Developing for Virtual Reality
Embodied Labs is a small startup company that builds empathy training labs for current and future physicians and caretakers. Viewed through the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headsets, the labs use VR to put users very literally into the shoes of a patient.
Over the summer of 2019, I worked as a contract medical animator with Embodied as they produced a lab telling the story of a transgender woman. I worked primarily on pre-production and production stages of a 360º animation describing the effects of hormone therapy.
Pre-Production
I was first tasked with creating a 360º storyboard based on a script developed by the creative director, Eva Mae Baucom. Once the storyboard was finalized, I used the preliminary assets I’d developed to create an animatic; this was passed on to other members of the production team so the script could be recorded with appropriate timing.
A sampling of scenes from the 360º storyboard. The first column shows a roughed-out overhead view of the scene. The second demonstrates the view directly in front of the user, with the dotted lines marking the periphery of view. The third column shows the environment behind the user.
Asset Production
My first challenge was the creation of male and female figures with morpher animations that would demonstrate the physical changes caused by hormone therapy. Models and morph states were first built in ZBrush, then imported into 3ds Max for animation. The animated models could then be used in Unity as blendshapes.
A demonstration of the Morpher modifier applied in 3ds Max.
I also built assets for a separate animation on fetal sexual differentiation in utero. These included an embryo at 6 weeks, an early fetus at 12 weeks, and a more developed fetus at 28 weeks.
While Embodied Labs’ previous works had primarily utilized 3D models and live action, the creative team was interested in developing a 2D animation style that could be integrated with the 3D animation sequences. I was tasked with developing a 2D style that could be replicated across future training modules.
Scene Setup in Unity
When asset creation for the animated scenes was finished, I began building assets and developing the living room setup in Unity. I created a number of simple furniture items, for which materials were determined later by another artist.
