What I did:
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Rigorously planned the animation's environment in collaboration with an environmental artist, with few restrictions, from initial concept to final product
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Achieved close aesthetic narrative with extensive asset placement and adjustment
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Provided clear visibility, cinematic quality, and artistic appeal through conscious creation and adjustment of lighting + environmental visual effects
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Software: UE5, Blueprints, PureRef​​​
Blockout
Initial Blockout
​I was tasked with designing the space in which the two characters would be fighting in through collaboration with our Environment Artist. We decided that it would need to be an interior space due to the unnecessary scope an exterior space would incur, and we had to keep a cyberpunk-dystopian vibe in mind. A factory felt most appropriate, with the idea that the antagonistic cyborg would've been made or experimented on in this location, and was now guarding it and the batteries in his possession.
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I took inspiration from existing architecture for warehouses, factories, and brutalist buildings (specifically those in Russia). ​Some wants from the team included abundant plantlife, lighting contrast, and a late-stage cyberpunk setting. Taking all of this into account. I blocked out two environments to start with, then refined and eventually merged them.​​​​
The design began with two different styles of architecture; the left being brutalist, and the right being industrial.
This final iteration of the environment blockout combines several ideas from the previous ones — holes in the ceiling for ambient light, an industrial shell with a brutalist structure, plenty of space to add/subtract/move anything needed by the director and animators, and spaces for details.
I chose to use extremely large pipe structures for the lateral visual breakup and the general "factory-ness" of them, as well as the possibility for added motion through steam and water drips. It was important to leave a fairly wide space on the ground for the combat to take place in, but I was otherwise free to do as I wished.
Set Dressing and Lighting
Set Dressing, First Pass
I began by dressing the factory as it might have been before war and time destroyed it; clean lines, groupings of pipes, intact structures. At this time, my goal was to replace the whitebox with appropriate assets and to fill in any gaps in my whitebox.​​​​
I ended up using a wide variety of assets from at least 5 asset packs and a broad assortment of Megascans assets.
Feedback notes
Set Dressing, Last Pass
The second pass was dedicated to destroying structures, getting the scene properly dirtied up, applying decals, and finalizing the lighting. Here, I went all-in on the destruction, cutting holes into objects and applying decals everywhere.
Unfortunately there were a plethora of issues with Unreal switching to Fab right at the end of this pass, which caused problems when using any of the decals and Megascans assets (there's a lot of those). Luckily, I was able to overcome these issues with a minimal loss of quality and a better grasp on timescales for set dressing.​​​​
The stark light shafts were removed in favor of more moody and atmospheric lighting. Although the light shafts were nice, they focused the eye on too many different elements of the environment — and not enough on the characters the animation is about!
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I decided to really go all-out with the set dressing for this environment, fully understanding that much of it would not be seen in the animation. However, I knew it could be felt; the simple act of continuing an environment past where the player can see helps tremendously in retaining the feeling that the environment isn't just there for the viewer. Plus, it makes for some fantastic screenshots! ​
Blueprinting
Blueprinting
Made a blueprint for a swinging, flickering light fixture. I made this blueprint to further my blueprinting knowledge while providing some extra motion to the scene. While the final video may not need the extra motion in the background, I knew it would still be helpful for any stationary videos and the code could be used for other projects.​​​
