One More Time VR Experience
PROMPT:
Student must create a 30 second 360 cinematic where the student will choose a Virtual 360 Environment and break it down into its various parts to understand the flow of the pipeline tools, render and import for viewing in a VR head mounted display and social media platforms.
PROJECT INCLUDES:
▪ Narrative + Environment Design
▪ Story Architecture
▪ Virtual Camera Composition
▪ Character Design and Creation
▪ 360 Virtual Reality and Rendering
▪ Body Motion Capture
▪ Interactive Storytelling
▪ Asset Creation
▪ Sound Design
High Concept + Pipeline
When given this project at the beginning of the semester, many ideas came to mind. Eventually, I decided to create a scene in which the viewer time travels. This meant I could create a unique experience where the viewer sees their environment drastically change without worrying about motion sickness from artificial camera motion in the headset.
When I settled on this idea, I gave it a placeholder name, "Time's Up," and figured out what I wanted/needed:
▪ Two or more scenes at the same location, but at drastically different time periods
▪ A unique and interesting-looking time machine with multiple moving parts
▪ The scene itself will appear as a highly advanced bunker of sorts
▪ Custom sound design
▪ Unique and euphemistic names/words
▪ A scientist "friend" who sends the viewer through time
▪ Some cool robot voice coming through an intercom
▪ The viewer will travel back in time
▪ If I have enough time, the viewer will be sent further back in time again
▪ The cinematic will be loopable, allowing for seamless repetition of the experience
The pipeline of this project included Maya, Premiere Pro, Substance Painter, Character Creator 3, and iClone 7.
Conceptual Design
It had to be understood that, at a glance, the time machine was at least a high-tech teleporter of some kind. This leads to the conclusion that it needs parts that point towards a central location. I decided the machine would comprise of multiple hydraulic arms with rounded or flat ends.
Early Hydraulic Model
Knowing I wanted multiple rotating parts on the hydraulics of the time machine, I left a few open gaps that remained untouched which I returned to later.
Added Details
Here I had started to cross the threshold of adding the machine's extra rotating/moving bits and pieces.
The three floating parts in the middle are early models of what will become the hour, minute, and second hand which will be incorporated on top of the hydraulic arm.
Sound Design + Voices
Many of the sounds in "Out of Time" are either custom made or are sound bites which have been heavily tuned to the sounds I was looking for using Adobe Premiere Pro's audio effects tools. The ticking, for example, is actually the sound of a bike's wheel, and the crescendo of noises when the time jump is starting is thunder being played backwards, and then forwards during the jump.
The voice of the scientist (old and young version) is me. The robotic intercom voice is a text-to-speech bot which I recorded the lines from and then tuned using the highpass, lowpass, and reverb tools in Premiere Pro to reach the voice I was looking for. The voice is heavily inspired by the Cyclops onboard AI from Subnautica.
Final Hydraulic Model
At this point I was ready to give the arm a baseplate which it will operate from and give life to the smaller hydraulic dish arms.
These are the components that will slide and rotate with the arm.
Early Baseplate + Dish Arm
Knowing I wanted smaller hydraulics to operate closer to the center, getting early measurements for a smaller baseplate was integral.
These dish-like components become the main piece of the smaller hydraulics and operate on their hinges.
Completed Baseplate
At this point, all parts are complete and ready to be put together and animated.
