This was my first time building an environment on unity. My biggest issue when it came to building the environment was recognizing the three dimensional space. It was really hard to see where exactly lots of the objects were placed. Because I was so used to the two dimensional designs that I used to do, making a three dimensional space was difficult. I could not make good use of the total space. Instead all the objects were placed on one side of the environment. However, I was able to learn how to think of the space in a three dimensional way. I think this will help me in my future projects. I will be able to plan out the space better and place things better.
Limitations and Reflection
Biggest issue I had with the project was not considering the viewer. When I designed the place I was thinking of the space more as a picture of a place. I thought of it as drawing a painting instead of building a physical space. Because of this, when I was planning everything I did not consider the viewer or the viewer’s experience. The viewer rarely had any interaction with the space due to it. Moreover this was the biggest reason why I had issues with the camera.
I did have technical issues with setting the camera, but I was lost when I was thinking of where to put the camera. There was only one way to put the camera which was putting it in front of the scene, but once I did, there wasn’t any interaction factor to the space.
What I want to work on my next project
What I want to work on my next project is to build a good base for my space and to use all of the space possible. I want to build a solid plane and walls around the space so the viewer could have easier time understanding the place. I also want to try building different buildings on the plane.
Also I would like to add more elements to the environment. I want to make sure the user and turn around and see different objects around him/her instead of not having anything once they turn around.
Here is the link to my presentation about this project
Zenboo creates a space for the user to relax, placing the user in the middle of the mountains and free to play with bamboo. The user is able to water the bamboo using a watering can and watch it grow in a unique way, use the watering can to bounce around different parts of the bamboo, and make parts of the bamboo disappear with a sickle. Surrounding the user is a mountain range, a circle of floating rocks, and a tree stump to place the watering can and sickle on. Rather than being a game or a narrative, Zenboo’s purpose is to make the user feel relaxed and playful.
Process and Implementation
I was mainly responsible for creating the physical environment the user is placed in. This involved a lot of playing around with different aspects as well as going through cycles of feedback from the rest of the team. When we were storyboarding, we had a general idea of what the environment would look like:
The user would stand within a circle of rocks (to indicate a sort of barrier that the user would have to stay within), which was surrounded by a circle of mountains. A group of bamboo would be directly in front of the user, with a tree stump containing the watering can and sickle beside them.
When I set out to create the environment, I initially stuck to this design. I created mountains using the terrain tool, using the Yellow Mountains as inspiration:
The reason for this inspiration is they are very mystical and calming, which would help contribute to the relaxation aspect of Zenboo. However, when placing the user in the middle of these mountains, it was a bit overbearing so I created a platform mountain for the user to stand in. This way, it feels like the user is more in the mountains rather than standing below and looking up at them, adding a more mystical effect.
The circle of rocks was another thing implemented into the environment. When receiving feedback, however, it was suggested that the rocks be larger and floating around the user rather than the initial plan to have them resting on the ground. This turned out to have a pretty cool effect, adding another layer of mystique.
One thing that changed from our initial plan was the location of the bamboo. Since space is a limitation, having the clump of bamboo in front of the user all spaced out would have been problematic, or perhaps not as intuitive that the user had to go over to it and water it. Instead, we decided to place the bamboo in a semi-circle close to and around the user. This way, the user does not have to walk very much in order to water all of the bamboo. The final environment looks like this from afar:
Reflection and Evaluation
I think we successfully created an environment that is peaceful for the user to be in. The surroundings are green and full of nature, the background music is calming, and the main movements the user can do to interact with the environment, pouring and cutting, require gentle motions. I think something unexpected that was added was the added interaction the user can do outside of our initial planning, which slightly transforms the space. For instance, the way the bamboo grows is not how bamboo normally grows, and you can play with the bamboo pieces by bouncing them up and down with the watering can, kind of like a volleyball. I’ve found that this is my favorite activity to do when I’m testing out the space, which is perhaps more playful than it is relaxing. However, I don’t think this is a negative thing; I think the added playfulness fits nicely. But, if we did want to keep Zenboo a strictly relaxing space, then it would perhaps have been constructed differently. The bamboo could float away gently, for example. The sickle could be more low poly. More allowed movement, like a big open space the user could walk around in, would also perhaps be more relaxing.
