creating killer vr
Ben Kidd tells Ian Dean why VR will be the leading tech of 2016, and why artists need to jump in…
Get involved with the leading tech of 2016
We keep being told that 2016 is the year virtual reality will take off. The team at Hamilton+kidd believe it can only be good, and have set up Curiscope to make the most of the clamour for the technology.
Great White Shark is the first foray into VR for the company and aims to make education fun, as viewers are immersed in the ocean alongside the infamous sharks. Having experienced the animation on a Samsung VR headset, it achieves all of its goals. The 90-second film gets you close to the great whites, while audio explains their behaviour and cutaways reveal the working organs of the animals. “If you dive with sharks your heart is going to be thumping away in your chest anyway,“explains Ben Kidd, co-founder of Curiscope. “In the film we wanted to get that feeling, and I think we’ve succeeded.”
The VR animation is the amalgam of Hamilton+kidd’s experiences of creating video game and real-time animations, and makes use of V-ray and Unity to bring the sharks to life. “V-ray has the right lens shader for VR," says Ben, saying it creates “volume you can reach out and touch.”
Due to the technology used, Ben is confident that most 3D artists will be able to adapt to creating VR movies and animations. The software and pipelines you use now in game development and animation can be refined and applied to a VR workflow.
There are teething problems, Ben explains: “Depth of focus becomes tricky in VR. The tricks you use in film to add depth to your scene just don’t cut it in a VR movie because your eye sees what’s actually there, not what you want to trick it into believing is there.” While Great White Shark is the first VR film from Curiscope, it won’t be the last. Ben explains the team ultimately want to create an encyclopedia of VR movies on all subjects. But is this possible, will VR really take off? “Mobile has made VR incredibly accessible, with Google Cardboard and 360 video on mobile, VR is already here… the VR market is the App Store. VR is about way more than gaming.”
Ben sees VR as a way to regain viewers attention. A tweet may hold your attention for seconds, a VR movie has you hooked in its world, “I see VR as a way of undoing all of the damage done by social media,” he concludes. Watch the Great White movie here: www.vrideo.com/watch/ytzm6sa
V-ray has the right lens shader for VR... volume you can reach out and touch