Open Brush
During the process of experimenting with VR Art, I first started with ‘Open Brush’. I didn’t have a clear idea in mind, so I began by trying out the different brushes that were in the software. I came across a brush called the ‘Petal’ brush which, combined with a pastel pink, created a beautiful pink petal. I decided to experiment with that brush and create something that look similar to coral, and then proceeded to recreate the shapes with different colours.
Once I had finished with the coral-like structures, I decided to paint the ground with the ‘Velvet Ink’ brush. This brush in particular had a really pretty glow to its colour and made the environment pop-out more, so I decided to use this brush with a dark purple colour to paint the ground.
When taking a look at the different brushes, I noticed that there was a ‘Stars’ brush. I selected it and tested it out, but didn’t quite like it as the stars were in motion. I wanted my environment to have a static stars, so I decided to dot them around the canvas, circling the environment, using the ‘Velvet Ink’ brush.
As I was creating the stars and dotting them around, I went around in a sphere which made me feel like I was in a snowglobe. With this idea, I decided to experiment with the ‘Snow’ brush and add them into the environment so it would appear like a snowglobe.
I also thought the environment was a little too plain with just the corals, so I decided to make a little house using the ‘Velvet Ink’ brush with a dark brown colour. Furthermore, I decorated around the little hut with grey to resemble stones and different shades of brown scattered around to represent a dirty path. I needed to angle the camera to get under the original ground so that the dirt path would seem slightly hidden beneath the snow-like ground.
For furthermore experiments, I decided to try out the ‘Meteor’ brush, but decided against it as it looked as there was too much going on in the background and looked a little out of place; but I really liked the appearance of the brush as the glowing visual effects looked really pretty.
Outcome
Reflection
I believe that ‘Open Brush’ is a great tool to use when exploring different design ideas for environments, much like I did when experimenting with the software. The canvas given to you in virtual reality grants you a large, walkable space to create whatever you wish; the immersivity of Open Brush and their variety of brushes allowed me to explore a new and exciting way of creating and designing an environment that I had never done before. I enjoyed the brushes that produced visual effects, such as the snowflakes; I thought it was a wonderful touch that added to the environment and made it feel cosy.
My main issues when using Open Brush is that I struggled with motion sickness. I needed to keep my movement minimal to reduce headaches when creating my art piece. Furthermore, I struggled to see when wearing the VR headset as I wear glasses, and the headset needed to be positioned and held up manually at a weird angle for me to see perfectly which I couldn’t do because I need both hands to use the VR headset; this made the VR experience less enjoyable as everything within the VR was extremely blurry.
Shapes XR
The next task was a group task within Shapes XR. As I had missed the lab session for the group work, I had to create my own project individually.
I started up Shapes XR and took a look at the menu which gave me a lot of different options to choose from. As suggested by the name, majority of them were shapes that we could insert into the scene. I decided to create something simple such as a studio apartment.
I originally wanted to create a loft apartment, but realised that it would have a lot of empty space as there wasn’t a lot of options for furniture to choose from. By looking at the current options at hand, I decided to just stick with one floor as I couldn’t find any kitchen or bathroom furniture to decorate the place with.
Outcome
Reflection
I enjoyed experimenting with Shapes XR as it felt like I was playing Sims when I was decorating the studio apartment and adjusting the colours of the objects; however, as mentioned previously, I did struggle with seeing as the scene looked very blurry when using the VR headset. As shown in the outcome images, some of the objects aren’t placed properly and angled weird, because I couldn’t see that it was positioned off.
Furthermore, I struggled a little with manoeuvring the repositioning of the objects and thought that resizing and rotation proved slightly difficult. Despite being unable to see during the most part of the process, I can imagine that Shapes XR is a great tool for designing purposes especially when working together as a team.
Gravity Sketch
For the last group task, we were asked to create something within Gravity Sketch; again, I had missed this lab session so I ended up completing this task individually.
During the process of using Gravity Sketch, I first decided to experiment with the different brushes that were available to me before choosing a brush that I particularly liked and began creating my design.
Outcome
Reflection
As mentioned previously, I struggled to see with the VR headset on; therefore, the outcome of my creation looks slightly off. Despite this, I enjoyed experimenting with the brushes and testing out the different options that Gravity Sketch had within their brushes settings such as ‘reflective’ and flat’.
I switched from the default ‘basic’ option and experimented with the ‘gloss’ option for the broth to create a shine to the paint then switched back to the basic material for the rest of things that needed added.
Conclusion
Throughout the process of working with a VR headset, I struggle with motion sickness and needed to keep my movements to a minimum to reduce headaches. Alongside the motion sickness, everything was incredibly blurry so I couldn’t see what I was doing.
Despite this, I can see how these types of mediums can be used to create an immersive experience within virtual reality. I feel as thought there is a similarity between Open Brush and Gravity Sketch as you’re able to paint within a 3D space in both of these programs; however, the distinct difference between the two is the varying brush types such as visual effects added to the brushes within Open Brush, which is something I found extremely engaging to experiment with.
In their own respective mediums, each of them can be used as a form of immersive storytelling. Within the open space, you can create painted environments with visual effects that tells a narrative to draw the user into the virtual reality, as well as introducing 3D models to produce an immersive virtual reality experience. Within VR, the distance between user to object replicates how people perceive space within the real world which helps to accentuates the illusion of being present in the virtual environment, which makes for an immersive experience as being within the virtual space feels natural to them, just like in real life.
However, I don’t plan on using these mediums for my final project; although I enjoyed experimenting with the VR software, I struggle with motion sickness so I don’t think it would be a suitable idea for me to create something using a VR headset.