EXPLORING VFX IN UNREAL ENGINE 5
SequenceMaster_.mp4OVERVIEW
For this project I wanted to explore Unreal Engine 5 in greater depth than I already have. I particularly wanted to explore different methods and approaches to creating element effects such as flowing water, waterfalls, fire, smoke, fog and cloud. The reason why I wanted to explore this is few reasons such as:
To Further develop my skills and knowledge as an Environment Artist
To experiment creating different VFX and simulations so that I am more prepared for my major project
And so that I have some more content to put in my portfolio
PROCESS
The following shots are a peak in to some of the processes I have taken to create some of the VFX for this project. A large portion of the VFX I created for this project are created using the Niagara System in Unreal Engine 5. The Niagara System is made up of 3 sections which contribute to making a simulation. The first being the System itself which acts as a container for the simulation. The second is an Emitter which contain modules of the simulation and third is the modules which control the behaviours of the Emitters. Each simulation can have one or multiple Emitters to make up a simulation. For example a flame you might have one Emitter for the flame and another Emitter for the smoke of that same flame and both of these Emitters would be contained in the same System.
RESULTS
(Experimentation with light)
SequenceMaster_2.mp4(Fire)
SequenceMaster_10.mp4(River)
SequenceMaster_17.mp4(Volumetric Fog)
SequenceMaster_15.mp4(Cloud)
COLLABORATION
Final Pass.mp4(In this collaboration I created this scene using Megascans in Unreal Engine 5. The audio for this project was organised by Shaun Porter)
PREVIOUS/OTHER WORK
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
The 3D model for these few shots was sourced from Adobe. The texturing for these shots were done in Substance Painter and the backgrounds were put together in Procreate.
STYLE GUIDE FOR CAPSTONE PROJECT
Style Guide Highlander.pdfREFLECTION
This trimester has been a very fun trimester to explore Unreal Engine 5. I particularly liked having the flexibility in this project to focus on a high amount of deliberate practice. I feel that by doing this I didn't get to bogged down with academic research. This really helped me to focus on developing the skills and knowledge that were directly related to what I wanted to learn and allowed me to focus on getting better at my craft. One of the challenges I came across in this project was the TDR settings in Windows. The main challenge is the default settings don't allow enough time to render your scene in the view-port especially when you have a dense scene full of expensive assets and simulations. This ultimately leads to Windows automatically triggering Unreal Engine to crash. However I found a great tutorial that helped me overcome this challenge by leading me through the process of changing the TDR settings. This allows your scene more time to render in the view-port and for me has been a game changer in helping with the stability of Unreal Engine 5 on my computer. This has allowed me to be able to work on visual effects and simulations with more ease. Throughout this project I have learned about the Niagara System that is made up of the system itself, the emitters and the modules that make up the behaviours of those emitters. These three things together are what create a particle simulation effect within Unreal Engine 5. I also explored a few other tools within Unreal Engine that allow you to create oceans, rivers, volumetric fog and clouds. After completing this project I feel more confident in navigating through some of the simulations effects and feel that I have enough knowledge and skill to start applying these skills to future work. This project has been especially helpful to me and a good lead into my capstone project for my final trimester.
