Animations on the Time TRAIN

In my VR experience, the player doesn’t move across the scenery. It is a seated experience and the visitor sits down in the actual reality but also sits on the train in the virtual world. 

This is a planned and deliberate concept since my application was inspired by VR being used for paediatric patients during painful medical procedures to distract them and ease the pain. Procedures such as injections, phlebotomy or dressing change over the wound often require the patient to stay still. Therefore Time TRAIN provides immersive entertainment to children without them having to perform any drastic move that could interfere with the medical intervention. 

The player can sit down and enjoy being present inside the colourful and full of attractions world where they can only use their head movement to explore the story and interact with objects where necessary. 

Animations present in the VR Time TRAIN not only create the actual experience but also add to its attractivity and make it more interesting and absorbing for the player. They have loads to look at and be entertained by. 

Animations bring characters and objects to life, and provide users with a sense of presence and engagement within the virtual world. 

Implementing animations in VR need to be done in a considerable way, to create a mood-conveying space without causing motion sickness or breaking the immersion by placing or timing them wrongly. 

In the project, I created there are several key objects and characters animated, all of them are individual elements that when put together complement each other in the story. 

In the first scene, animated objects support the player entering the story. 

• Fade-in effect – when the visitor enters the virtual world there is a 2s fading-in from black to the cold land covered with the ice, the place the penguins need a break from.
• Welcome UI sign – animated so it slides down from the sky; to highlight the beginning of the story.
• The train appearing from under the ice – keyframed object; this is the train the penguins and their visitor are looking for and will use to travel to the Sunny City; this action adds extra effect to the scene but also highlights the object the player needs to interact with.
• Penguins’ waddle – this is an amination sourced along with the penguin model; added to all the penguins waiting impatiently for their journey adds extra presence and reality to the scene.
• Clouds and snow-particle effects; gently moving around the scene and randomly appearing around the player provide a magical touch to the story but also fill up the virtual space, as well as add to the presence and immersion inside the experience.
• Shaders – pink shader on icebergs after the player interact with them; semi-transparent shader on the “water” around the ice. Both create unusual surroundings and complement the scenery through their gentle moves and surprising look.

In the second scene, animated objects and characters create the entire experience and absorb the player. They all help the visitor to be present and immersed in this extraordinary train journey.

The 2 most important animations are:

1. The doors on the train – once the train stops at each of the 4 stations, the doors open slowly, staying open for 15 seconds and closing; when the train is on the move the doors stay closed to then open again at the next station. 

This is a keyframed animation I created and timed across the entire train journey. I wanted to make it feel real and conveying but at the same time not too long and overcomplicated. 

2. The set moves along the train – I used this method to create the illusion of the train moving and this is how it looks for the passengers and the player on the train. In contrast, in fact, the train stays in the same position for the whole duration of the journey and what moves, is the set containing all 4 stations and brick walls between them.

This animation was also keyframed by myself and was expanding with the development of the Time TRAIN idea. 

It started with a long track for the train and one station, the forest. The forest is magical and full of trees, flowers and even strawberries. This is a place that the penguins have never seen before. It is inspired by my personal connections to the London Borough of Waltham Forest where I have lived for the past 8 years. It contains elements related to this place and my personal photo of the Clearing created by Owen Bullett and Smith & Newton Architects.

With further development of the Time TRAIN, the forest station was moved to the third position so the train starts in the icy land where the penguins are escaping, and goes through the ice candy land, rainy city, enchanted forest and reaches the beach, the Sunny City the penguins are so looking forward to getting to. 

The above 2 animations set the space for all the other actions and stations and what is happening outside and inside the train in my story.

Other animations in the train journey scene are:

• Outside the train:
  • Stars and snowflakes – keyframed animations; spinning around and getting smaller and bigger; to add a magical touch to an already magic land with candy canes, huge ice cones and floating stars.
  • Shaders – pink bespoke shader, and dynamic fog – adjusted so it is used as the glass surface at the stations; used for extra visual effects, to catch the player’s attention. 
  • Hail/rain – particle effect highlighting the character of the space which is a city with some elements that can remind the player of London; this is a busy city and the penguins seem impressed by it but since it is not a Sunny City and it is raining there, they are glad that the train only stops there for a moment and it is back on the move again.
  • People in the city – several characters from Mixamo complete with animations also from Mixamo create a somehow authentic-looking city with people.

• Inside the train:
  • Appearing objects – appearing randomly thanks to the C# script objects such as ice cream cones, fruits and stars add extra immersion but also gather the visitor’s attention and fill in the time on the train with an unusual event happening.
  • Penguin animations – penguins waddling on a spot to again highlight their excitement but also how impatient they are; they are so looking forward to being on the beach.
  • Mocap- DeepMotion motion capture – I asked my daughter to record a short video of me trying to waddle like a penguin and then wave to them. This material was then uploaded to the DeepMotion website and processed by them. As a result, I received a character (I could decide between Star Wars and Roblox characters) animated with the action performed by me. This character comes from the popular children’s online gaming platform called Roblox.
  • Mixamo characters and their Mixamo animations – sitting, standing and gently moving during the train journey. Add to the reality and create the space of a carriage filled with diverse passengers minding their own businesses and absorbed by their human “things”, not bothered by the penguins travelling on the train. 
  • A possibility of adding animations to the fox toy and the newspaper on the floor if I add interactions to both of them for extra interactivity for the player while travelling on the train. 

All the above animation, along with the sound effects and visuals create a complete story for the player to immerse in and enjoy. The Time TRAIN provides an engaging environment that thanks to the above elements is filled with actions and can divert a child’s mind away from the medical procedure requiring him to stay still, and transfers them to the unimaginable world.

I gathered still images and short videos of the project at its various stages in an online album called VR TimeTRAIN.