"More Than Meets The Eye" Animated VR Experience

 https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/unit-4-locomotion-and-ergonomics/?courseId=5d955b5dedbc2a319caab9a0&tab=overview&uv=2018.4#5d955977edbc2a001f0ea3ea Locomotion or how we move is one of the core design features Users need to remain comfortable during the experiences.  Individual preferences vary quite a bit Recommended supporting all types of locomotion, so people can choose Physical Movement Movement in VR that matches the physical movement, provides the most comfortable experience because there is no mismatch of senses that could trigger discomfort Comes with some limitations - room size. Design for a small room, or limited mobility Choose a mechanic that supports the design and considers all the types of users Scripted movement and Avatar Movement Scripted - the perspective moves along a predefined path of motion. Often considered difficult. Use sparingly if at all. Vection - the sensation of movement of the body in space produced purely by visual stimulation Avata...

 https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/unit-3-using-unity-to-develop-vr-experiences?uv=2018.4&courseId=5d955b5dedbc2a319caab9a0#5d95596dedbc2a06804dd48e https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/unit-3-using-unity-to-develop-vr-experiences?uv=2018.4&courseId=5d955b5dedbc2a319caab9a0#5d967d9cedbc2a2d9fcf75c0 VRTK - updated in Github  https://github.com/xrsutd/Getting-Started-With-VRTK. Has to be added manually in code. Create Unity project using 2018.4.28 LTS (for the purposes of the tutorial) Download Oculus Integration from the Asset store Package manager Oculus desktop Navigate through explorer to the project packages file. Right click and open 'manifest' text file Copy paste this under the first {add: "scopedRegistries": [  {  "name": "npmjs",  "url": "https://registry.npmjs.org/",  "scopes": [  "io.extendreality"  ]  }  ], add the following entries to the dependencies section  "io.extendreality.vrtk.prefab...

 I read a blog entry about tech challenges in VR and it drew the metaphorical analogy of a Steeplechase. Today has involved downloads, updates and searching for files. Found them via a forum eventually. This image depicts the challenges of PhD and VR!

Now in pre-production and about to dive in to create the world, I've been following Unity tutorials about creating a VR experience. https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/unit-1-design-develop-and-deploy-for-vr?uv=2018.4&courseId=5d955b5dedbc2a319caab9a0#5d955a53edbc2a001f0ea3ff Notes: For many experiences, sounds are more important than the visuals in selling the believability of the experience Asset optimisation is crucial The magic is not about the headset - it's about the worlds you create Quality is first Cristiano Ferriera - tools used in Oculus to evaluate performance evaluation Pre-Production Nail down ideation Resources intended to use Art references Mind-mapping Making forced connections - randomly pair nouns or adjectives  http://creativityforyou.com/combomaker.html How to find an audience for your idea Passive experiences Interactive experiences Make the most of the technology you have Make sure the interactions are solid and fun Oculus rift want to feel immersed and ...

Having hit a lighting rabbit hole, I've put some questions to the Virtual Animation forum. Whilst that question is cooking, I've turned my attention to watching a webinar on Creating a VR environment and now the Unity tutorial, creating a teleporter and sound effects. This is how I want my viewer to move around the scene. This will hopefully avoid motion sickness and added sounds will create more immersion.  https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/add-teleporters-for-movement?uv=2019.3&projectId=5e4abf44edbc2a09bf60dceb#5e4e8e98edbc2a1231b83662 Tested and the teleporter worked.  Next step included dragging an interactable object into the scene. In this case a green bubblegun. The test is to see if I can grab it. First try, I realised that I'd placed the teleport point too far away from the box. Headset off, move the teleporter and try again... It worked! Next step....add a sound effect Adding contact sound to an object

Explanations and instructions on object colliders, VR camera, OVR hand controllers, grab scripts. Useful for any interactive elements that I am considering. Particularly for items relating to interviews with David and Aaron

 Further research into emissive materials in Unity, lead me to the Unity forum and a response by Jennifer Nordwall to a thread. Jennifer mentioned her talk 'Bake it 'til you make it'. Great talk on introduction to light maps in Unity. Very inspiring.  https://youtu.be/u5RTVMBWabg