Building The World: Pandora’s Forest (Part 1)

 

Recreating Pandora’s Forest is a challenge in itself because of the high standard that was already set from the original film Avatar 2009. ^{(Film) 1} Reimagining it in virtual reality, on the other hand, gives more creative freedom. But, by doing both processes, I am synthesising the sense of familiarity with the sense of new into an experience of discovery.

Figure 1

Source Courtesy of Avatar: Polyphemus, James-Camerons-Avatar.fandom.com, 2009

For this project, I chose a few key elements and scenes from the film that have the most potential to induce the sense of familiarity. Their potential was determined by their uniqueness.  One of such scenes is the night sky with the massive planet that looks like Jupiter called “Polyphemus”. ^{Figure 1} Polyphemus means “Great Eye” in the Avatar world.²

To recreate these key elements and scenes in a VR world, I chose Unity real-time engine for setting the scenes, Blender for recreating 3D models of trees and plants, and Photoshop for photo editing.

Getting to know Unity

Figure 2

Source Courtesy of LinkedIn Learning, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Through LinkedIn Learning, ^{(Video) 3} I learned the basics of Unity to start working on the project, such as the user interface, tools, and basic coding skills. ^{(Figure 2)}

Although Unity has free assets, I knew I would also need to know how to create 3D models on my own. To do so, I chose Blender software and learned the basics of 3D modelling, texturing and importing them as assets in Unity.

Setting The Scene

The idea of Pandora’s Forest is I am trying to recreate a spacious and wild forest with unusual plants and trees in a alien world.

To set this scene, I watched a beginner tutorial and followed through the process. ^{(Video) 4} I changed a few things like the scale of the terrain to adapt to my idea of creating a big forest. Because it’s huge I started to create the terrain on a big scale. ^{(Figure 3)} I used the terrain brush to stamp and create the ground. ^{(Sources 1)} Then I textured the terrain ^{(Sources 2)} and added the grass ^{(Sources 3)} using the free assets from Unity to make it look more realistic.

Figure 3

Source Unity, Terrain, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Once I set the ground, the next thing was setting up the sky. To recreate the sky from the film, I first searched for Jupiter image. ^{(Figure 4)} Then I looked for an outer space vector to use as its background. ^{(Sources 4)}

The next step was to find a different kind of planet that will complement the Polyphemus. Using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop I created the sky by manipulating all the assets. On the Jupiter image I used hue saturation in Photoshop to change the colour. ^{(Figure 5)} By doing this I created a similar look and feel as Pandora’s night sky. ^{(Figure 6)}

Now that I had the ground and the sky set up, it was time to create the trees for the forest. I had two options, to download and import free assets from Unity or learn to create them on my own. Since this was an opportunity for me to learn, I chose to learn how to create and texturize trees in Blender by watching tutorials. ^{(Video) 5} For this project I had an idea of a bonsai-looking Japanese style tree that resembles the Tree of Souls. ^{(Figure 7)} To create a tree in Blender, I first made a digital sculpture of a tree ^{(Figure 8)} by manipulating the shapes and adding branches. Then, to make it more natural, I added the texture ^{(Source 6)} using the technique I learned from a YouTube tutorial on how to use stencil texture on your 3D asset in Blender. ^{(Video) 6} After I finished my first textured 3D model, ^{(Figure 9)} I applied these techniques with the other tree assets for the Pandora Forest. ^{(Figure 10)}

The next step was placing the tree models inside the scene in Unity.

