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Major Project
Planning
I want to create a 3D environment. And I decided to create my own environment, it will have a lot of similarities to the real world, but some elements will be different.
Reference Images
Useful Tutorials
Scene
I want to create a tropical environment with a waterfall and a pond or lake. I also want to create plants and other natural assets for my scene. I want my scene to have plants that have bold colors in them and so create a sense of a dangerous environment. I will also create a big carnivorous plant for the scene, which is based off the venus flytrap plant
Software
I will use Autodesk Maya and ZBrush to sculpt the 3D models I intend to include in my scene. then, I will paint them in Substance Painter. I will put the whole scene together in Unreal Engine.
Moodboard
3D models
I want to create some 3D models
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Giant Venus Flytrap plant
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Tropical pitcher plant
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vines
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Water lily like plants
Unreal Engine
I am doing research on Unreal Engine, and learning how to use it for my project.
Unreal Engine blocking and progress
I set up a simple lighting setup. This includes a sky with clods and a sun.
I then sculpted the landscape, making it look similar to the sketch I made earlier. I make sure to use a human model to keep the scale right.
I created a lake using the landscape mode and put a water plane in the scene to fill the lake with water. I also started to add in some cliffs for my background using models from Megascans. I also used the paint function to paint sand texture around the lake.
I continued adding elements to the scene. I use megascans to block out the scene. I will replace some of them later with my own models.
3D scan
I used the app Scaniverse on my IPad to create a 3D scan of a tree. I then imported the model into Maya and added a material to it with the textures. I then exported it as a FBX file and imported it into Unreal Engine 5.
I used my 3D scanned trees to fill out the backround. I think I want to scan a couple more trees to make it look a bit more diverse.
I then started to fill in the scene by using megascans. I will use megascans for my final environment, but I will replace some of them with my own models.
The waterfall will be created using the particle system called Niagra in Unreal Engine 5. I further put more elements into the scene, like grass and small plants filling in the landscape. This is the final blocked out scene.
Pre-vis
Creating a story for the scene
Something I admit I am not especially good at is thinking of interesting camera angles, and try to put more of a story into the scene. I definitely should have tried filming within the scene from the beginning. At first I tried to do something like this;
Unreal scene development
I continued to work on my environment in Unreal Engine. The first water type I tried using, didn't work out well for me, so I tried using the water plugin that comes with Unreal Engine 5. I like this plugin, it works very well.
The venus flytrap will be trying to eat the camera as it moves past it, the plant sensing something nearby. I drew some sketches so that it will be easier for both Connor and I to figure out the sound for the project.
Sound for the project;
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Birds in the background
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Waterfall
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Suspense?
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Jumpscare soundtrack?
But after presenting this to the class, I got very useful feedback for my project. The idea is now that the forest looks harmless at first, but gets scary.
I think I want to do 3 shots, one where you see the regular plants and flowers you would expect in nature. Some of the more scary plants are foreshadowed in the background. Then one where the camera films through the forest, revealing some scary looking plants. By now, the audience realize that this is no normal forest. The final scene will reveal the scene as the camera films over the lake in the scene. Creepy vines coming up from the water. At the very end, the camera gets grabbed by the underwater vines and everything turns black.
Playing around with the light settings in unreal
Playing around with the light settings in unreal
Niagra System
I used the Niagra particle system to create a waterfall for my unreal engine scene.
ZBrush sculpting
Venus flytrap Model
This is going to be my hero object for the scene. I am going to model, texture and rig it so I can animate it in my Unreal Engine scene.
At first, I did try to use blend shapes to create the animation. But I decided on creating a rig in Maya for it instead. It was impossible to import it all into Unreal Engine 5, and I decided that creating a rig would be a lot easier.
I finished my model, and created UV maps for it, and painted it in Substance 3D Painter
Venus Flytrap Model
ZBrush sculpting
Tropical Pitcher
Tropical Pitcher Model
ZBrush sculpting
Water plant
Water Plant Model
Vines
I created a vine in Zbrush, and created a rig for it in Maya, then created the textures for it in Substance Painter
Vine Model
Tropical Pitcher Tongue
I created the tropical pitcher tongue in Zbrush, and created a rig for it in Maya, then created the textures for it in Substance Painter
Rigging and Animation
I figured out how to import meshes, animations and textures into unreal from Maya, and started to put the models in place. The first rig was a test to see how it would work importing everything into unreal engine. I made a better rig later with proper naming and everything.
I added textures to the models, and continued to add megascans to fill in the environment with foliage, making the scene look better, and the jungle denser.
Draft for Audio Development
I created this draft to send to my collaboration partner Connor. This way, he could have a better idea of how he can do his audio work for my project.
Rigging
I created a rig for my flytrap, so I could animate it the way I wanted. I also created a rig for the tropical pitcher, vines and tropical pitcher tongue. I do not have a lot of experience with rigging, and it was a bit difficult to figure out. Especially the weight painting part of it was tricky. But I was able to make a working rig. I am quite happy that I have learned something new, and I want to explore this more later.
Textures and Animating
I exported Unreal Engine texture maps from Substance 3D Painter and added the textures to my animated models. I also animated all my rigged models in Maya, then imported them into my unreal scene and timed all the animations right.
All models
Blooper
Tropical Pitcher Animation
Animation Progress Playblast
Final Draft
When I was almost finished, I sent this draft to Connor so he had an updated version of the project to work with for his audio work.
The last changes I did was to adjust animations, add foliage so every part of the scene looked good, and adjusted the lighting.