Youtube, (2022), Doctor Who | 13th Doctor Regeneration Sound Effect from ‘The Power of the Doctor, Available Online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0pyBzFtKLE, Accessed Online [4/05/23]
For my submission, there will be limited viewer navigation throughout the environment, this is because I want to keep the viewer grounded as to avoid them feeling uneasy/wobbly when viewing it in Virtual Reality.
However, the viewer will still be able to navigate via moving their mouse/finger across the screen, or by looking around if they have a virtual reality headset on. This therefore means that I must have a lot of items within the environment for them to look around at.
Some of the things that will help with navigation within my submission are shadows, this mostly relates to the dragon as when it flies over a shadow will be cast depending on where it is above the castle windows. This makes the viewer look towards that.
Another idea that I have for the submission, is an orb which is glowing that moves through the environment to wherever action is about to occur at. This orb lets the viewer know that something is about to happen at the location it is travelling to, therefore making them concentrated on it.
Another example of navigation within my environment is 2 fade to blacks during the animation, the first after you drink the potion, and the second being after the character is hit by the falling debris.
Within my submission there will be multiple instances where the viewer will know what to look at/do depending on what occurs.
An example of this is directional 360-Degree audio.
I will have this audio in a limited amount, however when I use it I will make sure the viewer knows where it is coming from so that they look in that direction, one-way that I’m doing this is by having the dragon screeching sound be 360 directional sound, I think this will work well as the viewer will know where the dragon is located based off of sound alone, however this will be paired with the shadows to form a complete comprehensive idea about where the dragon is at all times during the submission.
Another example of something I can do to catch the viewers eye is in depth lighting.
I can use in depth lighting to catch the viewers eye by creating light that will shine through the scene, but also light that could change colour or direction, for example light from the sky that is blocked by clouds and flickers within the castle interior. Or when the dragon blocks light to certain areas of the environment when it is on the castle walls.
Another example of lighting to catch the viewers eye and to make them look in a certain direction is my glowing orb which travels around the screen. This is a good example of this as it will be quite bright and shines/pulsates, taking the attention of the viewer and making them know to follow that with the camera/headset.
In my immersive design project, all of the environment design is done by myself.
To start my environmental design section of the project, I began by making a concept of the castle interior inside of Blender, below is the inside and outside of the castle.
After my initial blockout, I moved onto creating the environment. I used the same model as the blockout so that I would have my desired scale that I can easily port into unreal engine once I’m done creating the environment.
I decided to expand upon it more and add a lot of detail because I’m exporting it to unreal engine once it is finished. The first step was to add detail to the top supports to the roof
I then added a staircase to the floor which goes to the 1st floor of the castle. Due to my navigation however, this staircase is not climbable. However things will possibly roll down it once the dragon attacks as everything loose upstairs could be flung around.
I then added more detail to the staircase by adding a banister that goes all down the side of the staircase with some detail at the bottom which the viewer will be able to see.
I then moved onto making pillars/columns that are used as supports for the right hand side wall. I did this as a design choice as these are some of the environmental objects that start to break apart when the dragon begins to jump and crash around on the roof of the castle.
I then added windows in preparation for me exporting the model into unreal engine.
Once the model for my submission was completed, I moved onto texturing.
I began by adding a wood texture to the supports above the environment.
I then added a marble pattern floor texture for the floor.
I then added a marble texture to the walls, but instead of a pattern like the floor, it was just standard marble.
After making the building in Blender I put the model into unreal and added the assets that I made before into it.
In this project most of the asset creation/design will be done by myself, in this blog I will go through the process for each asset that I have created.
Asset 1: Dragon
To begin the creation of my Dragon asset, I created the head, I used a blockout rounded cube within blender, sculpted it using the grab tool to extrude its top and bottom part of the jaw, and also the rough shape of the head.
I then moved onto sculpting detail with the clay strip brush and then used scaled UV spheres as eyes.
I moved onto the body which I used the clay strip brush and also the grab brush to build out the body, tail and also top of the thighs.
I then moved onto the legs where I once again used the previously used tools and then I also meshed together multiple toes to the bottom of the foot and upper foot.
I then created a wing blockout.
Once the wing was complete, I remeshed the legs and body together to make the connection between the two meshes seamless. I then built up some more detail between the two to further-more make them look like one object.
I then moved onto the final wing design where I removed the back of the wings, and then added a solidified plane for the wing material.
I then remeshed the dragon head to the body.
