This image was created as part of a Vive brand visuals project, and represents the 'Adventure' theme. The goal of this project was to create a collection of imagery that captured the dynamic and captivating essence of the Vive experience. The creative objective was to strike a balance between the feeling human and approachable, while retaining a surreal sense of 'impossible reality'.
In the spirit of Vive VR experiences - where your eyes say it's real, but your brain says it can't possibly be real - these images depict impossibly surreal scenes, using photo-realistic 3D rendering and composites.
Image composition needed to support both vertical and horizontal layout usage, while still feeling dynamic and engaging.
Early Work-in-progress Iterations
A few of the many different iterations, exploring different compositions, lighting, and tonalities - in search of that illusive balance between theme story and the Vive brand voice.
Process
Early work-in-progress thumbnail sketches exploring visual stories and compositions to communicate a sense of Adventure, while expressing the Vive brand principles. Since it was also important that the artwork accommodate both horizontal and vertical usage, particular attention was given to flexible composition.
I loaded the rough thumbnail sketch into a background object in Cinema 4D, to help with blocking-in the overall scene. The placeholder figure was scaled to human height to optimize scene element size (and facilitate possible future VR integration). Block-in elements were then exported as reference geometry for further refinement and detailing in 3D Coat.
The rough block-in geometry was imported into 3D Coat for further refinement and detailing. This allowed me to sculpt fine detail and add more character and weathering to the elements. Once sculpted, I was able to generate a lower resolution mesh and UVs, before 3D painting and exporting the final asset. Everything was then re-imported back into Cinema 4D for final scene assembly and output to Octane Render. The individual elements were then composited together with photographic elements.
A rough sequence of how the different elements came together in the final composite.
