idpgroup4blog

[idpgroup4blog]

Scene Asset/Prop

by Nikos K.

This asset was meant to end up in the final scene but die to some issues it was sadly not implemented in the final scene. The idea was to have the individual sit within the tent and have protection from the heat and at night to have a front seat to the festival withing a comfortable surrounding. Even if the prop did not make it to the final cut, it is a good portfolio piece that can be added to show when applying for a Games Artist position.

[idpgroup4blog]

Testing - Vivek Raj

Once the night lighting, northern lights, and fireworks were added to the scene, We began taking test renders and testing out the scene. I had to adjust the lighting a bit more as the scene was looking a bit too dark. We had some issues with the rendering and with unreal crashing from time to time. We quickly found out the issues and resolved them and began to take the final renders for post-production which will be done by Rohit.

[idpgroup4blog]

Fireworks VFX - Vivek Raj

I started watching tutorials on youtube to get an idea of how to create the fireworks. After watching a few tutorials, I understood what to do and I started creating the particle effects in Niagara. I used 4 Niagara particle emitters: The rocket, The ribbon trails, The tertiary trails, and the final explosion particles. I used random colors and location and death events to have all four other particles interact with each other. I got feedback from everyone else too and made a few corrections on the size and explosion size of the particles. It was a great way to improve my knowledge of Niagara VFX. With the Niagara system done, I started adding them around the town to see how it looks and then I started to work more on the night lighting.

[idpgroup4blog]

Production - Vivek Raj

After the group meeting, we were all assigned roles. I was responsible for night lighting, fireworks VFX and the northern lights. I received the landscape file from Amith and started working on the night lighting. I used UltraDynamicSky to quickly build up the lighting with the moon and stars. The aurora was also used from within the UltraDynamicSky. At this point, I did not want to finalize the lighting as I still had to create the fireworks VFX.

[idpgroup4blog]

POST PRODUCTION

Rohit Gurumith Singh

I was incharge of the post production process and after a very long time of dealing with rendering problems and technical difficulties, we managed to derive the output and get the job done.

Firstly i had to change the panaromic render to the dome format and for that i had to add a fish eye lens and then mess around with the values according to the dome format.

After getting the dome format i had to add in the desert ambience for both the day time and night time and then i had to add the fireworks sound effect along with a little bit of music since i thought that would be a good touch to it.

REFERENCES :

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Arabian Sigma - The Perfect Girl - Mareux (The Arabic Version/Rendition). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/JTpfIVWoSwo [Accessed 14 Feb. 2023].

‌

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). [HQ Sound effect] Desert ambience (wind over sand). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/IlTnjgCfqlk [Accessed 14 Feb. 2023].

‌

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). 30 min of Desert Nights | Tranquil Ambient Sounds. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/KQ1pqQ52Qt0 [Accessed 14 Feb. 2023].

‌

[idpgroup4blog]

ALTERED DETAILS

Rohit Gurumith Singh

During the initial stages of the project, i had so many contributions and additions from my side in terms of the extra detailing. but due to unfortunate circumstances we had to trim down alot of the following details due to rendering problems.

TOON SHADER :

After amith and vivek designed the desert, my plan was to add a toon shader to the desert and the objects in the scene since im really good at toon shading. but when we actually sat down and did the work, we realised that the toon shader was damaging the other assets in the scene. it made the sky look very artificial and that was the last thing we needed since the sky was the highlight of the night scene.

2. 2D ELEMENTS :

As a 2D animator, i wanted to add the external objects such as the fireworks and fireflies in the scene in 2D (handdrawn) after adding the toon shader effect to the desert since that would add a good touch to it. but since the toon shader idea was cancelled, we had to cancel this too since the 2D elements would look so out of place in the scene.

3. COMETS & METEORS :

This was another piece of additional detailing that was removed last minute due to technical difficulties. we wanted to make the sky look extra pretty and aesthetic since by adding alot more to it but we decided to not go for it since it was a heavy burden during the last minute

[idpgroup4blog]

One of the test shots for the day scene. It was fun working on the scene and got to learn a lot on how to build. I got help from Vivek on building the sky and feedback from libbie. I also got to work on water system in ue5. After that I quickly started working on sky and atmospheric fog and started animations the day light and the city. After lifting up the scene I moved to post processing and animated the temperature and tint values according to the scene. Later I added some post effects like lenses flare to make it look more beautiful.