Zenboo was based on the concept of a Zen environment with a
simple yet endlessly executable action in place. Originally, the plan was to
have flowers that could be endlessly grown but then the idea of bamboo came up.
Since, in reality, bamboo grows incredibly quickly and is aesthetically attractive,
we decided on this vegetation instead (fig.1). A positive addition was that
bamboo inherently already had some connection to the idea of Zen. We wanted to
place the user in a comforting environment that presented them clearly with a
task which they could continuously do in order to relax for the daily stresses
of everyday life. All the artistic choices behind the environment were directed
towards this comforting attitude. The interaction were also kept simple and
obvious. The interactions involved the picking up of the two objects and the
using of the two objects. A watering can could be picked up and used to pour
water on the bamboo, which would make it grow, and the sickle could be used to
chop the grown bamboo, and make it disappear (fig.2).
Knowing that there was a lot to be done, we split the tasks
evenly into two groups: scripting and designing. One individual was responsible
for the designing of the environment, another in charge of the music and sound effects,
and two responsible for making all the desired actions feasible. I was
responsible for scripting actions and did most of my testing in a separate scene
than where the environment was being designed. Since the actions had to be explainable
without any description, we made sure to use everyday objects and code for recognizable
physics behind them. This meant that the watering can could be lifted up and
that water would only appear when poured at a certain degree, or that bamboo
would grow upwards when water interacted with it. The testing area was modeled
around what the final scene would encompass for the user. The tools were placed
near to the spawn point of the user and could be used on the bamboo that was
close by (fig.3-4).
The behaviors of the objects were expected because they were similar to reality and this made them seem like everyday actions. This meant that tools could be lifted, thrown, dropped, and act the correct way when coming into contact with other objects or when being poured. The only area where an unexpected result appears is when bamboo grows (fig.5). It was discovered, during testing, that bamboo balancing on itself was a lot more attractive and brought more comfort to the user, similar to stacking stones (fig.6), so it replaced the regular straight growth of bamboo shoots. Having the segments of bamboo fall to the ground after they reached a certain height was also a feature of this balancing. This brought new possibilities to a used behavior and also prevented clutter by having the segments disappear after a moment. After all the objects were designed and equipped with their respective behaviors, they were made into prefabs and placed in the final scene, in similar coordinates (see Cassie’s blog). The environment was designed to have warm sunset lighting, comforting wind, grass, and hills in order to bring ease to user. A small oddity observed was the floating rocks, though these objects are not following our reality’s physics they look incredibly mesmerizing and thus were maintained in the environment. Generally, having a few quirks that brought personality to the area, was expected to give the user more reason to desire realizing in this world.
Our expected world was a place a used could freely spend
their time in with the goal of alleviating stress. This was achieved because
the user had a simple task that could be endlessly continued and a surrounding
that promoted comfort. With more experience and time, the world could
eventually be expanded. There could be more tasks for the user to indulge in
and more scenery that was intriguing to look at and enjoy. Expanding is always
a possibility to entertain the user but keeping them in a roughly enclosed area
was a solution too. Keeping them enclosed and with only a few tasks to focus on
lets them possibly enter a form of meditation, which is by far the best stress
relieving method. Better designing of the current scene could have involved the
matching of asset styles and consideration for certain behaviors. Making the
bamboo that falls intractable by hand and making it so that tools were always
held in the correct method would have been logical. Making a better match of
the tools’ material with the design style of the environment would have been
more attractive. After showing the project in class I also noticed that some of
the music could have been worked on to be less hostile and the water system
needed some tweaking. Simply, there were a few factors that made the objects in
the project seem unworldly and made it harder for the player to immerse
themselves.
Though there were several factors that could be worked on
there was also a sure sign that the project was a success. This is evident in
three behaviors, players would want to place the controller on the stump after they
were done, players tried to move out of the way of falling bamboo, and players continued
to water the bamboo endlessly without tire. This shows that players were about
to connect their reality with the world we created to such an extent that they
the lines between the two existences became blurred.
It is very difficult for me to focus, especially when I’m trying to sleep. Listening to music certainly helps block out darting thoughts, but I wanted to create a visual space that I could focus on before going to bed. Thus, I wanted this space to be peaceful, minimalist, and beautiful.
