Treasure Box

[audio on]

About the Project

OVERVIEW:

I wanted to focus on a few things for this project. First, the hero asset in the treasure box - modeled in Maya, details sculpted in Zbrush, textured using Substance Painter and Photoshop and then assembled, animated and rendered in Unreal Engine. Next, I wanted to create an environment fitting of that asset; a design that felt a bit mysterious, dangerous and sought after. Something you might expect to find by following a red "X" on a treasure map that was buried for thousands of years and found. Within that environment I focused particularly on lighting, water effects and atmospheric elements. Once rendered, I did some color grading and correction using DaVinci Resolve, in addition to building the audio composition. I ran into a couple of stumbling blocks with render settings and output, but eventually found a work around that I was happy with.

SOFTWARE USED:

MODELING/SCULPTING (Main Asset):

Modeling: Autodesk Maya

Sculpting: Zbrush

Texturing: Substance Painter & Photoshop

ENVIRONMENT BUILD + WATER & FOILAGE:

I used several asset packs from the UE5 marketplace as well as Quixel to populate the scene. Each rock, plant, and vine were placed by hand. I used Water Materials and Water Plane packages for the lake and waterfall adding splash effects at the base of the waterfall to get the look feel I was looking for.

LIGHTING & FOG:

Lighting was achieved with your standard directLight, SkyAtmosphere, SkyLight setup with an ExponentialHeightFog node creating the fog along with a PostProcessVolume. I used light linking to get the desired outcome that I wanted on certain assets. The god rays were generated through a combination of the ExponentialHeightFog, directLight, and a "light beam" static mesh with a material that looks like direct, dense fog.

The candles and torch both contained light function materials that created a flicker effect. I created the flame of the candles in Substance Designer to start, and then build out the material in UE. See below.

Candle Material Build

Candle/Torch Light Function Material (Flicker)

Funneled through the light function material of the point lights

VFX (Atmospheric Dust):

The atmospheric dust was created using the Niagra particle system. Using a circular soft alpha, I adjusted the velocity, force and life span of the particles to provide movement, while adjusting their color range, alpha, and randomized sizing to get the look feel. Additionally, they have a slight emissive value to give them a mild pop in the air.

RENDERING & ANIMATION (Unreal Engine):

I used a PostProcessVolume and a Cinematic Camera to provide the lens settings and Depth of Field. EXR Renders were created using a Sequencer.
The lid of the treasure box was animated and cut to the audio
The scene is fully "playable". I currently have it setup for a 3rd-person experience