Summer Nights - UE5 (Day Time)

3 Weeks
Let’s Get Physical! After a very busy but highly motivational summer I am happy to finally be able to share the first part of a day/night story I have been cooking up. What happens when a botany student and jock go out to conduct some "field studies" on a quiet summer night at Bears Wood camp? Be sure to stick around to find out!

My goals for the project were to fully encapsulate the feeling of vintage Kodak style film renders to really set the scene for Danny and Sandys campsite in the 1970s. I also wanted to push to learn how to model a larger variety of foliage including ferns, clovers and vertex paintable trees (with billboards!). Optimisation was also key to ensure the vast woodlands have minimal tris + alpha overdraw to make room for more budget for my hero campsite assets (looking at you beer cooler).

One of my greatest struggles was conveying a strong narrative with my composition and making the scene look more lived in + obvious as to who (and what may be lurking). For that I want to deeply thank the Beyond Extent Community for the brilliant feedback alongside everyone else who helped shape the project (it has come a long way). Alongside Ajay Hiser for helping start the snowball of narrative for these two campers. :D

Night-time variant in the works!

Song - Physical by Olivia Newton-John
Forest Sounds Ambience – The Guild of Ambience
VHS Sound Effect - Crazyjedi5