Third Space by Dharohar is no ordinary recreational spot. It is a vast creative space where anybody can be whatever they wish to be. An area devoid of pre-defined roles and identity, Third Space has been thoughtfully created to bring out the dreamer in you. It is a space to explore, connect, and become.

It harbours a 10,000 sqm public, shared cultural space, with a library, cinema, theatre, café, maker space, science laboratory, workshop, toddler space, exhibition spaces, outdoor play environment, a climbing wall, and so much more to enable one to make the best of their time!

BRAND BRIEF

Situated at its heart, Third space introduced the Frontiers Gallery- A mixture of artwork and interactive science spaces, inviting visitors to explore four frontiers of human progress; the digital world, outer space, biotechnology and sustainable living.

Looking for collaborators for exclusive audio-visual content created for the Gallery, Third Space put forth the need for a creative team that will brainstorm and execute a series of designs and creatives which align with their ultimate ambition of bringing people together in a space bubbling with innovation and inspiration.

THE BAKARMAX APPROACH

Nothing excites us more than a creative challenge. So we put on our thinking caps and set out on this ambitious journey- the Bakar way! We joined hands with team Third Space to develop over 20 games- suitable for players across several age groups.

We helped brainstorm the gameplays from scratch and designed their graphics and animations- what an enthralling experience!!

We also designed all the signages required for these games and all other exhibits in and around the Frontiers Gallery. And wait, that is not all! We also animated an exclusive 4-minute-long planetarium film with voice-over and graphics to add to the charm of the Frontiers Gallery!

THE CHALLENGE (AND ITS OVERCOMING)

With our humorous and satirical storytelling, Bakarmax can make the best of any client requirement! However, the task at hand was different this time. 

We had to ideate and execute an immersive 2D animated film about the vastness of outer space and telescopes, which was to be projected onto a hemispherical dome. To be precise, our film was to be projected onto an 8 meter hemispherical dome, tilted at an angle of 45 degrees. 

Clearly, this project demanded the need for us to break away from conventional 2D animation approaches. Our standard approach of storyboarding, animatics, asset creation, and composition usually on a 16:9 aspect ratio frame was undoubtedly pretty unsuitable for the planetarium dome projection. In fact, when we tested our conventional 2D format (16:9 frames) on the dome, the result was too distorted and not at all aesthetic.

We needed to come up with a solution quickly because time was of the essence. We came up with a unique grid for our frames: a circle within a square!

 By mapping our assets onto this circular grid, we aimed to counteract the projection’s stretch effect. To implement this concept, we employed the power of After Effects along with specialized plugins like VR Converter and VR Plane to Sphere. These filters / plugins counteracted individual asset stretch based on their positions within the circular grid.

With our grid concept in place, we did a few frame tests, which looked promising on the simulator- and boy did we celebrate that moment! 

With the planetarium film in place, we attended to the other tasks at hand- the games and the signages. In order to do this, the entire team of Bakarmax regularly visited the Third Space premises at Udaipur. Every door and every corner of the gallery was thoroughly scanned in order to come up with the most engaging and creative designs. In this 5 month long endeavour, we were able to bring the best of animation and design to the Frontiers Gallery!