2024
Modelling, Shading, Animation, VR Environment creation
Cave World is an underground cave that can be explored in VR. Developed in collaboration with three of my classmates, the space is divided into four distinct caves that light up the darkness with imaginary worlds that differ greatly from one another. The section I created, Old Temple Cave, draws inspiration from the ruins of an ancient temple. In this environment nature has taken over and mystical plants have grown to cover up the remains of the old temple. The flowers, the mushrooms and the tree are so beautiful and mesmerizing that you might want to touch them. But beware, they could be dangerous.
Conceptualisation
Brainstorming with my partners in this project, we imagined the audience taking the role of a rabbit who ventures through a dark cave illuminated by the natural elements within. We agreed on using glowing objects, characters and plants to light up the darkness, but each of us had different ideas and aesthetics for the cave’s theme. We decided to take advantage of this and divide the cave in four separate areas, allowing each of us to work on our own space as we preferred. This resulted in the creation of a cave where every turn led to a completely different world.
My section of the cave was inspired by the concept of an underground temple ruin. The idea of incorporating glowing plants made me think about the aesthetic of the “beautiful yet dangerous”. The plants in my cave were designed to appear inviting to the audience but would be dangerous to touch. I believe that the contrast between the beauty and danger of the elements in my cave complements the theme of an old abandoned ruin. In my cave time has passed and nature has reclaimed what humans once created. I compiled a few images that inspired me into a moodboard and began visualizing the space.
To design my cave I created individual elements on Blender. I modelled a glowing flower and a magic source, and then modified some downloaded models to fit my vision. I wanted all the elements to follow the same color palette and have a similar glow. They needed to look magical, mysterious and surreal.
However, the real struggle began when I tried to move the objects from Blender to Unity because most of the textures would not translate from one software to the other. Due to this, I had to find a way to adjust the coloring and glow of the objects directly in Unity and do my best to mimic the original design. The same issue occurred when I was trying to import the animation of the magic ball in Unity, which I had to redesign to make it work in the VR software.
Each of us also included a simple character in each cave using Daz Studio, which the person wearing the headset could interact with.
We incorporated sound in our cave to make the overall experience more immersive and give a cohesive atmosphere to the cave as a whole. The overall aesthetic was mystical, magical, and fantastical. We achieved the same prompted aesthetic, while keeping each section of the cave a unique and whimsical experience.