Project 11 · Experience

Rock in Rio Coaster

A five-minute VR roller coaster through a time tunnel of rock, on a motion simulator moved by pistons.

Genre:: VR Experience, Brand Activation
Scope:: Art Direction · VFX & Shaders · Timeline & Sound · VR UX
Development Time:: 2 Weeks
Team Size:: 3
Tools:: Unity

Project Resume

Overview

A five-minute VR roller coaster through a time tunnel of rock, from the first Rock in Rio show to its landmark moments, on a motion simulator moved by pistons.

Platform VR · Motion Simulator
Team Size 3
Duration 2 Weeks
Engine Unity

Key Features

A VR ride of about five minutes
A time tunnel through the eras of rock
The first Rock in Rio show and its landmark moments
A roller coaster simulator moved by pistons
A liminal space full of floating objects
Built to ride in VR without motion sickness

My Role

Art Director & VR Designer

Built the visual side and the timeline of the ride, from blocking and 3D to VFX and shaders, with a film director.

Blocked the scenes and built the full timeline
Made the VFX, shaders, 3D models and post
Designed the ride to stay comfortable in VR

Design Brief

Rock in Rio wanted a VR ride through the history of rock, a time tunnel that passes the first Rock in Rio show and other landmark moments of the festival. It ran on our own roller coaster simulator, moved by pistons under the rider, so every second of the five-minute ride had to match the motion of the seat and stay comfortable in the headset for anyone who took it.

Constraints

A time tunnelA ride through the eras of rock and the festival's landmark moments.
Five minutesA full ride of about five minutes, built in Unity as one continuous timeline.
A moving seatOur own roller coaster simulator, moved by pistons under the rider.
No sicknessComfort in VR had to hold for the whole ride, from the first second to the last.

Design Goal

The ride had to feel like a psychedelic trip through a wormhole, a liminal space full of floating objects, and still be comfortable for anyone wearing the headset, from start to end. Every scene had to land on the timeline with the motion of the seat, and the whole visual side had to reach the quality expected by a director from film and advertising.

From the tunnel to the first show

Enter. Travel. Relive.

EnterRide into the time tunnel of the history of rock.
TravelPass through the eras of rock on a moving seat.
ReliveSee the first Rock in Rio show again.

Player Experience Pillars

A trip through timeA wormhole through the eras.
Comfort in VRNo sickness from start to end.
In syncEvery scene matches the seat.
Festival memoryThe shows people remember.
Film qualityApproved by a film director.

Design Solution

I blocked every scene of the tunnel and built a timeline of about five minutes in Unity, timing each moment to the roller coaster's motion. I made the 3D models, the VFX, the shaders and the post-processing behind the tunnel's psychedelic look, and set the camera, the field of view and the transitions so objects never came too close to the rider. The director shaped each idea and approved it, and I gave my feedback and built it my way.

Key Design Choices

A full timelineBuilt the whole five-minute ride as one timeline, timed to the motion of the roller coaster seat.
Blocked by handBlocked every scene of the time tunnel, from the liminal space to the festival's shows.
VFX and shadersMade the VFX and shaders of the wormhole and its floating objects for a psychedelic look.
Comfort rulesSet the field of view, the camera and the transitions, and kept every floating object away from the rider.
Directed togetherWorked with a director from film and advertising, giving feedback and building each idea my way.

World & Visual Identity

A liminal space that bends like a wormhole, with objects floating around the rider, opening onto the stages of the festival's past, from the first Rock in Rio show to the moments people still remember.

Visual Principles

A wormholeA tunnel that bends through the eras of rock.
Floating objectsA liminal space full of drifting things.
Festival historyThe first show and the landmark moments.
Psychedelic lightVFX and shaders for a psychedelic trip.
Kept at a distanceNothing comes too close to the camera.

Results & Learnings

Results

A five-minute VR rideDelivered a VR ride of about five minutes on our own roller coaster simulator, with pistons moving the seat in time with every scene of the time tunnel.
The whole visual sideBuilt the blocking, the timeline, the 3D, the VFX, the shaders and the post-processing of the whole ride, while my partner programmed it to run.
Comfortable in VRDesigned the camera, the field of view and the transitions so riders could take the whole trip in VR without feeling sick.

