DIGITAL DOG SHRINE APP

STUDIO MAIKA | FEB-MRT 2021

Concept art | modeling | rigging | animation | app development

SOFTWARE USED

Maya Autodesk

Adobe Photoshop

3DCoat

Unity

Digital Dog Shrine is an Augmented Reality app that we made for dog owners who want to honour their friends that passed away. The project was exhibited at the Kaboom Animation Festival in April 2021. We wanted to create a space where dog owners could go to visit their deceased pets when being unable to visit their actual grave. We decided to create a virtual dog shrine that could be visited by phone. Here, visitors could read the life stories of six deceased pets from dog owners we interviewed that were distanced from their pet's resting place. Additionally, the visitor could enter the digital shrine building and upload a picture of their own friend. The Shrine could be visited by downloading the Digital Dog Shrine app and scanning a target image.

Within this project I worked on animation, visual design, modeling, rigging, texturing and the development of the app. This was a collaborative project at the Willem the Kooning Academy.

Design Shrine

I made the design of the Dog Shrine. I did visual research to shrines and temples from several cultures, amongst others those from ancient Egypt, ancient Greek, China, and Japan. After that I sketched out multiple ideas and we chose a design from that.

Animations

I animated two of the six dogs: Pierre the labradoodle and Korina the Sint Bernard. For each dog, we wanted to have an idle state that could alternate with a special action. We also wanted to make the character of the deceased dogs visible through the animations.

Pierre was described by his owner as playful and friendly. Therefore I made the dog breathe energetically and wiggle its tail rapidly in his idle state. Within the special action, Pierre jumps into a position that dogs take on when they are playing.

Korina was described as tranquil and friendly. In her idle state, I made her breathe calmly while sitting on her pedestal, sometimes wiggeling her tail a bit. Within the special action, she takes on a more playful attitude, moving forward and tilting her head a bit.

3D models

I modeled three of the six dogs: the labradoodle Pierre, the German Shepherd Hokwai and the Chinese bulldog that is called Hokwai as well. We wanted the models to have a simple low poly design.

Rigged models

Textured models

I textured all the dogs. I gave them a texture based on the descriptions and pictures provided by their owners. We were going for a simple and stylized design that both was recognizable as the dog it represented, and gave other dog owners the possibility to see their own friend into these dogs.

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