Building The World: Pandora’s Forest (Part 4)

 

In the previous blogs I mentioned all the assets I created in Blender and the free assets I used to create this Sci-fi world Pandora’s Forest. In this blog I will talk about the updates of this project. One thing I realised while testing was that the Ovoshroom texture was having an issue. ^{(Figure 1)} It has some lines that are visible in Unity scene view. I checked a video tutorial that helped me understand blender texturing and why it is happening inside the game engine. ^{(Video) 1} Apparently when you are at a distance from the model the texture line becomes more visible but when you’re near it disappears. By adding bleed, it fixed the issue of the lines.

Figure 1

Source Blender, Ovoshroom Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 2

Source Unity, Glowing Plants, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Then I added some colliders to test an interaction with the plants I learned from the tutorial. ^{(Video) 2} It is supposed to make the plant sway as I pass near it, but it is not working in the way I imagined it. ^{(Figure 2)} I will still look for a better solution but for now I let this fern to be just a plant in the background, without interaction.

Figure 3

Source Unity, Interactivity with Ovoshroom, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Next was to add interactivity such as grabbing the mushrooms. ^{(Figure 3)} This will make the participants grab or hold the mushrooms. I will add later the collecting functionality while walking on the main path of the forest that is leading to the Tree of Souls. I learned this functionality from Valem Tutorial on YouTube who has an abundance of tutorials in building your own VR game. ^{(Video) 3} It took me some time to understand this functionality, so I checked other tutorials to give me more information about how it works, and I found this short and quick tutorial that helped me understand how Unity works. ^{(Video) 4}

Another additional plant I added is this fern. ^{(Figure 4) (Source 1)} I watched Avatar ^{(Film) 5} again and I saw Pandora has some normal plants like ferns in the background that are not glowing. I also added normal ferns to the scene, and it gives a feeling of the wild forest where ferns grow from the ground or even on the trees. I created these ferns in Blender, and I used the same technique that I used for the trees and glowing plants. ^{(Video) 6}

Figure 4

Source Blender, Fern, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

For my next interactivity in Pandora’s Forest, the participant will interact with the virtual world by cutting bamboo on the way. I made bamboo in Blender using a simple image I edit it in photoshop to make it look like a bamboo texture (Source 6) for this interactivity and incorporated it into Unity. ^{(Figure 5)} I placed them on the way to block the way, and by doing this the participant needs to do something to remove the obstacle. ^{(Figure 6)} This creates an experience where the participants are drawn in to be a part of the virtual world. I started to test this interactivity in Unity. I followed this tutorial from Valem Tutorials to incorporate them into my scene. ^{(Video) 7 (Source 2 & 3)} Even though I followed the tutorials carefully there were a few issues that occurred. The first thing I experienced was that the cutting was not working but instead it made the bamboo disappear. So, I tested many theories why this was happening to the object. Some objects can be cut but the bamboo I wanted to cut was not. I tried putting different objects and then I tested the functionality. It was still not working. Then I tested it again, and it worked. I managed to cut the bamboo simply by putting it outside the parent object. I don’t know why, but it worked.

Figure 5

Source Unity, Bamboo, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 6

Unity, Interactivity with cutting, Testing Phase, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 7

Source Unity, Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

The next thing was to create a plant that produces sharp spikes that can cut the bamboo and I called it Spiky Reclinata. ^{(Figure 7)} The idea of Spiky Reclinata is from the original Avatar plant flora called Flaska Reclinata. ⁸ I created this plant to add an interaction for the participants and make it look more like a fantasy world. I created all the elements in Blender. I first started from the flower petals below the plant. ^{(Figure 8)} Then I created the middle part that holds the sharp spikes and textured it in Blender. ^{(Figure 9) )} I covered the body with moss texture to give that the plant is old. ^{(Source 5)} Then I created the spiky parts separately to easily put them one by one in the scene and make all the spikes interactable. I added the glowing effect in Unity. ^{(Figure 10)} In case the spikes drop, fly, or disappear, the participants will still have a spare one to use for cutting the bamboo.

Figure 8

Source Blender, Petals for Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 9

Source Blender, Middle part of Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 10

Source Blender, Sharp Spikes for Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Now that all the elements were in place, I still felt that something was missing. When I tested the Virtual World, it took me right away to the forest. So, I added a landing place where the participants can have an option menu. ^{(Figure 11)} There is a start button which will take the participant go straight to the forest, or they can also check the about section to get more information about this Virtual Reality experience and the exit button if they wish to exit the Virtual Reality.

