Introduction
I wanted to make sure the emerging technology assignment was done to the highest degree, i want to show that i have what it takes to create a beautiful scene and show off the VR capability i have when creating scenes.
I put over 50 hours in total into this one project, from being modeling objects in my scenes, creating the scenes, testing the scenes, rendering the scenes, editing and creating overviews of the progress. Along side the few hours testing out new ideas such as dynamic fog and animating.
Ideas?
My original idea for this project was to only be in the bunker to give a sense of isolation, but when watching the video back I felt like it was missing something. Therefore, I extended the scene to include some more atmosphere and alternate history. This idea was inspired by alien isolation and BO2 Orgins Zombie map.
While watching some of the previous years projects, i noticed that a lot of the time they seemingly had a lot of noise in their projects. I planned on countering this by using the use of de-noisers and also giving enough time to render everything and also optimizing each scene.
While looking at some YouTube examples, I noticed that a lot of them use a static camera to make sure they can give the highest quality while also making sure the user doesn’t get motion sickness.
Management skills
When making this project i made sure to come up with a time plan in advance, this meant i could stick to deadlines and make sure nothing is left too late. With this being said I produced and rendered my product all by myself and left enough room to do extras. I was able to fully achieve my goals and even exceed a few of them.
My first goal was to make sure i do every scene I planned out. I did that and even expanded on the final scene than what i thought I could manage. I made a fully 3D scene of the final scene and even added animation to the robot giving the scene memorability.
My second goal was to add animations to each hero scene. I successfully achieved that by planning out the best way to do it. I split up each scene into chunks to render out individually so i could stitch the PNG’s separately and create a scene I am happy with. If an animation doesn’t work, i can replace it without too much headway.
My third goal was to be able to render it all with a week for the writing work. I only just achieved this, but I managed it and I edited it all together with SFX from various sound sources.
This timetable was relatively correct, however i spent a couple weeks for Christmas and i was able to make robot wiring and robot head in 2 weeks total and optimized my workflows to increase productivity.
Software and skills
I choose to use Blender and Substance painter for this project. I tried to use Maya for the animation, but i figured for such simple animations, using another software in the pipeline would hurt the overall scene quality and time management. I choose Blender as the software of choice due to it being my most used software and I am proficient with it, along side noticing that in most 3D jobs they also list Blender as a good skill to have along side Maya. I choose substance painter instead of using Blenders inbuilt texturing tool due to it being the best software for the ideas, along side it being apart of the pipeline i have been developing for myself for the last 4 Years.
Although i have cut Maya out, it was only for the quality of the end product. If the Christmas break wasn’t here and i had more time i would have made a prominent use of Maya and it’s superior animation pipeline.
I am very confident with Blender due to it being my main software for 6 years and i have developed all the skills I need for what I do, and i even sell my models on places like Sketchfab and Fab. I used things like 3d helix’s to create models and used the curve and array modifiers to create complex parts without much effort and keeping good texture sizes
This was created by a 1x1x1 cylinder that I modeled and used the curve and array modifier to extend it.
I also made use of material editor to make procedural materials and fog effects.
Ethics?
When creating the video, I made sure to not include any German imagery in order to not creating any despite-full feelings towards the work. I also made sure to not include any blatant violence, however the ending is surprising and potentially a concern. My original vision was to include German imagery and gore to the world with blood and German flags and such, but I pulled back and thought about what it might make people feel.
Forward thinking
Upon the creation of this project, i already knew the worst part would be the rendering and waiting to see if it is all correct. I managed to correct any mistakes before they are seen on the screen. There was only one problem in the video that i could fix due to it being the biggest scene and having it all completed before i realized. This meant i had to course correct in the editing sequence in premier pro by adding a blur effect to the area and faking a depth of field effect.
I used the VR blur to avoid any creases in the image by using the regular blur effect. I masked off the area and used the blur amount to set how blurry the area in the mask is blurred.
before starting a big scene, I made a block-out version to make sure the sizing and lighting is correct. This saved a bunch of time as i could layout the room and visualize what it would look like before i put too much effort into it. It also meant i could see where most of the texture quality needed to be.
Simple texturing
when texturing the inside of the robot, i realized there was no need to see the backside of the objects, therefore i didn’t need to texture them. This is why i made the scene simpler and made a UV map where you could only see what was in front of you. Only the front part of the object has any decent UV area.