Figure 4

Source NASA, High Resolution Globe of Jupiter, 2001

Figure 5

Source CubeMap, Pandora’s Sky, 2023

Figure 6

Source Unity, Pandora’s Sky, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 7

Source Courtesy of Avatar, Tree of Souls, James-Camerons-Avatar.fandom.com, 2009

Figure 8

Source Blender, Tree of Soul, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 9

Source Blender, Tree of Souls, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 10

Source Blender, Tree Assets, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Software’s:

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe After Effects

Unity

Blender

Visual Studio

OBS

 

 

 

List of Illustrations:

Figure 1: Avatar: Poluphemus, James-Camerons-Avatar.fandom.com, 2009 (https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Polyphemus?file=Polyphemus.jpg )

Figure 2: LinkedIn Learning, Author, Alan Thorn, Screen Shot from my PC, 2023 (https://www.linkedin.com/learning/cert-prep-unity-certified-associate-game-developer-fundamentals/testing-and-prefabs?contextUrn=urn%3Ali%3AlyndaLearningPath%3A5a147483498ef142c0e8c1ac&resume=false&u=50251009 )

Figure 3: Unity, Terrain, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 4: NASA, High Resolution Globe of Jupiter, 2001 (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/113/high-resolution-globe-of-jupiter/)

Figure 5: CubeMap, Pandora’s Sky, 2023

Figure 6: Unity, Pandora’s Sky, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 7: Avatar, Tree of Souls, James-Camerons-Avatar.fandom.com, 2009 ( https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Tree_of_Souls?file=Avatar_TWOW_ceremony_at_the_Tree_of_Souls.png )

Figure 8: Blender, Tree of Soul, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

 

List of Sources:

1.       Unity: Terrain Sample Asset Pack, Unity Technologies, 2022. (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/landscapes/terrain-sample-asset-pack-145808)

2.       Unity: Outdoor Ground Textures, A dog’s life software, 2021. (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/floors/outdoor-ground-textures-12555 )

3.       Unity: Grass Flowers Pack Free, ALP, 2019. (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/nature/grass-flowers-pack-free-138810 )

4.       Freepik: Free Vector Falling Stars on A beautiful Night Background. (https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/falling-stars-beautiful-night-background_5376553.htm#page=2&query=falling%20stars%20night&position=1&from_view=search&track=ais )

5.       Freepik: Planets in Outer Space with Satellites and Meteors Illustrations. (https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/planets-outer-space-with-satellites-meteors-illustration_6690897.htm#query=outer%20space&position=5&from_view=search&track=ais )

6.       Freepik: Relief texture of pine bark with green moss panoramic photo of a wood texture in the rays of the sun an idea for a banner background. (https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/relief-texture-pine-bark-with-green-moss-panoramic-photo-wood-texture-rays-sun-idea-banner-background_26990402.htm#page=5&query=tree%20texture&position=36&from_view=search&track=location_fest_v1 )

7.       Freepik: Realistic tree transparent set with isolated images of single trees with foliage green leaves and text vector illustration. ( https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/realistic-tree-transparent-set-with-isolated-images-single-trees-with-foliage-green-leaves-text-vector-illustration_26760512.htm#page=2&query=bush&position=10&from_view=search&track=location_fest_v1 )

References:

1. Cameron, J. (2009) Avatar Wiki (Online) Available at: https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Na%27vi (Accessed: 02^nd June 2023)
2. Cameron, J. (2009) Avatar Wiki Available at:  https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Polyphemus (Online) (Accessed: 06^nd June 2023)
3. Thorn, A. (2021) Cert Prep: Unity Certified Associate Game Developer Fundamentals. LinkedIn Learning, (Video) Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/cert-prep-unity-certified-associate-game-developer-fundamentals/testing-and-prefabs?contextUrn=urn%3Ali%3AlyndaLearningPath%3A5a147483498ef142c0e8c1ac&resume=false&u=50251009 (Accessed: 06 June 2023)
4. UGuruz, (2020) How to Make Beautiful Terrain in Unity 2020 | Beginner Tutorial. YouTube. 15 July. (Video) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddy12WHqt-M&t=1s (Accessed: 1 May 2023)
5. Grant Abitt, (2022) Easy Realist Low Poly Trees – Blender 3. YouTube. 25 March. (Video) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdTabPJuqdc&t=690s (Accessed: 2 May 2023)
6. Ryan Kind Art, (2022) Texture Paint with Images – Stencil Brush (Blender Tutorial). YouTube. 6 April. (Video) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urUdMbO4E2c (Accessed: 2 May 2023)