Learnings

Comfort comes firstOn a moving seat in VR, the camera, the field of view and how close objects come decide whether the ride works, so comfort shaped every scene.
Seen and felt togetherTiming every scene to the motion of the seat made the tunnel feel physical, since what riders saw in the headset always matched what their body felt.
Directing in a duoWorking with a film director meant turning his ideas into my own build, giving him feedback and bringing each scene back to him for approval.

Media

The work, up close

Project gallery · 1

Rock in Rio: VR experience

Roles

Roles & Responsibilities

Direction

Directed the ride together with a film and ad director
Gave feedback on every idea before building it my way
Led the art direction of the whole time tunnel of rock
Took each scene to the director for his final approval

Timeline & Blocking

Blocked every scene of the tunnel by hand in Unity
Built a timeline of about five minutes for the ride
Timed each moment of the ride to the motion of the seat
Placed the festival's landmark shows along the tunnel

VFX & Shaders

Made the VFX of the wormhole and of its floating objects
Made the shaders behind the tunnel's psychedelic look
Built the 3D models that float through the time tunnel
Set the post-processing of the whole five-minute ride

VR Comfort

Set the camera of the ride for a seat moved by pistons
Tuned the field of view so riders keep a steady view
Designed soft transitions between the eras of rock
Kept every floating object away from the rider's face

Full Case Study

Rock in Rio Coaster Case Study

The Ride

Feature Introduction

A trip through the history of rock

The Rock in Rio Coaster is a five-minute VR ride through the history of rock, a psychedelic wormhole full of floating objects that passes old shows, the first Rock in Rio show and other landmark moments of the festival's history.

The ride ran on our own hardware, a roller coaster seat moved by pistons, so everything the rider sees had to match what the body feels. I blocked every scene and built the whole timeline in Unity around the motion of the seat, and timed each sound to its moment, so sight, sound and motion all arrive together.

A director from film and advertising created and structured the ideas of the ride. I gave my feedback on each one and built it my way, with the VFX, shaders, 3D models, animation and post-processing, and the director approved it, while my partner programmed the ride, so a team of three delivered it in two weeks.

Design Principles

Make the ride feel like a psychedelic trip through time, with the eras of rock and the festival's history passing all around the rider
Time every scene of the five-minute timeline to the motion of the seat, so what riders see matches what they feel on a seat moved by pistons
Bring back the festival's landmark moments, from the first Rock in Rio show to the ones people still remember from the festival's history
Reach the quality of a film and advertising director, who approved every idea before it went into the ride and on to the festival

Feature Breakdown

The ride, in detail

01 Blocking & TimelineFive minutes timed to a seat moved by pistons

Blocking & Timeline

Five minutes timed to a seat moved by pistons

The ride is one long timeline. I blocked every scene of the tunnel before the final art and laid the five minutes out in Unity, matching each turn, drop and rush to the motion of the pistons, and fitted every sound to its moment, so the structure was set early and every model and effect already had its place waiting.

Function

Make what riders see, hear and feel arrive at the very same moment

Design Approach

Decisions made:

Block every scene of the tunnel first, before building any final art
Lay out the whole five-minute ride on a single timeline in Unity
Match each turn and rush on screen to the motion of the pistons
Fit every sound of the ride to the exact moment where it belongs

Player Impact

Allowed players to...

Feel every turn they see in the headset through the seat below them
Hear each era of rock arrive right as its scene comes into view
Follow the whole trip as one continuous ride from start to finish
Trust the motion of the seat, since it always matches what they see

02 VFX & ShadersA psychedelic wormhole built to work in VR

VFX & Shaders

A psychedelic wormhole built to work in VR

The tunnel had to feel like a psychedelic trip through time. I made the VFX and the shaders of the wormhole, modeled the floating objects and the landmark shows, set the post-processing and animated the effects so they read well in a headset, building each idea of the director my own way until it was approved for the ride.

