VR Ride Development

Scheveningen

in partnership with Extra Axis

Scheveningen’s most iconic landmark is the North sea. The sea promenade and the sandy beach at the pier is a hotspot for both tourists and locals. To boost the visitors flow, the pier owners decided to create a VR ride there and invited JetStyle to work on the project.

VIRTUAL SCHEVENINGEN CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

REAL-LIFE OBJECTS

Scheveningen is rich with the most spectacular sights: there are a snail-shaped restaurant, a bungee jumping tower, a Ferris wheel and Kurhaus Grand Hotel. We rebuilt these and other signature locations in 3D in full detail.

landmark sights

kilometres ride distance

200+

real buildings

POWER OF IMAGINATION

The rest is the flight of our creative thought: an 18th century ship, underwater world with mermaids and giant predator fish, a swirling tornado, levitating cars and flying cows, all ending with fireworks. These are the things that make your ride truly unforgettable.

modelled species of fish

20+

animations, shaders, VFX effects

TECHNICAL STUFF

Various technical issues arise during the process of rides development: e.g. we’ve got to ensure realistic visuals while preserving high speed loading, prevent motion sickness, and enrich users’ emotional and sensual experiences.

During the ride there is a moment when the shark bites the cart. The tooth marks are supposed to appear exactly where the bite is, and remain on the surface until the ride is over. We use industry’s best practices and develop our own tools to enhance the production speed and quality of all the future rides.

min the ride’s duration

150

km/h average speed

MODELLING

We custom-created 3D models of the seafront, buildings, local people and hundreds of other objects (deck chairs, umbrellas, etc). All of the models are based on real photos which we made specifically for the ride during a trip to Scheveningen.

To facilitate our asset engineers’ work with such a huge amount of data, we developed a special Geographic Information System (GIS).

9 674

reference photos

100+

modelled objects

CART

We modeled the cart to look spacious; additionally, it is equipped with a windup window so that visitors could dive under the water.

In front of the cart there is a dashboard shaped like an opaque dome that closes the visitors’ rear view and allows us to optimize the performance of the ride. Whatever remains behind disappears and stops rendering. The inside of the cart is decorated with funny stickers, created by our illustrator.

UNDERWATER CAUSTIC

A part of the ride is underwater, so we put extra effort into making the underwater world look spectacular and realistic. We used a caustic network to show the reflection of glares on the water, tuned it to resemble tropical, drew waves and sea foam running up at the shore.

RAILS CREATION

The rails perform the function of a visual anchor; a user’s brain fixates on them to fight motion sickness. However, rendering rails along the whole track is quite heavy for the system.

We invented a special optimization tool. We upload the track curve into the system, while rails are generated to stretch ahead a certain distance in front of the cart. So when they are behind the cart, they disappear.

This tool provides higher flexibility of the track: we can break off the rails, switch the rail tracks, etc.

VR MOTION CHAIR

The virtual cart swooshes through the virtual space in certain directions and with a certain speed. The telemetry of the process is interpreted by the controller, and the chair starts moving according to the parameters provided. The way a person feels sitting in the chair corresponds to what they see in their headsets, so they don’t get motion sick even if their vestibular system is not so well-developed.

Apart from side-to-side movement, the cart experiences different sorts of special effects, such as: being hit by deepwater monsters or bitten by a shark, vibrating when lifted, etc. These processes are also registered by the telemetry system, so that the ride visitors feel a full range of emotions.

SOUND DESIGN

The sound design has been made in collaboration with a 3D sound artist from the Netherlands. The rumble of the beach, cry of seagulls, noise of cannonballs and a helicopter flying by, water splashes: all audio is spatial and logically connected with the picture.

During the ride, visitors can enjoy the background music that performs an important function in the plot. This kind of sound design allows one to immerse into the atmosphere of the ride.

Kurhaus
city noise

Shots
from the ship

Cries
of seagulls

Underwater
sounds

EASTER EGGS

Easter eggs are fun, and they are a great way to do something nice for our client. On the Scheveningen ride we left a few of them.

A bobblehead on the dashboard

A little decorative bobblehead on the cart’s dashboard is not as simple as it looks. It’s actually a mini copy of our client!

Bungee jumper

If you look closer into the face of the person jumping off a bungee jumping tower, you’ll recognize the tower’s owner, one of our client’s good friends.