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Spring Flowers

About the Project

OVERVIEW:

This project is the second part to a two-part project. It began with my interest in exploring the Procedural Content Generation (PCG) framework within Unreal Engine, with the aim of creating a realistic outdoor setting. It initially began with the "Spirit Tree" which was far more whimsical than I original set out to achieve in this project. So as things progressed, I found myself also wanting to create a scene that demonstrated realism. This led to the project splitting into two distinct parts. This project represents the realism portion.​​​​

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Process:​​​​​

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  • Time Taken - Approximately 3-5 days (including the other project).

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  • Flowers, Grass, Tree (PCG) -

    • The geometry for the flowers and grass were acquired through Quixel Megascans. They were then funneled through Unreal Engine's Procedural Content Generation (PCG) framework using blueprints. This allows for large scale scenes to be populated more quickly so that individual clumps do not need to be placed manually. Afterwards, hero objects can be placed throughout the scene. It's a huge time saver. The willow tree for example (from the Marketplace), is my "hero" asset.​​​​

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  • Lighting & Sky (Unreal Engine)-

    • For this version of the project, I utilized the UltraDynamicSky plugin and adjusted the attributes to fit my desired look/feel.​

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  • Background Assets -

    • The mountains were acquired from the Marketplace.​

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  • Rendering (Unreal Engine/After Effects/Motion Array/Media Encoder)-

    • I used a PostProcessVolume and a Cinematic Camera Sequence to provide the lens settings and Depth of Field. Renders were created using a Sequencer. The image sequences was then imported into After Effects and Audio overlay. Audio is from Motion Array.

    • Final renders were generated from Media Encoder​​​

    • The scene is fully "playable". I currently have it setup for a 3rd-person experience, if it were to be used as a game level.

Software Used:

PLANS FOR ADDITION:

  • While working with this scene, I wanted to attempt a night sky with the Northern lights and a larger-than-life Moon view. Below is that first pass attempt. 

  • Moving forward, I want to create a time-lapse version of the stars. The below starts to do that with the motion of the Moon, but the rest of the sky needs to update as well. So, where this portion is a work-in-progress, I believe it to be a solid start:

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