3D Environment Design
Applications Used:
The goal of this project was to design and produce a 3D digital environment which is constructed around a specific interaction or event from my past that is meaningful to me.
After careful consideration I decided to build a 3D environment based on Japan. This was because ever since froma young age I have always loved Japanese culture.
Therefore I decided to recreate the Japanese Fushimi Inari Shrine. More specifically the Torii gate walk. I have visited this shrine in person and was absolutely amazed by how beautiful it was.
What was meaningful to me was the 2 weeks I had spent in Japan for a school trip. Learning about their culture up close felt very rewarding and inspirational making it one of the best 2 weeks of my life. As it was my first time using Unity, I wanted to challenge myself and capture the beautiful essence of the shrine to the best of my abilities.
For the project I needed to decide on a few key interaction that will be implemented in my environment.
Affordances - The total range of possible interactions that can occur between an object and agent. The main affordance I will be utilising is the act of walking underneath the Torii Gates as you follow the pathway towards the top.
Signifiers - How you can communicate with the user on how they should interact with the object or system. The signifiers I will utilise is the first Torii Gate that excites users to continue along that pathway.
Constraints - How we can limit the behaviours and actions of users when they interact with the environment. For my constraits I will like to keep users walking on the pathway as I believe it will be a better experience to walk along the path and see everything that is planned.
To begin creating my environment I dowloaded free Unity assets that I believe I could use. These assets included the Torii Gates, different varieties of sakura trees, and human interactivity.
Once assets had been decided began fleshing out the terrain, which I found very difficult. Using the terrain tool to create the mountain and pathway aling it was really difficult as it always seemed like the area was either too tall or too short.
2 main assets were then incorporated after. The sakura trees and a waterfall. The Sakura trees were meant to be the main attraction of the environment as it really strengthens the Japanese theme that I was aiming for. The leftside of my environment felt very empty and spacious so I also incorporated a waterfall in order to create another space where users can walk and enjoy.
In additon to the trees and waterfalls, I also added figures of people. This helped make the environment feel more lively. The idea of the environment was to be a Japanese temple, and Japanese temples are always lively filled with visiting tourist or locals.
Making the skybox setting into a sunrise complimented the vibe of the area as if the tourist and locals were starting their days at shrine praying for good luck.
A video was created to showcase my environment.
However different interactions and sounds needed to be incorporated first:
The moment you spawn you will hear the sound of wind blowing signalling that it is a windy day
While walking near the group of people in waiting at the food stores you will hear a lot of people talking at once. This makes it feel as if the people there are real
If you we to walk infront or next to the cars on the road they will give off the sound of a horn blasting as if they are telling you to get out of the way.
If you were to click on each bike the make the sound of a bell
If you were to click on the motorbikes they will make the sound of a motorbike horn
The closer you get to the bottom of the waterfall the louder you will hear the sound of water rushing down
If you click on the temple the sound of a temple bell will be played.