Figure 11

Source Unity, Start Menu, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

To create this scene, I needed to learn how to add stages and how to connect them to each other. This is something new for me since I just started working in Unity. I learned this technique from RealaryVR a YouTube tutorial. ^{(Video) 10} I created a scene with relevant elements like trees, mushrooms, grass, fogs, fireflies, and the sacred tree from afar. This scene serves like a teaser for participants and gives them a glimpse of what they can expect to see in this experience.

As this project is a fan art inspired by Avatar film, I wanted the new participants to realize that from the start. That’s why in the floating menu I added the Pandora’s Forest title, using a similar font as the original Avatar film. I used the Toruk Font. ^{(Source 4)} This will create a sense of familiarity to those who watched the film, and for those who didn’t, it will at least provide them with a label to which they can connect their VR experience and reflect on later if they decide to watch the film.

YouTube became my go to place for tutorials because it provides short and straightforward content from other creators. It helps to make my editing process faster and I learned a lot from different channels that I mentioned in this and previous blogs.

Here is the link for my Video Recording:

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/Second%20Recording%20-%20Final%20Project/1_gd4tainy

Software’s:

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Unity

Blender

Visual Studio

PowerPoint

Wacom

List of Illustrations:

Figure 1: Blender, Ovoshroom, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 2: Unity, Glowing Plants, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 3: Unity, Interactivity with Ovoshroom, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 4: Blender, Fern, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 5: Unity, Bamboo, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 6: Unity, Interactivity with cutting, Testing Phase, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 7: Unity, Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 8: Blender, Petals for Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 9: Blender, Middle part of Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 10: Blender, Sharp Spikes for Spiky Reclinata, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

Figure 11: Unity, Start Menu, Screen Shot from my PC 2023

List of Sources:

1.       Freepik: Set of Vintage Fern Leaves  Vector, rawpixels.com. (https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/set-vintage-fern-leaves-vector_16174761.htm#query=ferns&position=0&from_view=search&track=location_fest_v1 )

2. Valem Tutorials: VelocityEstimator C# Code. For cutting object interactable. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1weQYzRNKnuq4ADg9K5mjC574dPECrq5i/view )

3.       Ezy Slice: Easy Slice Mesh for VR Unity, David Arayan.

(https://github.com/DavidArayan/ezy-slice )

 

4.       Font: TorukSC Font, NubeFonts. 29 April 2022

(https://www.fontspace.com/toruk-sc-font-f78460 )

 

5.       Freepik: Free Photo Moss on Tree Trunk, topntp26. (https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/moss-tree-trunk_1179510.htm#&position=0&from_view=search&track=ais )

 

6.       Freepik: Texture of wood pattern background, aopsan. (https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/texture-wood-pattern-background_1273844.htm#&position=0&from_view=search&track=ais  )

 

References:

1. Video – Grant Abbitt (2019) Blunderbuss – Texture Painting Setup = Island margin – Part 8. YouTube. 19 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnOgREqBHlk  (Accessed:12 May 2023)
2. Video – TheBebua (2019) Unity3D – How to make plants with physics. YouTube. 11 July. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfuDzTBqeiw (Accessed:17 May 2023)
3. Video – Valem Tutorials (2022) How to make a VR Game in Unity 2022 – Part 5 – Hover, Grab and Use Interactable. YouTube. 22 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xt6dACM_1I (Accessed:20 May 2023)
4. Video – Muddy Wolf (2023) Grab Objects in Unity VR using Unity – Grab / Simple Interactables. YouTube. 17 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyhNnbZR28I&t=403s  (Accessed:24 May 2023)
5. Film - Avatar (2009) Directed by J. Cameron [DVD] United States. 2oth Centuries Studio.
6. Video – Grant Abitt, (2022) Easy Realist Low Poly Trees – Blender 3. YouTube. 25 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdTabPJuqdc&t=690s (Accessed: 2 May 2023)
7. Video – Valem Tutorials, (2023) How to Slice in VR – Unity XR Tutorial. YouTube. 23 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQzW6ZJFQ94&t=337s  (Accessed: 8 June 2023)
8. Cameron, J. (2022) Pandorapedia. Avatar.com. 20^th Century Studios. Available at: https://www.avatar.com/pandorapedia/flaska-reclinata#:~:text=The%20flaska%20reclinata%20is%20one,watery%20liquid%20that%20accumulates%20inside. (Accessed: 10 June 2023)
9. Video – Atti, (2023) Make This in Blender in 20 Minutes. YouTube. 14 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApJx_uM7TM  (Accessed: 14 June 2023)
10. Video – RealaryVR (2021) Unity VR Development for Oculus Quest: Main Menu. YouTube. 7 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhz7cW5dbyY&t=7s (Accessed: 22 June 2023)