Once the modelling process was complete I then textured it inside of substance painter, I used many different brushes and added lots of detail to make it look like an older dragon that has done a lot in its life.
Once the dragon texturing was complete and brought back into blender, I then created my own rig for the Dragon, and set up IK controllers for the legs/feet and the wings.
Once the rig was complete I then took a rendered image of the complete Dragon.
Table
For the table I used a previously made asset that I have created before.
Chairs
For the chair I also used a previously made asset that I made.
Knights in armour
For a knight model I decided to modify a model that I had recently worked on. I chose to use this specific model that I have previously made as its similar looking to a knight and also that it will be in the distance, therefore will not be seen in all its detail, this means I was able to cut down on development time for the asset instead of having to create a brand new model.
To change this model up I made it grey and also changed the design of the face to make it look more in line with a knight of the medieval times.
Colour changed. Helmet design changed
Once I did this i then moved onto a sword which will be used by the knights.
The first thing I did during my development was create a plan for what I was doing, I did this in the form of a script draft. Once I did this, I then quickly moved onto a blockout for the environment, I created it using blender and used simple shapes to create the inside of the castle environment that I was creating.
Blockout Environment
Once I created the blockout I began to add more detail for it by adding textures and some extra details to the interior of the castle, I used different marble and wood textures to create a realistic interior that I think suited the design well.
Textured Interior
Once I finished texturing my castle, I moved onto asset design, for the most part I used previously made assets that I created myself to save on the amount of time I would need to make them.
However I also made the Dragon that would fly around my scene from scratch, I used many techniques such as sculpting, texturing in substance painter, rigging and weight painting to create the final result which will be used in my submission.
Dragon showing bonesTextured dragon
Once I got all of the models and environment design figured out, I then moved onto creating the scene inside of unreal engine, firstly I set up the scene with the 360-degree camera and tested that it works fine with some test renders, once that was working I then imported my castle into unreal.
Castle imported into unreal
Once I did this, I then added some of the important 3d models into the scene, these were the dragon, and furniture that is around the viewers location during the scene.
Tables and chairs inside the castleDragon inside of unreal
Once I finished adding the initial assets into the scene, I started animating, I first animated the glowing orb which travels around the scene telling the viewer where to look.
I then animated the dragon flying around the scene, however due to some issues within unreal, I wasn’t able to use my rig that I had created, therefore I was only able to animate my Dragons mesh instead.
Glowing Orb
I animated the dragon travelling around outside the castle first, then animated it approaching the open window area above the viewer and poking its head around and causing damage.
Dragon from viewers perspective.
Once I animated the two main details of the scene, I then animated the smaller details, such as bits of wood or marble falling off the roof/walls, I did this to create the feeling that the dragon is really powerful and deadly and that it doesn’t take a lot of energy for it to break extremely hard materials.
Wall before it fallsWall after it falls
Once I finished with the animation, I moved onto set dressing, I did this because I wanted to flesh out the environment more and have more models inside of the scene, so it is more visually pleasing to look at.
I also added knights in armour to the scene, this was to make it feel more like a castle.
After everything was added to my scene, I encountered some errors with the project.
Firstly, the quality drastically lowered itself despite being rendered in 4k, I discovered a work around to this and it will be fixed for the final render.
I also discovered it has a frame rate issue despite the actual scene being rendered in 24 fps. I later found the error and fixed the problem so that it plays in 24 fps.
Below is the test version before I fixed lighting, added my guards, and also fixed the animations issues.
I then moved onto a second test, this time including 3 scenes, and cuts which are fade in and out to black.
I once again encountered some quality issues when exporting from premiere pro to YouTube, this being despite having rendered it in 4k, I attempted to mitigate this by rendering in 8k, however failed due to limits of my PC when rendering at such a high resolution.
Testing
With the help of a friend, I managed to have my VR experience tested within VR.
I received some feedback, this being, moving the camera closer to the table, changing the upstairs area to look more blocked off, adding liquid to my potion glass, and some more things.
In addition to this I also had feedback on some issues I encountered, such as the area not being rendered correctly, however after I got feedback I was able to fix the issue and continue on rendering like beforehand.
After implementing all my testing feedback, I moved onto changing the middle section, I made it appear different to imitate the look of a delusion/ dream, I did this to further link it to Alice in wonderland.
The above video is an early audio test version of my project, it also includes the audio that I plan on having in my final version, however as it’s a test I didn’t use any immersive audio, opting to only include rough snippets of audio. This video also includes the “dream sequence” in the middle which explicitly shows that it is a dream and not like the potion drinking scene.