When looking at how VR acts, in traditional VR every object doesn’t need to have a 4K texture applied due to the limited movement of VR meaning you can get away with not having the best of the best texture quality, however the lower end of quality would need to be raised due to being able to get closer to each object. But, with this project since it is a YouTube video, i have full control of the camera meaning i can decide the quality of the textures by how far away they are.
The robot lens’ were animated without a skeleton and used the regular animating of the individual objects rotations. Rotated each individual lens to create the effect. This could have been achieved with skeletons but since it isn’t going into a game engine i didn’t see a need for a skeleton rig. I made sure the origin point was in the correct position to give a correct rotation.
Each step in the robot was simply made by linking each objects data to keep the textures but being able to change scale of the pieces. Each piece didn’t need a individual texture, allowing me to save some memory space.
Light linking
When creating the lights i made a simple light link between them all to be able to control, intensity, and colour of all the lights by one single main light. I also made proper light linking to avoid unwanted shadows in different areas that didn’t need light. And to improve performance i lowered the light bounces of the lighting. This alone gave a 10% improvement to render time.
Limiting the texture resolution gives far greater render times and most of the time you won’t notice the difference to due to how far you are from the object.
Cloth sims and physic sims give realistic fallen object results.
User Experience
With the video i wanted to make sure the player always knows where too look, i did this by guiding the camera by lighting and having only one effect really happen at a time. I also guided the player by the movement of the scene. For examples, the light on the robot when it breaks through, the movement of the wiring scene, limiting the FOV of the camera in the robot and having a Plane fly to the direction of movement. It all comes together for a seamless look into the world i have created.
I added in the transitional scenes due to the disorientation from going from one scene to a different scene instantly. This is also the reason why the wiring scene was only a straight way as adding curves to it disoriented me and a few friends so i remade it to be straight.
Making sure the user doesn’t get confused about direction and making sure they don’t get motion sick made me realize i should have a static camera with limited movement to ensure the disorientation doesn’t get too bad.
Video
Video (Narration)
I explained a lot of my processes and how i made these scenes, going into how i did renders and my future plans with emerging tech and how i would do things differently next time. This took a long time to do and I think it came out great. The video is around 10Mins and 30 seconds full of infomation on how and why i did things.
Thoughts
After i finished everything, i realized this isn’t exactly the vision i planed on. I wanted to make an ultra realistic take on alternate WW2 with a cinematic look. But with the final product, while i think it ended up great it wasn’t on the same level as my expectation, but i came to expect that result and i tried my best with what time i had.
I am happy with the result of my project, and if i had to do it again i would with some minor tweaks to my early planning and taking more use out of the lab sessions for the rendering.
Found Assets
There are a lot of assets so i could make my scenes fast and have great visual quality without sacrificing time. if i were to make all my own assets it would take up my entire time to create these environments due to me only being able to currently make 2 – 3 Models per day, some of these scenes have 30+ different models. Meaning if i did that i would not have time to plan anything out let alone rendering out the entire scene. I decided to make sure i didn’t sacrifice visual quality for the project.
I hand picked each model and audio to fit my needs and made sure it all fit into the scene and didn’t hurt performance too much.
Renafox (2016) Supermarine Spitfire [3D Model] [December 07 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/supermarine-spitfire-8349f26e1e88455da75dd7352b02b794
zhoslenmakoev (2022) Destroyed Ground [3D Model] [December 27 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/destroyed-ground-c808bb470eb547d68dafee86dff74ab3
grafi (2022) Cracked Concrete Old 3D Scan [3D Model] [December 27 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/cracked-concrete-old-3d-scan-2d01ca3fd8fb4e96bf591110389a128c
Richi_n12 (2024) Wire Obstacle/ Defence Set [3D Model] [December 27 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/wire-obstacle-defence-set-a34fd8f3d45d4f19b6f8d341a02b58f8
