Personal Observations/Progress
- I've been in a good working groove due to pulling out some old CD's and building a nice playlist. Monday was a 90's hip-hop day: Black Moon, Alkholics, Loot Pack, Slum Village and Souls of Mischief. Tuesday turned out to be oldies: Shuggie Otis, Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic. I think for Wednesday I'll dig back in the crates for 90's R&B stuff ;-) I'm sure my neighbors hate me (or love me)
- Saw 'Valerian' on Wednesday and outside of being mesmerized by all of the CG and imaginative art direction, it was cool to see how VR was used in this fantastic future world. I won't spoil it for others, but there is a really cool section in the beginning where tourist use VR devices to enter another dimension. What's funny is after seeing the film, I read an article that discussed this scene and how it may be possible much sooner than you think. I just thought is was a cool and practical application of "future" VR. Also, the film was a nice creative break.
- Next week is Siggraph 2017! I'm really looking forward to attending this year and I'm glad it's in LA. I haven't attended Siggraph since I graduated from college. Lots of VR stuff in the mix this year as well. I'll take notes and will post any significant findings on the OLP FB page.
Production Progress
Task: Set Up Camera Paths
After getting a few characters in the scene, my next major task consisted of getting my camera rig set up. My project is an "on-rails" type of experience, meaning the camera isn't controlled by the viewer, but the movement path is predefined and the movement speed is set. I know that this combination can make some viewers sick, which is why I wanted to spend an adequate amount of time working on this system.
To date, I have purchased and used three different camera systems and each one has its pros and cons. The first system I used was the free "Camera Path Creator" which was great until I learned that it won't work with the VR camera. I'm now using the most expensive system called "Camera Path Animator" which seems to be worth the $30 pricetag thus far. It allows you to preview the camera position and view in the editor, as you lay out your waypoints. It's a bit tricky to get the camera to point the way you want it to at first, but once I figured out the orientation controls it seems to work well.
Given that my scene is fairly large and has some turns, the camera movement must be smooth as silk and some of the other systems were just too jerky. Getting the camera movement right is probably the most important aspect of my project and it's definitely taking a lot of time to tweak.
Task: Transitions and Loading
So, after getting my camera paths worked out (still not perfect) I moved on to tackle another key element - scene transitions. When making games in Unity, transitions and loading aren't really much of a consideration because you typically just cut to a 2D screen or billboard as the next scene loads. Obviously you can't cut to a 2D screen in VR so this required a couple hours of consideration. I got my scenes to load on trigger but making a smooth transition is still a bit of a challenge and there aren't many good solutions on the Asset Store. However, I think I have figured out a workaround. I'll spend much of Saturday working on my thesis.