When designing and creating storyboards for my immersive experience and the three scenes it consists of, I must consider how the user will know what to do and where to look whilst in a VR headset in my 3D environment. I have planned to utilise composition, animation and colour to lead the user to the right areas of the 3D scene.
In this blog post I will show and discuss the style choices, composition and storyboards I have created that illustrate the basic ideas of each scene. I wanted to storyboard and plan first to make sure I knew what the scenes will look and feel like before modelling as well as the order and timing of each clip and animation.
For my first scene: the mushroom forest, I have decided to display the assets in a certain way to draw the users eyes in the right direction. Firstly, I have planned to have the camera facing the main focal point which will consist of three large pink mushrooms, then I will have assets such as small mushrooms, grass and flowers that will get smaller the further they are away from the main focal point. I would also like to create some sparkles that will hopefully be animated and light up right above my large mushrooms. I believe that If I am able to achieve this it will be extremely affective in drawing the users’ eyes around the scene. I will also try to utilise colour to make this scene vibrant and bright but will try to make sure that the colours in the focus point are the brightest and boldest whilst as you get further away the colours may be duller.
Figure 1 – This storyboard shows what I want the overall composition of the scene to look like as well as the different assets I need to model in order to create this scene. I knew I wanted to make the three large mushrooms the focus point and I have shown this here.
In the second scene (the red queens gardens and croquet scene) I was hoping to be able to utilise the story of the croquet game to my advantage. In this scene I will try to model the gardens, a simple castle in the distance, a ball and a couple of croquet hoops to animate the ball through. I have planned and designed the scene in such a way that the eye will be drawn to follow the ball around the gardens and to focus on the castle in the distance. I have also considered that before this animation starts there should be at least 5 seconds of time in the 3D environment for the user to become accustomed and comfortable in the new environment, this will help to not confuse or rush the user. I also think camera placement is extremely important in this scene as this will probably be my most detailed and longest clip, because of this I’ve decided that I will place the camera in a central position directly in front of the castle. As well as the castle, the camera will be directly in front of the ball animation so that the user immediately can notice the movement and follow it. I am also hoping to use ‘Skydome’ lighting to light the whole scene and use mainly motion to guide the user instead.
Figure 2 – This is the storyboard for the croquet scene in which I plan on framing the castle with hedges and trees whilst also animating a ball through croquet hoops towards the user in order to create an exciting focal point.
For the third scene which has a slightly eerier atmosphere I have planned to go a little simpler. The scene will follow the beginning of a chess match in which the user will be placed in the centre of the board and therefore they will follow each side and the turn that they take. Because of the central position, the user will be slightly on edge waiting for each turn but nothing will move too quickly as to avoid any shock or panic in the user. The scene will have an overhead light and will hopefully mimic the purple misty hue of the early ‘Spyro’ and PlayStation games. I think an overhead area light will work best for this scene as it ensures that not one side is favoured in terms of focus and each side is equally as unpredictable.
Figure 3 – This storyboard again shows the basics of the scene I wish to create, it’s a simple sketch but overall a simple idea that will have atmosphere added with the use of lighting and colour. I am hoping that this seemingly simple idea will end up being quite effective.