Mehdi shahsavan (2024) sewer_valve_5_MB [3D Model] [December 27 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/sewer-valve-5-mb-fbedb22bc034489dbb2df356e8c20919
Discover (2020) Victorian Street Lamp [3D Model] [December 27 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/victorian-street-lamp-b7cebcfb4b1c4d4a97e22072800704ca
RedAuburn (2020) London Telephone Box [3D Model] [December 28 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/london-telephone-box-d1bf6285f4c4458d8128a5ece3749b96
Gelmi.com.br (2022) Destroyed buildings [3D Model] [December 28 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/destroyed-buildings-3fb7160b6d0c4350a0abc80962c47227
philano (2022) T29 heavy Tank [3D Model] [December 28 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/t29-heavy-tank-f4ade49cae9b4a14a282bde36fc24d9a
Artieee (2022) KV1-E WW2 Tank [3D Model] [December 28 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/kv1-e-ww2-tank-a23d2ed121da474cb01dda6512c2fa9f
DJMaesen (2021) Vents [3D Model] [December 20 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/vents-166b894c533845bbb9d216526a512c2b
Mehdi Shahsavan (2024) Folder – 3MB [3D Model] [December 15 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/folder-3mb-daed6881547043b6b522c4c83590bf03
DavidFalke (2017) Planning D-Day [3D Model] [December 15 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/planning-d-day-c3a688b0a9054a4e878065d8ef3c7111
filthycent (2019) Bunk bed [3D Model] [December 15 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/bunk-bed-ea60847abaaf4662b5f7c75b44f3ce9d
ErikKos (2021) A7B USSR Military Radio set [3D Model] [December 14 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/a7b-ussr-military-radio-set-101e7684e876454992bdf0ef6934315c
e.belous (2022) M1911 pistol [3D Model] [December 15 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/m1911-pistol-80a0b8a6c4314da4a7b3a7cfe6cec1d4
Maycho (2018) Vintage Chair [3D Model] [December 07 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/vintage-chair-cb43e2abac66494d81e1e7116eb47043
Rakuitn (2018) Old metal bunker door [3D Model] [December 07 2024]
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/old-metal-bunker-door-a602f52789fb4bc1a46cc1d0633def60
Tim_Verberne (2021) S_O_1_Rocks_Falling_02.wav [Audio Source] [December 29 2024] https://freesound.org/people/Tim_Verberne/sounds/576105/
bolkmar (2020) FX – Rock / stone falling debris [Audio Source] [December 29 2024] https://freesound.org/people/bolkmar/sounds/539178/
hardance (2009) Ringing in ears2.wav [Audio Source] [December 29 2024] https://freesound.org/people/Hardance/sounds/85497/
crashoverride6 (2012) Wind Gust [Audio Source] [December 22 2024] https://freesound.org/people/crashoverride6/sounds/146932/
daveincamas (2019) WW2 Airplane Natural Reverb [Audio Source] [December 22 2024] https://freesound.org/people/daveincamas/sounds/495299/
Cheeseheadburger (2012) Distant WW2 Gunfire Kent.wav [Audio Source] [December 22 2024] https://freesound.org/people/Cheeseheadburger/sounds/170478/
Benboncan (2010) WW2 Siren.wav [Audio Source] [December 22 2024] https://freesound.org/people/Benboncan/sounds/108642/
AVstudent (2024) One Heavy Thud [Audio Source] [December 20 2024] https://freesound.org/people/AVstudent/sounds/732783/
iwanPlays (2021) Bricks/Stones/Rocks/Gravel Falling [Audio Source] [December 20 2024] https://freesound.org/people/iwanPlays/sounds/567249/
EminYILDIRIM (2021) Player Hit & Impact [Audio Source] [December 20 2024] https://freesound.org/people/EminYILDIRIM/sounds/568795/
SoundDesignForYou (2023) METLImpt_Metal Resonant Scrape Impact_SDFY_Metal Resonant.wav [Audio Source] [December 20 2024] https://freesound.org/people/SoundDesignForYou/sounds/697758/
gnrja (2012) Pumping Heart.aiff [Audio Source] [December 20 2024] https://freesound.org/people/gnrja/sounds/151771/
EricTuten (2015) Wind Through a Pipe.wav [Audio Source] [December 20 2024] https://freesound.org/people/EricTuten/sounds/262604/
sgrowe (2016) Medium Thud 2 [Audio Source] [December 16 2024] https://freesound.org/people/sgrowe/sounds/342534/
Peacewaves (2015) talking_rat.wav [Audio Source] [December 16 2024] https://freesound.org/people/Peacewaves/sounds/317663/
JoseAgudelo (2019) 16_Ratón_chillando.wav [Audio Source] [December 16 2024] https://freesound.org/people/JoseAgudelo/sounds/472399/
ZoeVixen (2018) Fairlight CMI.wav [Audio Source] [December 16 2024] https://freesound.org/people/ZoeVixen/sounds/419058/
klankbeeld (2021) horror ambience 2019 03 190624_0042.wav [Audio Source] [December 16 2024] https://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/607420/
joedeshon (2022) film_static_08.wav [Audio Source] [December 16 2024] https://freesound.org/people/joedeshon/sounds/624681/