Inspired by the place I grew up in, I wanted to create some sort of dream forest that felt very natural even if it had some mystical elements. To me, a forest environment conveys solitude, peace, and has no extraneous elements that could be a distraction, helping the viewer to be more immersed in the environment. One of my favorite things is looking up at trees and seeing the criss-crossed layers of branches against the sky. Thus, I was particularly excited to create a forest in VR because the viewer would be able to look across the forest, but also up at the tree branches. Thus, I began by creating the forest using a mixture of free tree assets. I ended up removing the leaves of the trees because though they contributed to a feeling of peace, the leaves went against the meditative aesthetic I was trying to convey. Perhaps because the leaves prevented the extent to which the viewer could see in every direction which I felt was a crucial element to creating a sense of reflection. The most challenging part of creating the forest was determining the optimal density of the trees. Too little and the environment felt unnatural and bare. Too much and the viewer could not see into the distance. Something I didn’t take into account was how much space the viewer needed, so I originally placed the player camera in the center of the forest, not changing anything for the viewer. This made the environment feel chaotic and cluttered, which was the opposite of what I aimed for. I ended up creating a clearing in the trees in the space around the player camera so that the environment felt more personalized to the viewer and that they’d have more room to breathe.
Once the basic form was created, I could focus on the little details that would create the identity of dream-like peace. I began with changing the skybox to put in a night sky. I felt that a darker environment would be more dream-like and conducive to using the environment before sleeping. However, the dark skies with the barren trees gave the ambience of something dark and sinister rather than calming and beautiful. Thus, I knew I needed to add some elements that would make it dream-like, conveying the sense of being in an alternate reality rather than just any forest at night. I added blue fog which added a tinge of magic, but also aerial perspective for the trees in the distance. I added a moonray which gave the forest a white glow that made it feel more peaceful. I played around with several elements like a pond, mushrooms, mist, swaying flowers, flying birds, but ended up choosing floating orbs of light and a gentle wave. I wanted something with soft, regular motion like breathing or rocking a baby to sleep. I chose to create a wave that flowed through the entire forest because of the sense of peace it gave me and the supernatural ambience it added. I played around with the wave so that it would barely be there and then appear when fading in. For the orbs of light, I created a particle system and adjusted its properties so that the orbs would be a rose gold color to balance the cool tones of the forest. Additionally, I changed the size of the particles and the radius of the system so that the orbs would float up from the whole forest which the viewer could see if they looked upwards. I wanted the orbs of light to balance the darkness of the forest and to be something calming that also invited a sense of awe. Finally, I added soft music with the sounds of waves to reiterate the peacefulness of the environment.
I am quite happy with the results, though a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get it to work with the Google Cardboard. For some reason, every time I would build the project with the Google VR Player prefab, my computer would crash and Unity would automatically quit. I did get it to build successfully once, but in the build version I couldn’t seem to move which was surprising because it worked perfectly fine when running it in Unity. But, I suppose this is okay as I have plenty of time to figure out how to make it work. I actually pulled the environment open once last night when I was feeling stressed and it did calm me down a bit, though that could merely be a placebo effect as a result of my bias towards my personal environment. It would be nice to play test it and see how others respond to the environment and adjust my design from there. One thing I want to play around with is creating a script that changes the skybox depending on the time of the day for the viewer. This is something I want to play around with rather than definitively do because I’m not sure how the barren trees would look during the day. Overall, I’m happy that I got better at ambient lighting and creating particle systems in Unity which will very helpful for future projects. One thing I learned through this project is how much these little details contribute to the identity of the environment. I originally intended to create a dark forest like the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter and ended up with a dream-like identity just through a few simple elements.
By creating the environment i have done, i hoped to present and portray a mixture of feelings; from fear, trapped, and a feeling of being lost and alone in a world with monsters.
I decided to place the player in a broken down looking shed facing a dimly lit corner, and at first they would think they are alone, but as they focus on the multiple scary sounds playing in the back and the ability to look around at your surroundings the player realizes he is not alone and there are scary things outside and they have their eyes on him.
At first i created and edited the shack to fit the idea i had in my head with the help of multiple prefabs of lamps and dim light bulbs
Then i decorated my platform with multiple scattered zombies,
I then included a night sky box with a cloudy atmosphere
Reflection/Evaluation: I really enjoyed playing around with Unity and the freedom you have with creating almost anything. I feel like this project, although very simple is something that I am happy about, although I feel like I have yet so many ideas to add such as weather (rain, blizzard, fog) and maybe a winter themed terrain with a campfire.