Function

Turn the history of rock into a world worth looking around in

Design Approach

Decisions made:

Create the wormhole with VFX and shaders made to read in a headset
Model the floating objects and the landmark shows of the festival
Animate every effect so it still reads well inside a VR headset
Tune the post-processing to give each era of rock its own mood

Player Impact

Allowed players to...

Look all around a wormhole full of floating objects from every era
Recognize the first Rock in Rio show and other landmark moments
Feel each era of rock as a place with a look and a mood of its own
Stay inside the trip, with effects that never break the headset view

03 Comfort in VRA wild ride that never makes riders sick

Comfort in VR

A wild ride that never makes riders sick

A ride on a moving seat can make people sick in minutes, so comfort set the limits of every scene. I set the camera and the field of view for a rider who cannot steer, kept objects from coming too close to the eyes and made each change between eras soft, so the trip could look wild while the body stayed at ease all along.

Function

Keep the five-minute ride wild to watch and easy on the body

Design Approach

Decisions made:

Set the camera and the field of view for a rider on a moving seat
Keep every floating object at a safe distance from the rider's eyes
Soften each change from one era of rock to the next so nothing jolts
Test the full ride on the seat before any scene was signed off

Player Impact

Allowed players to...

Ride the full five minutes without feeling sick in the headset
Look around freely while the seat moves and turns beneath them
Enjoy a wild trip through time without flinching at what flies by
Stay focused on the story of rock instead of on their own comfort

Behind the Feature

How the ride was timed

01 Timeline on the PistonsBlocking first · One Unity timeline · Seat motion · Sound sync

Goal

Sight, sound and motion arrive together

Match every turn, drop and rush on the screen to the motion of the seat
Fit every sound of the five-minute ride to the exact moment it belongs to
Set the structure early, so every model and effect has its place waiting

Constraints

Five minutes on a seat moved by pistons

Keep the ride comfortable for a rider who can neither steer nor look away
Fit each of the director's ideas into the motion the seat can actually make
Reach a film-level quality that the director approves scene by scene

Process

Blocking before art I blocked every scene of the tunnel with simple shapes before any final art, so the pacing could be checked on the moving seat while the models and effects were still being made.
One timeline in Unity The whole five minutes were laid out on a single timeline in Unity, with each turn, drop and rush keyed against the motion curve of the seat's pistons, second by second.
Sound keyed to cues Every sound was keyed to its moment on the same timeline, so the music, the effects and the motion of the seat reach the rider together, frame by frame.
Tested on the seat The full ride was tested on the seat before any scene was signed off, and scenes that jolted or arrived late were moved along the timeline until they matched what the seat did.

The decision that made it work

Build the ride around the seat's motion

Treating the motion of the pistons as the backbone of the timeline meant every visual and sound was placed against what the body feels. Blocking first made it possible to fix the pacing before the expensive art was built.

Result

A ride where every rush was felt

Riders felt each turn and drop at the moment they saw it, with the sound arriving together, so the trip through the history of rock looked wild while the ride stayed comfortable from the first second of the ride to the very last one.

Impact

How the ride shapes the experience

Seen and Felt

The timeline follows the pistons of the seat, so every turn riders see is a turn they feel, and the body trusts the ride.
Look Around

The tunnel surrounds the rider on every side, so riders turn their heads to follow the floating objects and the shows passing by.
Relive

Old shows and the first Rock in Rio pass by one after another, so riders travel through the whole history of the festival in five minutes.
Stay In

Comfort holds for the whole ride, so riders stay inside the trip and keep their eyes on the show from the first era of rock to the very last scene.

Design Iterations

01 Speed & CurvesEvery turn on screen became one the body felt

01 Speed & Curves

Problem

Early cuts rushed through hard turns on a moving seat

The first versions of the tunnel moved fast and turned hard. On a seat moved by pistons, with a headset on, the speed and the sharp curves of the path risked making riders sick long before the five minutes of the ride were over.

Cause

The view and the seat pulled the body two ways

When the path on screen turned faster or harder than the seat could follow, the eyes and the body disagreed, and that gap is what makes a VR ride feel sick.

