The Temples of Syrinx(TM) by Bent Vector Studios
At midnight on the Eve of the Red Star, the high priest and his cohort enter the Temple of Syrinx to carry out their arcane ritual of human sacrifice. The chosen one calmly stands by, waiting to be released from this life into eternity with the red god. When the moon is aligned with the dead planet Syrinx, the sacrifice will be completed and the Brotherhood of the Red Star will be able to safely rule in peace for another 17 years - until the moon and Syrinx align once again and the ritual must be repeated.
Inspiration/concept art:
Inspiration/concept art:
Replies
Scene Description
As midnight approaches on the Eve of the Red Star, the high priest and his cohort enter the Temple of Syrinx to carry out their arcane ritual of human sacrifice. The chosen one calmly kneels before the priest, waiting to be released from this life and into eternity with the red god. When the moon is aligned with the dead planet Syrinx, the sacrifice will be completed and the Brotherhood of Syrinx will be able to safely rule in peace for another 17 years - until the moon and Syrinx align once again and the ritual must be carried out. As Syrinx rises and the moon sets, the priest begins to raise the sacrificial knife, chanting endless words of adoration to the red god in a language long forgotten. The chosen one bows her head, staring silently at the old, blackened blood of her predecessors that stains the perfectly-hewn stones of the temple, knowing with certainty that she will soon join them at the feet of the red god.
Scene Analysis
I have attempted to use only moonlight and fire to light the entire scene. The ambient source was set to a dark, starry skybox with a red nebula and an intensity of 0.5. The direct lighting of the moon is set to pure white with an intensity of 0.33. This gives the cold feel that can be seen on the outer areas that don't receive any fire light. All of the shadows, textures, etc. were set to the highest resolution values supported by my hardware (usually 4096, 16x Aniso.). Light probes were added to the entire lower area near the water to improve performance.
In this first image, you can see the Red Star symbol made entirely of emissive red light and heavily bloomed. The braziers cast shadows from both their internal flames and the directional light of the moon. I used the standard Advanced Fire particle set with some modifications to reduce the smoke levels to give more of a coal-fire feel. The entire scene is reflected in Unity Pro water with no refraction. All of the materials in the original Courtyard scene were modified slightly to change their metallness and smoothness so that some darker areas of the scene received more bounced light. I built a few humans using Adobe Fuse (which is currently FREE, BTW!) and animated them using Mixamo (also currently FREE with Fuse). They still use legacy textures (not PBR) and don't render quite as nicely, but look fine for this scene.
This second image shows the bloom filter on the two emissive spotlights that light up the red star banners. The spotlights have a hard edge cookie texture assigned to them to give a more halogen/hard feel to them. The banners themselves are made from a simple plane imported from 3DS max with the cloth script attached. I then constrained 3 points along the top of each banner to keep them from falling and added a bit of external and random acceleration. Unity doesn't provide a good way to keep the banners from going into the wall, so screenshots had to be correctly timed. This image also uses quite a bit of depth-of-field to blue the foreground, drawing the eye to the scene in the center. You can also see the contrast between the same materials lit with moonlight and fire light in this capture.
This image was taken from higher up, sort of where a brave, cocky crow might be sitting, waiting for any leftovers from the sacrifice. Most of the light in this image is cold, moon light, but the viewer can still see the warm fire light far below. A clear, full reflection of the red star logo can be seen in the water.
This image was taken from even higher up, where a smaller, less brave crow might be sitting, also waiting for any leftovers from the sacrifice, but unlikely to get them. Once again, most of the light in this image is cold, moon light, but the viewer can still see the warm fire light far below. The contrast between the dark sky and the sand dunes lit by moonlight can also be clearly seen here.
This final image is taken from the heart of the scene. The chosen one can be seen patiently waiting for the planetary alignment so she can join the red god in eternity. The blood of previous sacrifices can be seen marring the perfection of the courtyard stones, long dried and blackened in the red light of the star. The prime moment is nearly at hand!