The Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park - VR Walkthrough (2019) #
The Indigenous Peoples Experience (IPE) is an interactive exhibit in Alberta. At E.D. FILMS, we were tasked by Hidden Story Productions to craft animations that would span across multiple screens of various shapes and sizes. One of my major contributions to the project was to create an in-house VR tool to allow our artists to better situate themselves in a space that had not yet been constructed. This tool allows for importing animations and videos, providing a preview of how they would appear when projected onto the exhibit's walls.
In this clip, you can see the real final location blended with the VR version used for testing the animations.
An animatic created by one of the artists, presented in VR for testing.
Our animations weren't just shot on the walls of the space, but on objects like this model teepee.
The projection screens in the space were converted into masks and guides that 2D animators could import into their scenes. 3D animation could be blocked out with the projection screens as guides inside Maya scenes.
Project Director Barry Bilinsky, making use of the VR Tool at a demonstration.
This tool empowered artists to upload revised animations, track their progress at real-world scale, and facilitate crucial demonstrations for teams and stakeholders. Compatible with Oculus Quest and as a standalone 2D PC app, it enhanced their workflow significantly.