could improve operations at remote well sites.

The work demonstrated how real-time 3D visualization and interactive monitoring could enhance operational awareness, safety, and predictive maintenance in energy infrastructure.

Initially built as an internal proof of concept, it was later evolved into a public showcase featured on the Unity website as part of the Energy Digital Twin demo series.

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Problem & Context

Operating remote energy sites involves significant logistical and safety challenges — field technicians often work in isolated locations with limited situational visibility.

Traditional monitoring dashboards rely heavily on static 2D data views, making it difficult to interpret spatial relationships between equipment, pipelines, and environmental conditions.

Our goal was to explore how a 3D digital twin could bring into daily operations — helping teams monitor status, visualize anomalies, and make faster, more informed decisions.

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Design Process & Execution

Concept Exploration

At the beginning, I collaborated closely with 3D artists to explore spatial UI concepts using Blender. Rapid prototyping in 3D helped visualize how users might interact with the environment — allowing us to quickly align internally and with the client before committing to production.

* Prepare 3D assets.
Since we didn’t have all the final assets at the beginning, I created temporary models based on reference images to simulate the real environment and support early design exploration. (the Well Head and Vx Spectra models above are from client.)

* I used Blender to render images from the 3D assets to better visualize and communicate the design ideas.

* Early design mockups.
I used rendered images to quickly build mockups and prototypes to test ideas with the client.

UX Design

I worked with the UX team to design the iPad interface, focusing on real-time monitoring, sensor data visualization, and spatial navigation.We emphasized clear data hierarchy, quick access to asset information, and smooth transitions between overview and detailed equipment views.

* Part of the user flow and wireframe design.
Created by my colleague Alex.

Interactive Design

I defined the interaction patterns for navigating and manipulating 3D objects within the site environment.These included orbit, zoom, selection, and contextual panel behaviors, optimized for touch input on iPad to ensure intuitive control during field use.

* Created interaction guidance and collaborated with developers to test it on iPad.

UI Design

Built a lightweight UI system and delivered final UI mockups and specs.

* Built a lightweight design system aligned with the client’s branding.

* Final UI mockups

* Part of the UI Design in Figma

Implementation Support

During the development phase, I supported the UI implementation by working directly with Unity developers.

Because the visual output in Unity (using UI Toolkit) didn’t always match the Figma designs due to rendering differences, I jumped into the engine to help fine-tune the layout and styles, making sure the final product stayed true to the original design intent.

* Refined UI styles inside Unity using UI Builder, bridging the gap between design and implementation.

Cross-Platform Adaption

When adapting the experience from iPad to WebGL for the public demo, we faced new challenges with responsive layout and performance constraints.

Although we didn’t have the bandwidth to fully rebuild for all screen sizes, this experience informed new strategies for multi-platform design in future digital twin projects.

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Outcomes

The project successfully demonstrated how real-time 3D digital twins can transform operations in the energy industry.

It became one of Unity’s official Energy Digital Twin showcases, highlighting how accessible interface design can make industrial data visual, interactive, and actionable for both engineers and decision-makers.

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Key Learnings

Clarity over realism — High-fidelity 3D assets looked great but distracted from key operational data. Simplifying materials and highlighting status cues made the experience clearer and more usable.

Hands-on implementation matters — Working directly in Unity helped close the gap between design intent and real-time output, ensuring the final visuals and interactions felt right in context.

Design for flexibility early — Adapting the experience from iPad to WebGL revealed how important it is to plan for multiple platforms from the start.