Three Little Pigs VR 360 video learning project part 2

Mostly finished the three little pigs VR 360 video project now. Main goal was to learn how to use Unity Timeline and unity Recorder. I think I have a basic grasp of how to use them so I'll move on to my next learning project.At this point I'll spend one more evening adding some details to make it visually look better but not going to dedicate too much time to it. 

Learning points :

• Each character and asset adds a pretty significant chunk of time - modeling and then UV mapping it takes quite a lot of time.
• Unity timeline - works a little differently from what I'm used to with video editing. 
• Blender - Learned how to do basic modeling and UV unwrapping. Can also create fracture of 3d models now too. 
• Unity recorder - need to turn off stereo recording if you want one video that has 360 viewing on youtube upload. Also need to make sure to tag the camera with "main camera". 
  
  

Project challenges

• Unity recorder can only record at 60 fps
• Unity timeline - synching events with audio is tough because although you can preview animations on the timeline, it doenst play sound at the same time. 

I'll revisit this project again in the future to do the touch up and deal with things like :

• Lighting
• Special effects
• Sound effects
• Character placement 
• Character animation
• Character model upgrade

Three Little Pigs VR 360 Learning Project

The Three Little Pigs is my first VR 360 video story telling project and I'm working on keeping it simple to learn the basics. I want to create the minimum assets needed to complete this project and have created a game design/ project outline. The main learning goal of this project is going to be learning unity Timeline and maybe a bit of Cinemachine.

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Game Design Document

A short story 2 minutes that tells the story of the three little pigs. Characters will be miniature figurines with wood texture. 

Assets

• Script/Story Board - 1 days
• Timeline - 2 days 
• Models -  7 days
• (3)Three Little pigs - 
• (1)Big Bad Wolf
• (1)Straw house
• (1)Wood house
• (1)Brick house
• Character Animation - Blender - 4 days
• Audio Sounds effects/ Audio Recording - 1 day
• Unity - Putting it together - 3 days

Total days = 18 days

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As I'm working on creating the 1st asset, Piggy1 model  I'm learning that uv wrapping and texturing is what I'm most unfamiliar with and takes the most time. This is an area that could use some additional training and learning. 

I haven't started learning how to do animations yet but I think it'll take focus on learning that in the future. 

Since the model won't be moving I'll change the character models to look like wooden figurines and this should justify the stiff model animation and save me time.

My first VR Scene | VR storytelling

So its been three months since I bought the Oculus GO and started my attempts at learning how to create VR experiences. Here's my first recorded VR 360 video uploaded onto Youtube.


It's based on a pixel picture of me and Queenie that I had made a few years back. Pretty excited since I feel like this is my first step towards VR story telling.

For my next learning project, I'm going to try and create a short story version of the three little pigs.

Programs used :
Unity - Game engine
Unity Recorder - To record the 360 video
Gimp - Image editing
Blender - 3D modeling.

What I learned from starting a YouTube channel

CreateBonds my YouTube Channel on Relationships

How it began

At the beginning of this year I made it a goal to launch a YouTube channel called CreateBonds focused on relationships. I bought some online courses to learn the basics of how to do it, listen to podcasts and eventually launched it halfway through the year with a goal of making 26 videos which represents a video a week for the remaining half of the year.

Here are the key lessons that I learned from starting a YouTube channel.

You’ve been approaching gifts wrong your whole life.

Here’s how you can consistently give the perfect gift.

Tired of shopping for hours at the mall and not finding anything? Can’t think of anything surprising to give to the lovely women in your life? I’ve struggled with that too and especially during Christmas.

It’s not easy finding a gift you think someone will like and in fact surveys by the national retail federation in the US expect something between 40-50% to return at least one holiday gift every year ? Did you also know that up to a 1/3rd of people end up re-gifting gifts based on a survey by American Express ?

That’s what makes the findings from this gift-giving research so interesting. What type of present best shows that you care? Should you give them a surprising gift or just give them something that they have mentioned on their wish list? 

Photo : Flickr/ FutUndBeidl

The Study on Gift Giving

Researchers did a series of studies on gift giving where participants imagined either they were trying to find a present for their partners or were receiving a gift. 

Very commonly, when the majority of participants took on the role of the gift giver they believed that they should come up with a surprising gift that wasn’t on their partners wish list. The reasoning behind this is that by coming up with their own present that they think they would like, it would show that they are more thoughtful and caring and thus more appreciative. 

Turns out this isn’t true.

The Secret to the Perfect Gift

When participants take on the role of receiving the gift, they were actually more appreciative and see it as more thoughtful when you get them exactly what they requested on their wish list. That means if they share with you what they want as a present, you should get them exactly that.

That means if you don’t really need to shop for hours in the mall guessing at what you think they might like. Can’t think of something surprising to get for them? Don’t worry about it and instead focus on getting them to tell you exactly what they would like and then get it for them. 

Surprise is overrated and you’ll be rated as more thoughtful and caring and thus more appreciated if you get them the exact gift they wanted. Best of all? The research finds that this applies to non-romantic relationships as well so it doesn’t matter whether it’s your best friend or even brother or sister.

Videos on creative gift giving

If you still want to add some creativity and make your gifts more special, check out the gift section of my YouTube channel where I share simple ways you can make any gifts more amazing. Most of them won’t cost you a thing.




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Youtube Channel on Gift ideas
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhzLJZAV-UECCJAsLZNq3X-SVDOKWhXlE

CreateBonds Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/CreateBonds

To see more videos like this, visit my channel at :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1846jphp3jWutMDB_KqLog/videos

Email me for ideas or help
Steviee.vu+createbonds@gmail.com

Gift by Nicolò Bertoncin from the Noun Project
https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=present&i=105032

Research Study
Gino, F., & Flynn, F. J. (2011). Give them what they want: The benefits of explicitness in gift exchange. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 915-922Photo :