Invasion [UE5 environment]
polycounter lvl 7
I'm starting a new mini environment piece in UE5. I'm trying to push my cinematic lighting skills and get better with trim sheets. I'm pretty much finished with the blockout phase and have added some lighting to try and capture the overall mood. What do you think about the lighting/composition so far?
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This is a really cool start! I like where it's headed, looking forward to seeing it develop :)
You likely already had this in mind but not yet blocked out, but more bent/damaged beams and conduit could help direct focus even further. Do you have a color palette in mind? You could use volumetric fog to draw focus away from the end of the tunnel in the far back of this shot, as the leading lines point my eyes that way and I don't think it's as interesting a focal point as the crash site.
Just some thoughts, hopefully it helps. Keep it up!
@Zott Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely work on the 'entrance wound' and try to frame the ship better.
I threw on some megascans mats just to try and get some more mood in the lighting. What do you guys think? Too heavy on the volumetrics? I plan on having a hazy environment because the impact kicked up a bunch of particulates.
Reminds me of On A Rail/Power Up in Half Life, and the tone that the Black Mesa team went with for that game. Heavy volumetrics were a big part of Black Mesa's style, so maybe worth looking to see how they used it. At the moment you are setting a very moist tone. For dust and such I think larger, localised particles would be better.
The crash doesn't read very well to me, I keep thinking it's an elevator. Understanding that it's still just a blockout though.
My thoughts exactly @rexo12
@Rektum i dont want to de-rail (pun intended) from your initial idea but i think the scale of it all is kinda cramped and making the tunnel a bit wider would aid the composition a lot. Just a thought.
Are you using any refs? If so i am curious of what they consist of, just to get an idea of where this is going
@rexo12 It DOES look like an elevator XD I can see what you mean about the haze looking moist. I'll probably work more on that down the line. I'm hoping I can improve the look with the techniques I found here:
@teodar23 Thanks for the feedback! I totally agree with you about the space. I opened it up and I think it's looking much better. As far as refs, I'll throw up the refboards I'm using for the project. I don't have anything specific I'm working from. Just a general direction.
Here are my refs
Here's just a rough sketch I did for the dropship
I think the fog is a little strong, particularly near the camera. I would also try using vfx or fog sheets (subtlety is key). Adding some particle size variation with them might work well. Also try adjusting the color the fog. Water vapor or mist is often white, while dust or dirt particulates can have a slight red, orange, brown, etc. hue to them.
It also seems like the shape of the tunnel is a bit squashed in z axis as well. If you raised the ceiling a bit it would help create the overall circle/arched profile of a tunnel like in some of your references. I mainly mention that because I think it can give a bit more space to the drop ship vertically, and thus help its readability.