"More Than Meets The Eye" Animated VR Experience

 Tests for upload to the Oculus Media store completed. Revealed strobing and flickering where lines are close together. This could also be caused by VR display resolutions. I will use simple camera cuts to avoid the worst where possible.

Working on the opening sequence. Simple pedestal camera move for the opening scene. For audience comfort, particularly users who are not familiar with VR, I am going to use traditional camera moves and utilise the 180 degree rule. Researching cinematography in VR, it's important to retain a point of interest. The audience acts as the camera, in that they are directed to look toward the point of interest and, new points of interest appear in the same vicinity. The enables orientation within the 360 degree world and avoids motion sickness. I created a rough widescreen view finder, with cross-hair and constrained it to the spawn area (viewing point/camera view) so I could see where my spawn area was pointing toward. Screen grabs below, plus a quick video shot of the opening sequence.  Pedestal shot - top lowering down to the station platform. View finder to show point of interest to the tunnel. As Sally's voice-over states "I like it because its a city underground" as ...

I've created the impression of a moving train today, in Quill. A simple backdrop animated alongside the tube car carriage. I've decided to keep the aesthetic very theatrical, with simple visual representations, leaving much to the imagination. I think this works well visually as well as reinforcing what the artists said about their visual perceptions - namely, that in the absence of sight, the brain 'fills in the gaps'.

 Animating spawn areas today, to create a pedestal camera move. Great tutorial on Cinematography in Quill. On familiar ground with tips for 180 degree field of view and allowing the viewer to be the 'camera'. Not too much camera motion, to avoid nausea. Great technique of creating a 16:9 wide screen view finder, with a cross- hair, to make sure my spawn areas are focused toward the point of interest. Also imported Sally's audio file. Crackled quite a lot, but seemed to work fine when uploaded on Quest. Good to hear her speak and do some quick edits in Premiere before reimporting. I want her voice-over to talk about the abyss at the front end. Also experimented with dissolves and am considering the titles being at the front end of the experience. 

Concerns about a strobing effect of the tiles. Researching in the Quill Animation help Discord channel, it may be that this is caused by lines being too close together. Or, it may be simply a resolution display problem, inherent in VR display at the moment. I've decided to go with simple camera cuts and transitions to avoid the worst.

Today I created the underground city that Sally mentions in her interview. She likens the tube system in London, to a city underground. I wanted to capture the essence of this and to be able to get a sense of it, whilst 'on the tube'. I've created the tube train as a skeletal frame, which enables complete views through the sides, below the floor and through the roof. I created a very high poly background (approx 250k) using the ribbon and cube brush, to create a myriad of weaving and sweeping tube lines. Abstract in appearance, all of them are hints of blue, fading into the abyss. Highlights of city buildings in electric satsuma orange, with a lighting glow here and there. I tried Goro Fujita's method of creating a background, exporting as a spherical equirectangular image and reimporting as a 360 image. Huge saving in triangles - and I think the final layer size for the 360 image was around 3k. Screen shots using the ribbon and cube brush to create a web of tube lines...

Some screen shots of the final tube train and tunnel. It's been remodelled due to file size and upload requirements. Yet to be animated etc,  and the final result is quite delicate and skeletal! I'm going to put some tube lines (in blue)  here and there going down into the abyss below. I like the idea that somehow  we are able to see things we wouldn't normally  be able to see e.g through the tube train  walls to the platform and through the floor to the abyss below.  Halved the polycount to approx 400k, by remodelling.  Final tube train, tunnel and platform. Next step to create an equirectangular skybox with tube tunnels disappearing into the abyss. I'll attempt to do this by creating all of them in situ, then taking a 360 screen shot and reimporting it in as a new skydome. This will keep the polycount and draw call low too.

 Bit the bullet today and remodelled the train interior, excluding the doors. All new seats and white plastic side panels. The purpose was to reduce the polycount. I was into the yellow zone,  meaning around 1 million polygons and not compatible for upload to  Oculus Media for viewing. Remodelled and new count is well below and in the green. Although seemingly time consuming and retracing my steps, I can see that my workflow is faster and I have now learnt a new skill of modelling with simpler techniques and shapes. New tube below. An added bonus was the new modelling technique allowed for better texture on the seating. 

 Trying to keep the polygon count low. Problematic, so I'm going through the geometry again and trying to simplify.

Tests with quotations, colours of fonts and backgrounds. These will form part of the tube carriage interior, to present quotations from the interview recordings, that will not be included in the audio dialogue.

 Researching the sizes of the advertisements in tube carriages. Known as Tube Car Panels. This will be for quotes from the semi-structured interviews that I want to include, but not in the soundtrack. The adverts will be simple and in a font, that is accessible https://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/my-eight-favorite-free-fonts-print-disabilities 

 Great tutorial on how to mirror objects in Quill. Currently no shortcut or tool to do this, so it involves duplication of layers and creating transform keys in a group. Used this method to recreate a symmetrical door. This will speed up my process and ensure that the tube train is symmetrical and linear. Important when there are minimal set pieces to suggest objects. Interesting looking at the screen shots below. I've inserted rectangular shapes with a quick brush of black and gold to give an idea of where the adverts (with participant's quotes) will be placed. Looking at them in a still image, the airbrush effect gives the appearance of movement. I could insert a series of png files, to look as if they are blurred lights and key frame them with a linear movement, to shoot past the windows.

Modelling the tube train in Quill. Played with colours of the doors and windows, as the cream/grey as they would actually be, is either too drab or too stark. There needs to be a definite and individual difference between the visual aesthetic of  the three worlds of the participants. As David's environment has stark white lines against a dark background, to create the idea of negative space, the starkness of the doors and windows of the tube, would have been too similar. By using a dark blue, the elements of the tube, for example doors, windows and structural outline, will still stand out against the electric blue of the tube tunnel tiling, whilst giving a hint of form without being visually overpowering.

Continuation of modelling in Quill. Experimenting and testing how much of the tube train I want to create. I like the idea of gaps, and pieces left to the imagination. Drawing upon my theatrical training at Wimbledon, where I am drawing attention to the elements that are important and creating impressions with light and form. The viewer can fill in the blanks. I like the similarity and metaphor relating to sight-loss and the brain filling in the blank spaces.  

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JHSIBDCFYKP6JVKIIRRD/full?target=10.1080%2F14606925.2021.1877237&

 Designing a Remote Design Sprint, slides presented today via teams.