Planning
When I started planning for my Dream holiday destination 3D model, my initial thoughts for the project were something along the lines of a desert island. When I began planning the project outcome, I had only just finished modelling my first few objects with Maya and I wasn’t feeling very confident in my ability, so I went with something I thought I could easily manage that fit the theme. But my dream destination wasn’t anything to do with a deserted island, it was a cliché, and I didn’t feel really motivated by it. With encouragement I realised it would be more fitting to pick something closer to my own destination idea. I decided that I should try to pick something that would push me and challenge my skills more.
This is my initial mood board for ideas;
I was most interested in some sort of Sci-Fi design, something that gave cyberpunk and a neo-Tokyo atmosphere. I looked to inspiration from one of my favourite films with this aesthetic; Ghost in the shell. I also pulled inspiration from video games such as Portal.
I decided to take a little spin on the idea of the “Ideal / dream holiday destination” as ideas for the project were developing. What if the dream holiday destination for the subject of my scene is actual virtual? What if we cant see the actual destination itself at all, and the scene is the view of the subject experiencing that destination virtually. This seemed like a fitting idea as I could do some sort of Virtual reality headset and setup taking inspiration from my real life passion of technology, hardware and VR stuff in general. So I came up with the idea to have a view into the world of a subject character immersed in a “virtual dream destination” that they are in, but from the perspective of seeing them in their real world and not actually getting to see the destination they are in.
First concepts
After some planning I decided to do some test modelling of the scene and its composition. I was struggling with visualising what I wanted exactly just through sketches on paper, so I decided to use some 3D modelling sketching to help. To get something done quickly, I decided to use Gravity Sketch in VR, which would allow me to quickly place shapes with an accessible sense of the space. After some time working on designs, this is what I came up with;
These images are the finished model from Gravity sketch which I brought into Maya. I added some lighting for these final renders. This gave me a nice original reference for my outcome. From here I could start modelling things for it; a VR headset, controllers, some sort of character, a robotic arm and lots of wires, a computer with monitors…
During planning, I drew some sketches for these items, including these which show the VR headset concept ideas;
I needed a subject for this scene. In my test model, I just used a prefab mannequin, but I wanted something relevant and fitting for the scene. I decided to pick a premade model as I wasn’t super confident in my own abilities at the time and I didn’t think I would have the time for an original character as well as the rest of the scene. For something VR related and close to home, I decided to use my own personal VR avatar that I use online. It has a more cartoon, animated style, but I thought it would fit with the more low poly look I was going for. This is the model I used;
Modelling
So to get started modelling, I decided go with the VR headset and controllers that would be on the character. I based the controllers on real life controllers, ones that I happened to have in person, which helped me model them. I based the headset more loosely on a variety of real life headsets, but more heavily incorporating some of my early test sketches.
These images are the final models in the finished scene which is why they are shaded and posed, and the headset is already connected to the robotic arm from the scene. I didn’t have any images from earlier in the modelling for these elements. I also have the trackers, which are inspired by real life full body tracking in VR, which I modelled base on real life trackers too.
Then I had to scale and place the VR hardware on the character, and here you can see the final pose of the character and the elements on their body. I used the models armature to pose it and put it into a position that fit the theme and idea of the scene. I put them in a stance with their arms raised, as if they are engaging with the world that they are immersed in.
From here I added the robotic arm that plugs into the VR headset, that connects to the ceiling. I used large blocks and photo references to position and scale the different parts for their final placement. I also don’t have images from earlier in the arms development, but this is the finished arm in relation to the character;
Then I created the computer, monitors and desk they are on;
Next was the complex mesh of wires that were strewn around the room. I wanted a lot of wires to be hanging from the ceiling and coming out of the back of the headset. To create and plan out these wires, I used editable curves in orthographic views to place them in the scene. There ended up being a lot of wires and it was a very time consuming process to place all the curves, extrude them all and make sure everything lined up and was placed realistically. There ended up being three major groups; the wires coming out of the headset, the wires hanging from the ceiling and those leading from the ceiling to the PC.
For all of the shading on the objects, I used the Hypershader to create my own materials. I ended up make a lot of custom materials, all with differing properties based on all the different objects. It was time consuming but fun and really brought life the the models.
Scene building
The final steps in the model were the room to contain all of the scene, and some sort of exterior. In my original plan I wanted to have a futuristic city scape framed by a large window in the room. It took a long time to work out how to pull this off, I tried using flat images, 3D models of cities, large cubes textured. In the end I decided I would use premade assets based on how much time was left for the assignment. This meant the only thing I didn’t model was the character and the view outside the window of the room, which I was comfortable with as a compromise.
I modelled the room using a basic cube that I had been using as a scale reference for all of the wires and parts of the room. I fleshed it out with a few details like lights and shelves, and I put a lip on the window.
For the outside, I places a few large cubes and used the framing of the window from inside the room to adjust their composition. I used some building fronts from models I found online to cover the cubes, and lit them with some large area light from various angles.
With all of this together, the final model was done;
Here is the final model with lighting;
Presenting the model
After finishing the model and lighting, I went on to animate a few things. I wanted to have an in Maya engine animation, as I didn’t have the time or PC power to render out a decent length animation. But for the moment I have made a camera animation. I used a curve to create a rail for the camera to travel on. I used a camera and view rig to be able to move the camera through the scene and to aim the camera as it moves. I used the graph editor to animate the camera for a 45 second clip that shows of the model.
I also added some animation to some of the wires hanging from the ceiling using a curve deformation and infinite oscillation;
Final renders
After the animation, I went on to finish the project with some final renders (these get heavily compressed by the blog);
Project overview
Reflecting on the project, there are a lot of things I would like to have done but made compromises for or ran out of time to do;
I wanted to have more detail in the room, like more objects on the shelves, posters on the walls, chairs and other things that busy a room. I just ran out of time to model more, and didn’t want to clutter the model with assets made by other people, so I decided it would be best to present what I have made with a more clean and less busy look.
More wires! I shiver at the thought, but I would have like to have more dense groups of wires, as the final look was a little too sparse compared to what I originally envisioned, but I think the way it ended up being presented stands well on its own too.
I would have loved to have rendered out a full animation, but due to time constraints and access to computing power, I just didn’t have the time to have one rendered for the deadline. Perhaps in the future I will come back and render out a few sequences demoing the model.
I also wanted to add more animated elements in the scene. For example perhaps a flying car going past the window, a flickering light or something displayed on the screens.
I also really wanted to animate the character in the scene, with the whole robotic arm linked to the VR headset following the movement of the character. This ended up being too ambitious for me at the time of making the model and I wouldn’t have had time to do this for the deadline. In the future, when I get more accommodated with animating humanoid rigs in Maya and creating custom rigs for handmade objects, I would like to come back to this and try animating the character and the robot arm how I originally pictured it.
Finally I would have liked to have modelled the character in the scene myself, creating an original character for the theme and scene. I sadly just didn’t have the time or the skill at the start of the project to take on something like that, but I look forward to attempting it, and character design as a whole, in a future project.
I really enjoyed this project. It taught me a lot of new and really fun skills, not just in modelling but in a whole field of 3D practices, and also time management! I got a lot out of making my ideas come to life, in the high definition that the final renders provide. I am proud of the outcome, and pleased that I pushed myself, going out of my comfort zone with the project idea.