Solution

Retimed the speed and softened the curves of the path

Speed and curves were tuned together with the seat, over many test rides, until every turn on screen was one the pistons could match. The ride kept its rushes where the seat could follow them and slowed down where it could not.

Lower the speed on the stretches where the seat could not keep up
Soften the sharpest curves of the path through the whole tunnel
Test each change on the moving seat before keeping it in the ride

Result

Every turn on screen became one the body felt

The ride kept its energy without asking the rider to endure it. Turns, drops and rushes stayed, but each one now arrived with the seat, so riders felt the motion they saw and trusted the ride from the first scene on.

The ride kept its pace and its big rushes on the moving seat
Riders felt each turn through the seat right as they saw it
The full five minutes stayed comfortable from start to end

02 Camera & FOVA steady view of a tunnel that never stops moving

02 Camera & FOV

Problem

The view felt wrong for a rider who could not steer

Riders sat still while the tunnel and the seat moved them, with no control over where they went, and in the first cuts the camera angle and the field of view did not suit a rider on a moving seat, so the tunnel felt uneasy to watch.

Cause

Camera angle and FOV set how the motion reads

In VR the camera is the rider's head, so its angle and its field of view decide how fast the world seems to move around the rider.

Solution

Tuned the camera angle and the field of view

The camera was set for a passenger rather than a driver. Its angle and the field of view were adjusted scene by scene on the moving seat, until the tunnel read clearly and the motion felt calm, even in the fastest parts of the ride.

Set the camera angle for a seated passenger who never steers
Adjust the field of view scene by scene for the moving seat
Check every scene in the headset, sitting on the moving seat

Result

A steady view of a tunnel that never stops moving

Riders could look around freely while the seat moved under them. The tunnel stayed readable in every scene, and the view gave the body a calm frame to hold on to while the world of rock rushed past on every side.

Riders looked around freely while the seat moved under them
Every scene of the tunnel read clearly inside the headset
Fast parts of the ride stayed calm to watch on the seat

03 Objects at a DistanceA full tunnel that never comes at the face

03 Objects at a Distance

Problem

Floating objects flew right past the riders' eyes

The tunnel is full of floating objects, and in the first cuts many of them passed very close to the camera. In a headset, an object rushing at the face makes people flinch and pulls them out of the ride, however beautiful the scene is.

Cause

Anything close to the eyes feels like a threat in VR

In a headset, anything that comes near the eyes reads as real and close, so the body reacts before the mind can enjoy what it is looking at.

Solution

Moved every object out of the rider's personal space

The space around the camera became off limits. Objects that passed too close were moved out of the way across the whole timeline, so the tunnel could stay full and alive around the rider without anything coming at the face.

Find every object that passed too close to the camera in the ride
Move each one out of the rider's personal space on the timeline
Keep the tunnel full of objects at a comfortable distance

Result

A full tunnel that never comes at the face

The world of floating objects stayed rich and close enough to impress, and riders watched it pass instead of flinching away from it. Comfort and spectacle stopped competing, and every scene kept its wild look.

The tunnel stayed full of floating objects around the rider
Riders watched each object pass without flinching away
Every scene kept its wild look and stayed easy to watch

Development

Blocking, Timeline & VFX

Conclusion

Design Conclusions

The Rock in Rio Coaster was a five-minute VR ride on a seat moved by pistons. I blocked the scenes, built the timeline, the 3D, the VFX, the shaders and the post-processing, and directed the ride together with a director from film and advertising.

The real lesson came from the moving seat. In a ride where the body moves, comfort and timing decide the experience before any visual does, so every scene I built started from what the rider would feel and only then from what they would see inside the headset.

Design Takeaways

Block before building

Blocking every scene on a five-minute timeline before the final art gave the ride one structure, so each new model, effect and shader already had a place waiting for it on the timeline.
Wild and still comfortable

A trip through a wormhole can feel wild and still be safe in VR when the camera stays steady, objects keep their distance from the rider and each change from one era to the next is soft.
Feedback both ways

The director shaped each idea and I gave my feedback before building it my way. Making that exchange part of every scene kept film quality and the limits of VR in the same build.

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