Ancient Egyptian Pyramids

​

 

 

 

​This example stood out to me amongst the 

vast array of videos available on the subject of 

recreating buildings and environments in

Unreal Engine because, I was fascinated with

the image on the video and wanted to learn

how they managed to accurately recreate the

Egyptian pyramids.

 

Things that stood out to me whilst watching the video documenting the creation of the pyramids were, the person recreating the famous landmark used several different pieces of software the most prominent and one that I need to consider is the 3D modelling software that I need to use, they used Blender and although Blender is a good choice I believe that I would personally adopt a more industry standard piece of software such as Maya. Another thing that stood out was that they used Google Maps as reference to the buildings and also the terrain, this allowed for a more accurate landscape as well as allowing the artist to be able to visualise the pyramids without having to travel to Egypt to take first hand photos and videos, I do not feel that I need to consider this as I will not be recreating landscapes but instead recreating a buildings so this may not be helpful to me now but may do in future.

​

Whilst viewing the process of recreation I learnt about the several ways of using references, they mentioned about using Google Maps for the main landscape however they also mentioned that they often use pre-built assets from places such as Sketch-Up in their professional job and this got me thinking that I could possibly use image examples of standard items such as chairs, tables for when it comes to recreating objects in Maya ready for the implementation into Unreal. I thought this was a very stand out piece of information because as this is my first time working in Unreal and also 3D assets I may need to use references for not only the layout of my building but also the assets that will be found throughout the building as well.

​

So, what will I be bringing from this example into my own project?. I will be adopting several practices from this example to better adjust my work style and also my outcome, this will include using reference images for the assets that I will be needing to recreate in Maya and also I will be looking into texturing because the person in the video said that they used Adobe Substance and then created several layers of texturing to add depth and clarity to their models, so I will be adopting a similar software and will be using layers of textures to create a more detailed model, because I need to recreate my building as accurately as possible.

​

​

​

Hogwarts Castle

 

This example stood out to me because the 3D

artist is trying to recreate a fictional building

using only image references as this building

does not exist in the real world, this is something

that will link closely to my project because

although I will not be recreating a fictional

building, I will be using a lot of image and video

references to recreate my building.

​

Whilst watching the video, I picked up on a lot of practices that I should take or at least consider when it comes to modelling my assets and also implementing my assets into Unreal. Some of these include start the modelling with basic shapes, this allows for a basic layout of the building that is being recreated and also helps visualise the building ready for the introduction the 3D modelled assets. This video also talks about how to setup and create an immersive environment and atmosphere from depth of field, to fog and also to lighting, just like the previous video did, although some of these may not be applicable to my interior recreation I still need to consider lighting as that is ultimately what makes the scene. Another piece that I picked up in this video was that I can use multiple different software to develop my 3D model and perfect it before importing it into Unreal Engine, the person in the video also uses 3ds Max just like in the Pyramid video and Adobe Substance, I may have to adopt a similar style as each piece of software has there own uses, so I will be using Maya for my 3D modelling and then using Unreal to develop my interior building. Referring to the processes needed to complete the project, I learnt that I need to have patience and I need to focus on the task at hand because as seen in this video the modelling alone took over five hours to complete, so I will need to ensure that my project is ambitious but not too ambitious that I am spending days just working on 3D models.

​

Just like the previous video, the person uses an array of references images and videos, so I will be taking this forward into my project because it is a tried and tested way of gathering the information needed to recreate environments. In addition, I will focus on lighting to fully enhance and showcase my interior and maybe considering depth of field depending on what building I am going to recreate and if it is needed for the project. I feel that by adding lighting and fog or depth of field you really make the building more detailed and true to life because if I was to recreate an interior in a skyscraper I would need to consider how lighting reflects and refracts off of clouds and how this would look from the inside of the building. 

 

 

 

​Titanic Unreal Engine Experience

 

The last video that I looked at caught my attention just

like the Hogwarts video, because the Titanic is not open

to the public because obviously it is at the bottom of the

ocean and only a handful of reference images are

available online, so I was curios as to how the team

managed to recreate the Titanic and its many interiors

to such a high quality and standard.

​

​

​

Now the video itself is just a showcase of the Titanic Unreal Engine project and does not document the creation process, however, after conducting further investigation into this project I was able to find an online article about this project, which details how the creation came about and what tools the team used to successfully recreate the Titanic.

​

The online article can be found here: https://www.unrealengine.com/pt-BR/spotlights/walking-the-titanic-recreating-history-with-a-vr-experience 

​

The online article says that the team behind this project contacted and used several sources for reference images and information, 'the team has tapped historians, writers, artists, and collectors to amass a comprehensive collection of plans, photos, interviews, and other documentation related to the Titanic’s design.' (De Ken Pimentel, 2019). This caught my attention because I will be needing to do the same for my building recreation, I will need to use video and image references in order to make my interior building as accurate as possible and this just goes to show that image and video references are commonly used when trying to create buildings and interiors in Unreal, because the past two videos have also used references.

 

Furthermore, further down the article the reporter says that the team relied on Unreal Engines Blueprints, in order to develop videos and cutscenes of the Titanic, 'the team relied heavily on Blueprints, Unreal Engine’s visual scripting language' (De Ken Pimentel, 2019), however, I will not be needing to create videos or cutscenes for this project, but this is something to bear in mind when it comes to later projects where I will be required to use blueprinting in order to develop and animate scenes.

​

From this article and video I will be adopting the following to ensure that my project runs smoothly and also to a high professional standard, I will be using image and video references as well as blueprints for the interiors of my building and also using Maya to design and create my 3D models.

​

​​

Bibliography

​​

Adam Z - Learn Archviz (2024) Amazing Re-Creation of Ancient Egyptian Pyramids in VR | Unreal Engine 5. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x56hxSGsgzQ. [Accessed 10th September 2024]

​

Adam Z - Learn Archviz (2024) I Re-Created Hogwarts in Unreal Engine 5 and It Looks Awesome! #hogwarts. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s4Thc1hDh0&t=670s. [Accessed 10th September 2024]

​

Alpha Beta Gamer (2023) Titanic: Project 401 - Photorealistic Exploration of The Most Faithful Replica of Titanic Ever Made!. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFM4oUSm6p4. [Accessed 13th September 2024]

​

De Ken Pimentel (2019) Walking the Titanic: recreating history with a VR experience. Available from: https://www.unrealengine.com/pt-BR/spotlights/walking-the-titanic-recreating-history-with-a-vr-experience. [Accessed 13th September 2024]

​

​

​

​