Archive notice: This article was originally published on January 12, 2016. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The free Virtual Reality Guide is intended to help artists create a successful VR project with pre-rendered content and V-Ray.
Guide Content
The guide first presents the pitfalls associated with VR as well as research and production findings on the subject—right through to step-by-step instructions for creating VR stills and videos. The guide also answers specific questions such as: what the differences are between current headsets, where to position your camera for an optimal VR experience, and how to ensure that VR users of the content do not feel sick.
Team
The paper was written by a trio of artists with extensive experience in VFX and architectural visualization: Christopher Nichols (Director of Chaos Group Labs), Justin Denton (VFX supervisor of Legend3D’s VR Division), and Kim Baumann Larsen (architect and current Creative Director for The World Building Institute).
Because the number of VR applications is currently nearliy exploding and, for many, it is the most exciting production opportunity in a long time, the team wanted to provide a snapshot of current best practices for the medium that both new and experienced users could make use of. The team intends to update the VR guide regularly in the future and adapt it to changing VR findings.
Example Projects
The guide also provides two example projects showing how existing content can be transformed into a VR experience. The two architectural visualization works are by Aldo Garcia (Tadao Ando’s “Church on the Water” and Bernard Benoit’s reconstruction of the Salle Labrouste reading room at the Bibliothèque nationale de France).
The VR guide can be downloaded from the Chaos Group website.
