VR/AR/MR
“I wanted the environments to feel like you’d stepped into a movie. An effect of that was to create pretty complex and rich environments. People would be dropped into that environment, and it took them a while to get acclimatized. They’d spend a lot of time looking around. We found that one of the first challenges was making sure that they were actually paying attention when our character started talking to them!” —Ben Snow, Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM story and up the chain at Lucasfilm,” recounts Snow, “everyone got it and said, yes, it’s going to be so much better if you’re the main character in the story.” MAKING AN IMMERSIVE AND ENGAGING STORY
RAMPING UP THE INTERACTIVITY FOR VADER IMMORTAL IN VR By IAN FAILES
All images courtesy of ILMxLAB. TOP: A scene from Episode 1 of Vader Immortal delivers the user right into the action.
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When Lucasfilm launched its immersive studio ILMxLAB in 2015, it quickly found new ways to tell interactive stories using VR, AR, immersive and real-time rendering techniques. ILMxLAB has capitalized, of course, on the artistic and technical skills of those already at ILM and Lucasfilm, delivering, in particular, experiences that are based on existing film properties. One of those experiences is Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series. Written by David S. Goyer and directed by veteran ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Ben Snow, Vader Immortal was released in three parts for the Oculus Quest and Rift VR headsets. Unlike many VR experiences where users are a passive observer of the action, here they are also a player via the VR goggles and touch controllers. Interestingly, a Darth Vader VR project had initially been imagined at ILMxLAB as more of a passive experience. But after some very positive reactions to more interactive immersive VR experiences that the studio had worked on, including Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire and CARNE y ARENA, ILMxLAB changed tact. A small prototype of what eventually became the cell scene in Vader Immortal was developed in which the characters in the story engaged the user directly. “When we showed that prototype to David and our head of
With that new approach determined, Snow and his story team – which included Goyer, Mohen Leo and Colin Mackie – set out to tell a tale of the user as the lead protagonist, interacting with Vader on Mustafar and eventually confronting him in a lightsaber showdown. Along the way, the ILMxLAB team also needed to solve many of the challenges that come with VR experiences, ranging from how to lead the user in a 360-degree world, to how to move through to various levels and locations. One of the very specific challenges came from the desire to realize the VR world of Vader Immortal with film-quality visual effects. “I wanted the environments to feel like you’d stepped into a movie,” observes Snow. “An effect of that was to create pretty complex and rich environments. People would be dropped into that environment, and it took them a while to get acclimatized. They’d spend a lot of time looking around. We found that one of the first challenges was making sure that they were actually paying attention when our character started talking to them!” The solution came in the form of designing sets and lighting
TOP: Episode 2 features a lightsaber dojo battle. MIDDLE: An interactive moment from Episode 2 involving a Darkghast creature living in the caverns of planet Mustafar. BOTTOM LEFT: Users take on a number of droids in Episode 2. BOTTOM RIGHT: One of the many characters users encounter in the VR experience: the Priestess.
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