The Interior of the Amygdala

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Model Development

Tools: Maya 2024.3 with Quad Draw, Mesh Tools, Soft Selection

Maya Blocks

Concept Sketch Rough Blockout Topology Refinement Symmetry & Cleanup Symmetry & Cleanup Rough Blockout Rough Blockout Topology Refinement Symmetry & Cleanup Concept Sketch Rough Blockout Rough Blockout
Process Steps
  1. Concept Sketch →
  2. Initial 2D Thumbnailing →
  3. Rough Blockout →
  4. Retopology & Polyflow →
  5. UV Unwrapping →
  6. Subdivision & Sculpt →
  7. Topology Refinement → /li>
  8. Symmetry & Cleanup →
  9. Export & Unity Integration →
Challenges & Solutions
  • Challenge: Mesh stretched at poles
    Solution: Added support loops and normalized normals
An english girl with strawberries, an abstract carousel and a cute lisa frank bear

Shader Development

Tools: Unity URP Shader Graph, HLSL

Fuzzy Lighting Shader

Turbulent Noise Node Tree image3.jpeg
Process Steps
  1. Built a noise node
  2. Blended with Emissive Ramp
  3. Added Time driver so the fuzziness moves with audio
Challenges & Solutions
  • Challenge: Excessive instruction count
    Solution: Optimized noise math and combined nodes
From my survey "fuzzy light" was a nostalgic indicator

Texture Development

Tools: Substance Painter 8.0 with Decal Machine

Substance Painter

Base Color Layers Detail Painting Final Texture
Process Steps
  1. Created base color and roughness layers
  2. Hand-painted decals
  3. Baked Ambient Occlusion and Roughness
Challenges & Solutions
  • Challenge: Low resolution artifacts
    Solution: Increased texture size to 2k and filtered in shader
Textures inspired by drawing on all of your items as a child

Arduino Development

Tools: Arduino IDE, SSD1306 OLED library

OLED Screen Coding

Wiring Diagram Live Demo Live Demo
Process Steps
  1. Created a sprite in pixlr
  2. Developed sprite blitter in PROGMEM
  3. Called it from the main.cpp
Challenges & Solutions
  • Challenge: Flicker at 10fps, wiring and soldering
    Solution: Doubled buffer and optimized I²C timing
Bringing my objects to life with arduino closing the gap between digital and physical

Concept Drawings

Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Pixlr

Sprites & Illustrations

Childhood Sketch Cleaned Vector Floorplan Final Illustration
Process Steps
  1. Scanned hand-drawn sketches
  2. Vectorized in Illustrator and added colour
  3. Added animation in pixlr
Challenges & Solutions
  • Challenge: Lack of control in pixlr, for the animations
    Solution: Found inspiration in early internet paint animations
I think that the merge of 2d and 3d makes my project look like a childs picture book

Lighting Experiments

Tools: Unity URP, IES Profiles, HDRI

Natural Light Tests

HDRI Probe Initial Diffusion Final Lighting
Process Steps
  1. Captured HDRI probes
  2. Applied diffusion gels and IES profiles
  3. Placed Light Probes and baked lighting
Challenges & Solutions
  • Challenge: Harsh shadows
    Solution: Added scattered point lights and adjusted bounce intensity, gave light to certain objects
I think that the pink tint on the directional light and glowness of certain areas of the world makes everything more dreamlike

Development Diary

Snapshots from my sketchbook and notes

Notebook Page 1
Planning out flow and movement of VR world
Notebook Page 2
The teleportion
Notebook Page 3
The movement and flow of the bedroom
Notebook Page 4
The main UI of the scene