1.Project Description: describe the space you created and the identity you used to guide the design.
For my space that I created, I used several different external assets and Kaplan’s GRE words. I am interested in how VR can be utilized in improving educational learning, and thus I decided to play around with the space that I made in order to create a small prototype of how learning vocabulary can be made easier by placing various GRE words around the space, in accordance to their word groups.
For my space that I created, I used several different external assets and Kaplan’s GRE words. I am interested in how VR can be utilized in improving educational learning, and thus I decided to play around with the space that I made in order to create a small prototype of how learning vocabulary can be made easier by placing various GRE words around the space, in accordance to their word groups.
I decided to use the identity of “abandoned” in order to guide the design. I choose the colors, assets, and texture so that they match the “abandoned” identity. I chose buildings that had somewhat a mysterious feel, rather than any building with a majestic, luxurious-looking façade. In order to create the “abandoned” identity, I wanted to mix nature and human-built objects, and thus, I have placed various rocks and cliffs between the tower and the dome. This is because my image of “abandoned” is usually at the middle ground of nature and man-made, or perhaps, nature is gradually taking over the man-made objects because the objects have been left abandoned for a long period of time.
However, the sense of “abandoned” does not necessary mean that the place is completely dead. Therefore, I placed bushes that are being blown by the wind, and I made the sky color the typical sky color – nothing dark or grey.
2. Process and Implementation: discuss how you built the scene within the development environment and choices you made to stage the space for this particular mode of viewing.
What design decisions did you make to represent the identity (emotion, feeling, mood) and to aim toward the desired effect of it being an alternate world? What guided your composition of the areas in view and what effect were you hoping it might have on the viewer? Feel free to share images or sketches of visual inspiration or reference if you used them.
In order to express the identity of “abandoned” in my design, I decided to unify my scene with dark, gloomy colors for the man-made objects, such as the buildings, tower, and the dome. I accumulated textures that had mostly black, grey, and dark colors so in order to create a mysterious and lonely mood. Even for one building which has a light blue color, there is something about the ratchet texture that makes even the light blue color show its dark side.
I used the below images when brainstorming my idea.
Abandoned Image 1
Abandoned Image 2
I also chose GRE words which have negative connotations in order to match the identity and the mood of the alternative space that I created.
The following are the word groups that I chose to place in the space:
As much I want the user to understand and visually memorize the GRE words, I want the user to feel like they are in an abandoned town that is separated from the rest of the world. However, I did not want the user to feel as if they are in a fictional world, and thus I placed objects that are familiar in real life, yet with a feeling of far and distant.
3. Reflection/Evaluation: This should discuss your expectations and goals in the context of the what you felt was achieved with the finished piece.
In the beginning, I was going to compress different scenes with different moods which matched accordingly to the GRE word group. For example, for the GRE word group which roughly all meant “delighted,” I was going to create part of the scene which showed that mood. However, I realized that creating multiple scenes each with different moods was too complicated. Not only that, mixing moods in one space was not a good idea as it would confuse the user. Therefore, I decided to choose to the “abandoned” identity, and bring in various GRE words that had had negative and pessimistic connotations.
If I look at the scene that I have created from the scene view, it seems as if the space is small and enclosed. However, when looking from the actual game view, the scene seems as if it has so much to it. Therefore, I am quite satisfied with the scene that I have created because it fulfills the purpose of trying to help the user visually memorize the GRE words using location sensing.
I would say that one of the challenges I faced in this project was placing the GRE words in the optimal location. Because the GRE words are 2D, whereas everything else is 3D, I had to maneuver the GRE words in a way that they seem as if they are stuck to the building or the rock. It took a quite a bit of time to adjust each and every word because I was trying to place a 2D object with the 3D objects.
Welcome to Nerudia, a mystical land of trees, mountains, and all things mother nature!
demo videoNerudia at a glance
Projection Description:
Nerudia is a nature-filled land characterised by its tall hills, bountiful trees, plants and rocks. I’ve chosen “mystical” and “grandiose” as my main direction for the identity of Nerudia.
