WorldBuilding

Requirements:

• Create a small Diorama

• Use no more than 10 assets

• Atmospheric fog

• Post process volume

• One example of a Vertex Painted asset

• One example of Environmental storytelling

• Two examples of camera effects

  
  

Vision for the project:

For this project, I wanted to create a futuristic, brutalist factory. using visual references from the Matrix, and utilizing AI to generate a piece of concept art to base my project around. The story behind the project is that AI no operate the factory, with no humans in sight, the factory no longer needs to be cleaned as no humans are there.

Production Process:

To start with, I began by creating an AI generated reference image. Once I had found one that suited my prompt, I began to grey box the environment, taking reference from the generated image. Once the grey box was completed, I created two different Houdini Digital Assets. One to generate cables, and one to generate pipes. Having these two procedural tools would allow me to dynamically size and position the assets to fit perfectly within my environment.

My next step was collecting the assets that I was going to use within my scene. I found two different asset packs on Unreal Engine's Fab marketplace. One of the assets was a big pipe, which I figured would make a perfect hero asset. I equally thought that this would be a good opportunity to apply a vertex paint material. Next, I placed all of the assets over the the grey box, making sure to not go over my 10 asset limit. Once all of the assets were placed, it was time to use my Houdini Digital Assets, I placed the cables and pipes in the positions that I had decided during the grey box process.

Towards the end of the project, I implemented the volumetric fog and the post process volume and material. Doing so flagged up an issue that the scene was underlit, so I spent my next portion of time fixing the lighting within the scene. To complete the project, I added in some Niagara VFX that I had made, some smoke and sparks, and placed them in fitting locations.

I finally created the cameras for each shot, keyframed their positions and their focal points, and then rendered out the sequence.

Results:

My grade for this project was a First.

Personally, I was incredibly happy with the final product and my grade. The project met all requirements and matched the art style that was decided at the beginning of the project.