[idpgroup4blog]

After the corrections on the scene I quickly got few assets and built a small town in distant and started filling the environment. The scene was still on assembly while Vivek was building the Northern lights and fire works. Later on develop of the scenes I was tasked with making the day light scene as well. I was super excited to working on daylighting.

[idpgroup4blog]

Later I created a material and used it as my landscape material which turned out really good as our scenes shifts from day to night and the sand has to look believable. I built the layers of sand with base colour and normal maps for the pile layers and dirt and debris. The reflections and the scenes began looking better after every attempt I made. We had a review sessions to check on progress and corrections and got great feedback on the normal height and the look and feel of the scene.

[idpgroup4blog]

These were the first test shots made for the project, after the group meet on Friday we decided the roles and how to work will be divided. My role was to assemble the environment in unreal engine 5 and also to make an environment which was desert in our project. This was my first time using a height map data from Google maps and use it in engine. It was fun working with others and building an environment. I also got tons of help from Vivek for base lighting and rendering the test shot for the presentation.

[idpgroup4blog]

Ideas that were cut

Libbie Russell

As an idea I suggested we include possibly some camels and their human companions. If not that then we could include the animals as a means of how the audience travelled to the point in the desert. I also suggested as one of the view points we could of had a camel and a person sat on a hilltop watching the fireworks. However this idea was a bit too complicated to be included.

Another idea that was scrapped was a meteor shower. Even though in the beginning it seemed like a good idea and would be very visually pleasing; it would also contribute to a shocking reaction to the audience. It did not make the cut as a meteor shower mixed with fireworks and the northern lights would of been too much to include into a short space of time.

[idpgroup4blog]

Panorama

Libbie Russell

Here I wanted to show all the images together and how they connect. I also wanted to challenge myself and show what it would look like with the time of day changing over it all.

[idpgroup4blog]

Night Concept

Libbie Russell

I transformed the daytime scenes into night. The campfire is lit with ashes flying. In the distance we have the northern lights, to add more to the scene and add a wonder that not everyone can see or experience.

Fireworks will be seen coming from the distant village which the audience will be able to see.

What I want to do next is a panorama of the scene from day to light.

[idpgroup4blog]

Daytime concept

Libbie Russell

After feedback for our starting ideas I then tried to draw up the concept for the view points in daytime. I was advised to make the view point first person and give it a flatter perspective as if I was standing in the desert. For the front view point we thought on having a campfire instead of just a plain view of the desert. That way when we show this place at night the fire will be lit.

As for the oasis I was advised to bring it closer and make it bigger as well as have the water dip into the sand so it didn't look so flat on top of the sand. I also added a reflection as you would see one from where the audience are standing.

The view point from behind, we decided on a tent. As a group we stopped and thought that just standing in the middle of the desert doesn't make sense. Furthermore, we thought of someone going for a trip or they have gone for the fireworks display from the far away village. In the end we believed that a tent makes sense to have.

As for the village view, we wanted it to look like the audience were camping out on a hill far from the village to get a good view.

This is all very challenging for me as I have never done landscape art nor am I the best at perspective. This is something I want to get better at and I feel this project has pushed me to give it a go. To continue with the concept I will make a night time concept.

[idpgroup4blog]

First concepts

Libbie Russell

I started to rough sketch the basic idea for what we want our immersive experience to be. We want to display a 360 degree desert experience. Our desert will change with the time of day. We will show what the desert looks like in the day and how active it becomes on the night. The 5th view will be a sky view with either the sun or moon. After receiving feedback from the group we felt that the back view (bottom image) was too far away and needed to be brought closer. We also wanted to test out if pyramids would work next to the village view.

After comparing the two. We all preferred the second concept just without the pyramids. As a collective we felt that the pyramids didn't work in terms of perspective with the village. Moving forward I will concept the desert in colour in the day and do one for when it is at night. I also want to produce a panorama with the scene blending from day to night.