Bugs/Errors A prominent bug in my project was the camera rendering in the wrong direction, no matter which direction I had it facing, the camera would always face the wall when fully rendered, I attempted to diagnose the issue via friends who are more familiar with Unreal and also the internet, but to no avail.
Below is the camera facing the table, which should allow it to render from that direction.
Adding Audio
When starting the audio part of my submission, I used Adobe Audition, this is because it helps with the Binaural Aspect of the audio.
Below will include different images of the progress of my audition usage for my submission.
Adding markers so i know when to include audio.Audio Tracks Added to project.Audio coming out of one ear. Adding elevation to my dragon flying sound.
Above is the different steps I took to create spatial audio in my project, I used Adobe Audition and the DearVR Plugin which helped me direct audio into specific ears for certain tracks/audio clips. I however didn’t manage to make it change depending on where you are looking due to that aspect not working when I attempted to use it for my project. However I think directing audio into different ears mostly gives off the same affect.
Once I added the sound to premiere pro, I checked to see it was all working, and then exported the final version and uploaded it to YouTube.
Within my submission, I plan on having multiple types of audios, this ranging from far away audio, close audio and 360-degree audio, this is to make the submission feel more authentic/realistic and also more immersive.
Close up Audio
For close audio, I plan on having small burning sounds as I am having a small fire near where the viewer sits. I want this because I want some persistent audio throughout the whole submission, so that there are no moments where it is silent, this, in my opinion keeps the viewer immersed as they won’t question why there is no audio.
Far away audio
For far away audio, I will have clinging of metal, possibly of suits of armour moving around and hitting things, in addition to this I may have some footsteps in the very far distance, which is somewhat audible, this could make the viewer look around curious as to where this sound is coming from.
360-Degree Audio
For 360 Degree-Audio, I will have a dragon roaring sound, this is because when the dragon enters my scene, it will fly around the castle for a few seconds, before perching on the wall and starting to break things. I chose 360-degree audio for this part of my submission as I think it would be very immersive to do so, especially joined with the visuals of the Dragon flying around the castle. In addition to the dragon roaring sound, I also will add wing flapping sounds, this is to continue making it immersive.
Binaural audio
Throughout my submission, all of my audio will be binaural, this it to create the impression that the viewer is really there when wearing a VR headset. This means that whenever the viewer turns their head, the audio will change depending on where the audio is coming from, and depending on which direction the viewer moved their head.
An example of this is my close up audio, this being the burning sounds of the fire next to the viewers location. When the viewer turns their head, the direction where the fire audio comes from will change, so if they turn their head right, they will hear it more out their left ear and vice-versa. This type of audio also applies to my dragon audio as the viewer will more than likely look around to try find the source of the dragon roaring sound, but each time they do that it will change as they’re moving their head and also because the dragon audio itself is moving too.
Another example of my binaural audio is the glowing orb which travels throughout my scene, it will give off a tinkling sound that even if the viewer closes their eyes, they should be able to figure out where about the orb is within the scene.
My initial story idea for my immersive design project is an Alice in wonderland inspired interior to a castle with marble floors with black and white square patterns, with big expansive windows bringing in lots of light to the castle.
I think that oddly sized objects would go well with my idea as it fits with the Alice in Wonderland style of having objects changing size every so often.
Below is a rough script draft that I plan to implement into my design work for the project.
Opening
Scene opens to the expansive area of the castle;
Scene starts with person in front of some tables, there’s a potion on the table in front of the viewer which lifts up and goes in front of the viewer as if it is drunk, the eyes then close and then opens up again.
An orb shows up out of the orange fruit bowl, it becomes bigger and then moves behind the viewers location, making the viewer look around and behind themselves.
It then moves towards the stairs and then up them, then moving towards the windows before finally settling outside of the window.
As soon as it hits the roof a loud crash is heard, and the dragon is seen outside of some of the windows.
The dragon then walks across the roof, then it knocks a hole in the wall, and shoots fire out of its mouth, it then moves across the rooftop, stomping and knocking down marble blocks which interact with the environment below.
After the building becomes unstable, the dragon leaves and the roof begins to crumble and fall in on itself above the viewer, a block falls right on top of the viewer and the screen snaps to black.
The same type of blinking as the potion drinking part begins and then once the eyes open again the environment is back to normal as if nothing even happened.
