Inspiration
It’s no secret that space and aliens have been trending for years - Space is an immeasurable expanse of the unknown, a place where everything you can imagine can exist. Aliens are an entity that anyone can relate to, regardless of their race, gender or body type. So for this effect I decided to combine my two favorite things into a captivating effect that entices curiosity.
What it does
This effect takes place in space where the user is segmented in front of a spacey world AR background featuring multiple point systems of animated stars. The user is prompted to tap the screen which initiates a sequence of events occurring in under 15 seconds. A 3D UFO zooms in above the user and releases its rainbow beam which begins to slowly abduct the user up into the UFO and changes thier opacity until they disappear. The UFO then deposits the user back into the scene, but they do not look the same! They have been altered to look like a freaky green alien!
How I built it
I approach every effect the same in SPARK AR. Outline it as basic as possible to make sure the process is as straightforward as I was thinking initially and then begin building it out.
I first purchased a 3D model online of a UFO that was in line with my artistic style - cartoony and fun! In SPARK AR I customized the UFO by adding animation sequences to the lights to make them flash, using a matcap for the glass dome and altering the materials to appear metallic.
A screen tap begins the >15 second sequence of events, using an offset patch to begin the timer and using greater than or less than patches to trigger and reset different events.
I used animation and transition patches to control the UFO’s flight, the beams rotation and the users position and scale.
I created the beam in Procreate and added a moving rainbow texture onto it with patches in Spark.
To create the final alien look I used alpha to hide the face texture except for an eye. Then I moved the eyes down to create the final 6 eyed alien I had envisioned. I just added the color green to the person texture to make them green. This look combines lots of my favorite techniques. The spots use a matcap base with glitter (normal) highlight. The eyes use black matcap overlay with cartoonish 'light' animations on them.
Challenges I ran into
The first challenge I ran into was making the beam actually look like it was coming out of the hole in the bottom of the 3D UFO. I used a layering technique where the beam is actually two of the same beams, one behind the user and one in front of the UFO. The front beam needed to be alpha’d precisely to make it look like it was fading out of the ufo and also be more transparent so the user behind it was visible.
Another challenge was the final alien look. I know deformation has been kind of a taboo topic for SPARK AR so I decided to go a less obvious route to make the person look like an alien without relying on a simple deformation of the head. I thought it would be really cool to give the user multiple eyes that blinked with the main eyes. I didn’t know how to achieve this effect at first glance but once I broke it down I realized that I could simply alpha away the rest of the face to segment an eye then move the eye.
The last challenge I ran into was in the patch editor, making the logic behind the sequence. The amount of moving parts and components to this effect quickly made a lot of complicated patch sequences that were disorganized and made changing the time stamps on the whole effect to make sure it was under 15 seconds difficult. I used the ‘comment around’ feature for the first time to organize my sequences. It helped and I would use it again!
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I’m really proud of this effect. It is probably the most intense and in depth effect I have made so far, combining all of the skills I have learned making different effects starting in December 2019 into one effect. Overall, the accomplishment I am most proud of is the progress I have made in the AR space since beginning to learn the software in December. I relish the opportunity to solve problems, and love nothing more than when my brain is obsessively thinking about possible solutions even when I am not actively working at the problem. This is why learning SPARK AR has been one of my favorite intellectual journeys and I am very happy that my skills in illustration and my technical background in math and engineering have been able to compliment each other so well and allow me to create happy effects like this!
What I learned
I learned how to make space in world AR. Normally I would have just made stars a local background but since this effect is for reels I decided to challenge myself to create space in world AR. I did this by surrounding the user in a box of plane point systems and setting their warmups to 30 seconds with minimal particle movement. I was able to create the illusion of space from all angles.
I learned how to control the opacity of a material, which was something I was looking to do for months before this. I’m sure this feature is something that is coming to the software but for now I have a patch that can do it!
I learned how to effectively layer around a 3D object to create a desired look and not have the materials interfere with each other and compete for visibility.
I learned how to alter the pitch of the users voice, which happens when they become an alien and are then given a squeaky voice.
What's next for Alien UFO Abduction
I love this effect because it tells a story. I can see this effect being used by lots of people to express their weirdness! One of my favorite things about being a digital artist on Instagram is my ability to express myself through my art and to encourage others to highlight their strangeness that makes them unique. I think social media can often create a toxic environment for users in that it places societal pressures on people to be just like the influencers they see online. I think Reels is a great addition to Instagram because it encourages people to express themselves, to be funny and quirky and not worry about what others think.
Built With
- procreate
- sparkar
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