Discover virtual reality with Denise Rozney at Kāpiti Coast Art Trail

This year's Kāpiti Coast Art Trail features work by artist Denise Rozney.

One of the new additions to the Kāpiti Coast Art Trail is bringing their art to life through virtual reality.

Waikanae’s Denise Rozney, whose studio name is Bloody Nora, designs characters, sets and props for short film and gaming projects - and now 3D environments and animated shorts - and this year she is welcoming the public into her studio to see how it’s done.

Rozney, who does independent film production and character design, as well as creating her own short films, is offering a virtual reality (VR) experience where visitors can see what it’s like to be inside one of the illustrations or 3D environments by wearing a studio headset.

She said she often critiques her designs using VR and is working to invest in designing from within VR in the future.

“The benefit is the testing I can do for VR environments, but it’s been very helpful choosing camera angles for static shots - the main challenge is low quality and nausea.”

She said using the headset is “weird” because it’s like being inside her own head.

“It’s been great for creating an emotion for a game scene - like how will that character feel opening that door. Have I replicated that anxiety?”

For the art trail, Rozney is also offering a dedicated screen for reels, so people can view her animations in her studio, and she will have prints for sale. She is also available to chat with people about VR in the real world.

Rozney said she got into 3D art to help her brother, who worked for Red Spider Studios, with one of his short films. She said her work with the studio was pretty straightforward, and the most challenging parts were software, hardware and time.

“It was such a blast working with him that nothing felt impossible.”

She is currently working on an animated short called Texts from a Zombie, which she described as being “exactly as it sounds”, and she’s also working on an animated short about foreign mothers becoming stranded from home and how it feels to be lost and isolated.

“I’m hoping to enter my animated shorts into competitions. I’ve just met a developer offering to help with my RPG [role playing game] Cities which is fantastic. I’d love to mentor anybody with a passion for animation, gaming or storytelling.

Rozney’s website is deeroo3.artstation.com.