Working with Scientists in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
In partnership with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, we harnessed emerging technology to create immersive experiences to illustrate how the climate crisis is effecting habitats across the world.
USC Trojan Family: Stunning Virtual Reality Project Takes You to the Arctic — and Into Climate Change
DESIGN CHALLENGES
1. Design the VR/AR experience based on a museum diorama
2. The information in the experience must have scientific evidence
3. No animal animations involved
WEBSITE https://beyondthediorama.com/
STEAM HERE
TEAM SIZE(VR) - Eight
DEVELOPMENT DURATION - Three Months (Part-Time)
EXPERIENCE TYPE - Scientific Narrative VR Sitting Experience
TOOL - Unreal/Quixel Megascan/Cinema 4D/Zbrush
MY ROLE
Creative Director/Lead Experience Designer
/Producer /Programmer
Researched with scientists to find pieces of evidence of the feedback loop from climate change to caribou in Alaska
Collaborated with journalists team to create and craft the script
Designed the high-level and low-level VR/AR experience based on the real diorama in NHM
Led a VR team of eight to implement the experience in Unreal
Using the latest technology, USC students — in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) — produced this immersive experience that allows you to step into a diorama and experience the climate crisis in a new way.
- Creating Process -
Taxidermist Tim Bovard in NHM is helping us taking photos of the main caribou from different angles
Using Leica Scanner BLK 365 to scan the diorama
Tim Bovard is introducing us about the diorama
Taking photos from the front side
Making a real diorama into the virtual space
The high-level process looks very simple. However it took us very long time to figure out the suitable software to deal with the pipeline.
High-level process of converting
Covert pointcloud into meshes
How can we create a climate change experience base on it?
We want to find if there was any connection between caribou and climate change.
So we interviewed:
Dr. Kayce Bell - biologist at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Dr. Victoria Petryshyn - faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program at USC
Eric Hoberg - field biologist, biogeographer, and parasitologist
Finally, we found the connection:
Caribou migrate - climate change - permafrost melt - warble fly increase - caribou number decrease
Interviewing Dr. Kayce Bell at NHM LA
Interviewing Dr. Victoria Petryshyn at USC Dornsife
Script with gameplay element
(question point, teleporting in the diorama, visual changes and video clips)
Emotion Arc
Teleporting via headset
Question
Video Clips