Process and Implementation:
Knowing that I wanted to create a grandiose effect with tall mountains and hills, I started playing with the terrain feature to experiment with different heights for the ground. I initially built mountains and trees all around but after quickly realizing not all this will be visible from a single point where I put the player, I redesigned it so that the tall hills are on one side. I ensured the other side is more sparsely packed with trees and with shorter ones as well, so as to emphasize the tall hills more and create a contrast between the two. Building contrasting materials is a design strategy that I’ve repeatedly used for this project – emphasizing something and making it pop out more by creating others that are unlike it.
To add to the grandiose component, I decided to add a Mother Tree for Nerudia – an evident landmark that is symbolic of the place. So I placed a giant tree on top of the mountain, so the player can look up from the ground and really feel the power of its size and elevation. Again to make the Mother Tree stand out more, I made sure all the other plants and trees were properly colored green. I also added a Directional Light that lights the hills up from the bottom to brighten up the hills and Mother Tree more.
view of Mother Tree from below
I also experimented with the color and texture of the mother tree leaves, and eventually went with a glass reflective material I found in the Asset Store. I also decided that color was key to tackling the “mystic” identity. To do this, I looked for various different textures that I could apply to the hills and mountains. I discovered a purple-blue-neon-colored stripes that added lava-like effect to the hills. I was careful not to overuse it and applied it only here and there to build up to the hills and the Mother Tree.
On the other side of the hills, I left the space less dense and only populated it with small plants so the player is not overwhelmed with too many materials around him/her. This relatively empty space was to create some breathing space for the land and the player. I also designed and made some stone-like structures to place around the ground. I also designed and made some stone-like structures to place around the ground.
Reflection/Evaluation:
I think Nerudia turned out quite well and I’m happy with its overall design and aesthetics. I’ve asked for feedback from my friends and they agreed that they felt the “grandiose and mystic” vibes from Nerudia. One friend even commented that she felt like “going on an adventure up the hills.” Designing a concept that suited the identity was central to my goals for this project so I was happy to hear that my friends agreed.
In the beginning, I was struggling with how to convey the “mystical” element because before adding the neon texture, it looked like a normal forest to me. Searching for an interesting texture really helped my concept and I think it played a big role in shaping the identity of Nerudia. Both the color scheme and the use of glass reflective material for the Mother Tree really defined the “alternative world” for me – something that we can identify as making sense but is different from the norm and what we expected. In other words, we would expect to see leaves on trees, but might not anticipate them being made of glass materials. Similiarly, we would expect to see mountains to be green in most cases, not some neon-colored stripes running down the hills.
Color is an inherent part of some of our daily lives. It can add vibrance or even different moods – a bright yellow can inspire happiness whereas a dark blue can inspire sadness. With this environment, I wanted to explore how the absence of color could affect a mood. I created a forest with a completely desaturated sky and ground, making its identity one that is eerie and spooky.
Process and Implementation
I was initially inspired by the idea of a spooky forest when playing around with the tree building function of Nature Starter Kit 2 since the branches of the trees could be warped in a way that were windy and pointy.
When browsing pictures of spooky forest images, I noticed that a lot of these images were in black and white as if to enhance the creepy effect, hence inspiring me to create a black and white forest to add on to the eerie effect.
In terms of what to put into the actual environment, a lot of my implementation had to do with what I came across in the assets store. I wanted my environment to look a little more realistic, so I kept this in mind when browsing various packages.
The trickiest part was definitely getting the lighting right. I removed the directional light and added fog in order to give the illusion of nighttime, choosing a night setting because night is inherently more spooky than day. However, my biggest struggle was with the skybox. I would try out different materials with different combinations of tint and exposure in order to try and remove the color, however there always seemed to be a slight tinge of color. I eventually realized that I could just edit the saturation out of png images of the panels using a simple photo-editing website (Pixlr), and then place these edited panels into a new skybox material. This finally completely desaturated the sky and gave the effect I was going for.
Reflection/Evaluation
Overall, I think the eerie effect was accomplished because of the absence of most color and the choice to make it nighttime. However, I do think it’s possible that someone could be in this world and feel at peace rather than spooked out, depending on what their feelings towards nighttime forests are. If I were to build upon this, I think I would try and add some animations or sounds in order to enhance the spooky effect. For example, it would be cool to have wind whistling so that the user could perhaps feel “chilled,” and have some leaves rustle in the wind.