[idpgroup4blog]

Ideas for the project

Vivek Raj

These are the ideas that I came up with for the project.

1. MORPHING DESERT & SKY

This is an idea that visualizes the phrase “Sky is your canvas”. As artists, we’ve all looked at the vast empty sky and tried to fill it with something beautiful, something out of this world, and wondered what lies above and beyond that emptiness. 

This would work perfectly in a vast area with a clear sky, like a desert, I meant this idea to work as a showcase of creativity and limitless imagination of the individuals. It could range from realistic sky phenomenons to stylistic animations happening within a desert environment that could morph to fit the sky art.

I believe this would allow each artist to showcase their individual creativity as well as create something beautiful as there is no fixed theme, it could be abstract visual effects or animations or objective real-world phenomenons. 

     

2.  EXPLODING VOLCANO

This idea is more along the lines of the wrath of nature. It visualizes the eruption of a volcano. It could be from a human POV showing an event similar to the one that occurred in Pompeii, or it could be more like the scene from the movie “Journey to the center of the Earth” where it’s more like a ride through the volcano tube.

This might be a bit more ambitious than my previous idea as there are a lot of technical aspects yet to be explored within this.

References:

Winiarczyk, M. (2014). Night of the Northern Lights. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVsONlc3OUY.‌

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). NOX ATACAMA | 8K. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2D7jHfitzk.‌

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Khonshu Turning Back The Night Sky Scene | Moon Knight Episode 3 | 4K HDR. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPnGHKVlECY.

capukino (2016). the eruption of vesuvius. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDB1fWOwM3M.

‌Movieclips (2015). Journey to the Center of the Earth (10/10) Movie CLIP - Skull Ride (2008) HD. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzeYdxu9S3o.

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). FULL VERSION | China Shocks The World with Amazing Fireworks Show | Chongqing 2023. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM05XcEC8eM.

[idpgroup4blog]

Starting ideas for the project

Rohit Gurumith Singh

In the first session of the Practice 2 Module, we discussed about immersive experiences and were asked to group up to come up with our own ideas and pitch it during next week's seminar.

Everyone came up with their own ideas and here are mine :

WORMHOLE TRIP :

I've always been a fan of space and wormholes in general. so i thought we would be able to execute that in this interdisciplinary project and pitched it to the group.

The concept behind this is pretty simple. we create a wormhole loop in either blender or unreal engine, and the user gets to float and hover anywhere in the wormhole, look around etc.

I wanted to add some additional touches and detailing to it such as - if the user tries to break out of the wormhole by touching the sides, they end up in a different world for a split second and get pulled right back into the wormhole. and when they try to break out again, they end up in another world different to the first one. i got this idea from the movie "Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" where there is a scene of the protagonists having an interdimensional jump to different universes.

Unfortunately this idea didnt make it to the final picks since it was over ambitious and it we dont really have the time to design a whole new environment for everytime the user touches the wormhole.

2. PAINTING-CEPTION :

This was another cool concept and idea which we had already seen on instagram and tiktok before but we thought it would also be pretty cool to bring that idea to life since it perfectly matches the brief as well. here is an example of the concept

It would pretty much be the same as this but instead of zooming in manually, we would have the camera take us for a trip through the painting-ception.

We dont plan to construct all the environments in 3D as that would be very time consuming, but we plan on making handdrawn environments and then exporting them into blender as a plane and give it a slightly 3D look by extruding some faces and edges.

We are still not sure if we want to pick this as one of the 3 final selected ideas but we plan on making that decision soon.

REFERENCES :

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Blender - Organic Eevee Animation Loop (Blender 2.8). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/3eXXqK69i_c [Accessed 27 Jan. 2023].

Raimi, S. (2022). Dr.Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. United States [Accessed 27 Jan. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Inception Art. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/XjULlgemGtg [Accessed 27 Jan. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Turn a 2D painting into 3D environment - Powerful BLENDER Techniques. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/Ff0aobJRSNc [Accessed 27 Jan. 2023].