An immersive video experience designed to evoke the feeling of being on a motion simulator ride. This project was created using Unreal Engine 5, Cinema 4D, and Mixamo.
Ideation
Mind Map
Once I decided I wanted to make a simulated ride experience, I mapped out what each aspect of this project would entail.
Early Sketches
Some obstacles I imagined taking place on this pirate island were: a skeleton chase, where living skeletons charge at the viewer, a cave leading into a volcano that erupts and spews out the vessel riders are on, and a waterfall drop that makes people feel like they are experiencing a roller-coaster type drop.
Developmental Stages
The first step of this project was gathering the tools and 3D assets I'd rely on for the next few months. I knew early on I would be using Unreal Engine because of its capability for running large projects. I used a free low-poly assets package I found on the Unreal Marketplace to build my ride environment.
Environment building was the predominant part of this project. Assembling 3D assets like Legos in order to bring my idea to life required a lot of building and rebuilding, trial and error, and consistent effort.
Once the island and surrounding area had started to take shape, I began animating a camera that would serve as the viewer's eyes on this ride. This step of the process proved to be the most challenging, and most rewarding aspect of this project. Getting the movement of the camera to match what I had envisioned proved to be harder than I expected, but after I switched to a more minimalist key-framing approach, the process went a lot more smoothly.
As I refined the camera movement, I continued to add more assets to the areas surrounding the camera view. Once the camera track was set, I then added some action animations from Mixamo to a skeleton 3D model I found on Turbosquid, and imported those animations into UE5 and placed them onto the ride track area. I then tweaked their placements with respect to the camera, to create a realistic sense of chaos and danger.
An additional aspect of this project was testing it with an actual motion simulating seat I had access to at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I used UE5 Blueprints and Max 8 to link the movement of my camera in Unreal to the movement of "The Chair."
Final Touches
The final touches on this project included adding warning signs along the riders' way. I went into Cinema4D and made some wood board signs using Redshift textures, and C4D text features. I exported these 3D assets as fbx. files and then imported them into my project in Unreal Engine.
Once the visuals of the ride were complete, I made a note of all the sound effects I would need (i.e. bubbling lava, running water, battle screams). I then went onto FreeSound and searched for available sounds that matched the scene. This was one of my favorite aspects of the project because it allowed me to exercise my creativity and resourcefulness when finding sounds that could resemble the different elements of this ride. I gathered foley sounds, then imported my project video into Reaper and synced the sound effects with the footage. From there I adjusted the audio so it could sound the way I envisioned.
[Screengrab of my Reaper workspace.]
Installation
This project was meant to be experienced in conditions that most resembled being seated in a motion simulation ride at your nearest theme park. Given that I did not have the same resources as most theme parks, I had to get creative and make some changes. I had initially intended to have my ride footage projected onto a wall or some other large surface, but after much discussion with my mentors, opted for a large television instead. Because the motion simulation chair could not be transported to the location of the IDM Showcase, I had to scrap its involvement in my installation and switch to a more analog approach.
Final Cut