Contributing towards the new era of interactive storytelling.
Role: Lighting Technical Artist
Timeline: 12 Weeks
Responsibilities:
Cinematic lighting art direction
Performance optimization
Team: Lighting/VFX
During the summer of 2019, I worked as a Technical Art Intern at Lucasfilm ILMxLAB, working on the production of Vader Immortal: Episode II.
My work consisted of becoming accustomed to the technical lighting pipeline, as well as contributing towards two week development Agile Sprints. As a lighting technical director/artist, my role changed constantly throughout the summer:
I contributed towards the cinematic lighting direction for the experience. This included major scenes from the story line, including the Darkghast Shaft, Black Bishop Greeting, and the Crystal Cave. These scenes were completely lit by me and adjusted individually for the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest.
Top of Darkghast shaft
Darkghast shaft pit
Reunion with ZO-E3
Black Bishop greeting
In virtual reality, performance is hugely affected by scene complexity and game play. According to various studies, any VR setup that generates frame rates below 90 frames per second is likely to induce disorientation, nausea, and other negative user effects. The lower the frame rate, the worse the effects. Thus, the goal for VR developers is to target 90 FPS at all times in their software. As a lighting TD, my role included communicating with other department artists and engineers to compromise scene quality for optimal performance.