The location that I place the user in is a desert surrounded
horizontally with objects representing a dry world but juxtaposed with objects,
found in the sky, that complement the dehydrated environment. The identity used
as a basis for the project was complementary,
an adjective that explains how two parts can come together to “mutually supply
each other’s lack.” The desert is composed of dunes, mountains, rocks, and
logs, all familiar objects that one would expect to find in a desert. The sky
on the other hand, is filled with floating spheres covered with vegetation and
trees as well as floating blue cubes, representing the water that is supporting
the mixed environment. Not only do the orange-red colors of the desert
complement well with the blue-green colors in the sky, but the dehydrated world
also complements with the hydrated world. The four core elements are all well
presented as well. The earth and fire in the desert and the wind and water in
the sky. In our reality, there is some impossibility in having organic spheres
and cubes floating above a lifeless environment. This alternate reality on the
other hand, has other laws governing physics; this permits a natural yin yang of
elements to form.
Most of the prefabs I found were originally from a free
asset pack. The terrain was skillfully pieced together with scaled desert tiles
in order to give the user a perceived view of infinite dunes. Making sure that
the user couldn’t see the edge of the tiles gave a more realistic feeling since
deserts usually are quite large. In one corner a mountain range was set up with
differently scaled mountains to give the perception of depth. Other rock
monuments were also placed around the user to further reinforce the feeling of
depth in a large desert. Finally, a collection of stones and logs were placed
all around in different formats to gives the environment a bit more meaning.
Before adding in the complementary objects in the sky, the desert looked
essentially like one humans would be used to.
The feeling of being in an alternative world really started
with the placement of floating objects. Everything originally looked “normal”
but once the user started looking around and seeing things in the sky that were
not the sun, then their perception changed. The objects in the sky were also
populated by prefabs that were specifically rotated and scaled in such a way to
give the user a new experience. Some of the floating spheres and cubes were
placed far away and others nearby, once again to promote depth, but they were
also designed to all be unique in order avoid pattern recognition. A few were
also designed to have huge trees on small spheres in order to further inhibit
the user’s original basis of logic. By altering the user’s perception of
physics, this world that combined four elements in a harmonizing manner could
come to exist. This coordination would not normally be found in our reality so
it was necessary to convince the user that they were in a different reality.
In order to force the user to think a bit more, since that
usually helps a player connect better with a new world, some small details were
hidden in the environment. Some of the collection of logs and stones were
gathered in a formation that promoted purpose, perhaps urging the user to
develop a story. This is evident in the stones encircling a log, maybe
supporting the hypothesis that some creatures lived here and camped, or a group
of dead logs packed together next to a shadow, as if they fell from somewhere. These
details asked the user to perhaps look into the sky and seek out the source of
the logs or seek out the unknown creatures. After looking into the sky, maybe
the user would even discover that there were only 5 water cubes in the sky but
6 floating spheres. The last cube was at the foot of the user, buried in the
sand, perhaps for some unknown reason. My final goal was for the colors and
objects on the ground and in the sky to complement each other in such a way
that was usually impossible in our reality, all the while also giving the user
a story to explore and formulate hypotheses about.
I believe I did develop a story and an environment that came
together smoothly. Using prefabs from an asset package naturally limited my
possibilities but I feel that I achieved with what tools I had. Naturally,
there is always room for improvement, especially in a 3D world. Using low-poly
objects made it easy to pay less attention to details. Ideally the objects used
would have been a bit more realistic. This would have been more effective
because there would have been more room for storytelling and connecting with
the user’s experience. This would have required a much greater time commitment
which was not available for this project. This would have been time consuming
because the spheres would have to be carefully populated with even more well
picked vegetation and the entire desert environment would have to be designed
to better give the sense of sand and depth. Better representation of fire and
wind would also be done by implementing wind drafts and scorch marks in the
sand. I expected there to be more presence in this world but after designing it
I understand where the fault is. There is no movement in the environment,
giving the user the feeling that they are stuck in place. This could have
possibly been achieved by rotating the sphere and cubes and implementing some
sort of sandstorm. In general, the desired effect of this world on the user was
achieved but not nearly to the extent that was originally anticipated.
