Journal Week 1
The Virtual Reality Experience
Group 04: Virtual Environments (Visualizing the pavilion performance)
Our group’s aim is to push the limits of the current usage of virtual reality as a visualisation tool, operated for a few minutes at a time. Although the concept is still being applied in sundries of gaming and entertainment, when used to showcase an architectural project, users tend to spend minimal time before deciding that they’ve had enough.
Reasons for this stem from a lack of engaging material or a failure in immersion; results of simulation sickness, janky movement and motion controls, or users having an open space with no guide or sense of direction.
Following our discussion during the tutorial, in which our coach Barry elaborated on a subtle zoom technique used to direct users to move between areas of a virtual environment, I was reminded of this video:
The video explores various techniques utilised in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series as a means of drawing the player’s attention to the developer’s intended objective, including cinematic techniques of lighting, framing, colour etc.
This spurned further discussion within our group in regards to extending the virtual experience through objectives and mini-games. For example, users may have to explore the space with a camera or be have to adjust the appearance of the pavilion through peripherals in order to fulfil the requirements of the objective. In a way, it feels like a parent making “fun spaghetti” with ribboned carrots.
It seems that a natural way of progressing this project (aside from familiarising ourselves with the necessary engines) is to look at peripherals and various APIs in order to expand and understand our toolset; knowing what we have at our disposal to create a stronger connection between a user and what they can experience in Virtual Reality.
