Hey guys. New on the forum, although I have been dabbling in UDK for some years already.
Just wanted to show of a short teaser from my Master project where I am doing a movie from the game engine. It is done as a “proof of concept” piece for real time rendering as well as working within UE4 and its pipeline. Therefore its temp assets, animation and lighting but I’m really happy with it and definitely think I have got some atmosphere. Have had the storyboards and “mood-board” ready for some time but the actual production of this piece was around one week.
The final project will be a short film of 2-3 minutes which is made in UE4. The whole reason for this is because I wish to look more on the applications of game engines and real-time calculation, instead of rendering the basis of one 3D program then composite in other applications. This is a sample of one of the sequences (which will be different in the finished film) were I wanted to test out the structure before I start on the actual short film. Storyboard, plot, gantt-charts and character design is already finalized. So now I just have to make it (famous last words, I know!)
Have a look and let me know what you think. All feedback and tips are more then welcome.
Thought I would just break down who I spent the week. It took longer then a week but in total I spent around five days on this piece.
Day One was “whiteboxing” the room, where I blocked it out and try to get a feel for the place. I also added some default props for as fast decoration.
Day Two was was spent making assets for the sequence. This included making around 10-12 different assets (pizzabox, takeawaybag, plates, boards, cans and bottles) done in 3ds max.
Day Three was lighting pass and trying to understand the lighting tools in UE4.
Day Four was dedicated too animating and working in Matinee. Camera anim was created earlier but tweaked and added everything else. Special effects/lighting, drawer and door anim and off course the monster.
Day Five was rendering everything out to .png files. Adding it to After Effects with all sounds created by splicing sound clips in Audacity.
Thank you Arendt and I completely agree. The audio is gonna be redone with the help of some sound designers that I am gonna work with at a later stage.
The sounds that are in there now are temp so I could show the style and mood I was going for as well as give it to people so they know where and what I kinda want. Its nothing truly interesting about the piece now, so I am trying different sounds so I can create my own atmosphere and ambiance. Right now, its to cliche but its there. =)
It seems to me you’re heading in a good direction, but i would just mention the fact that the name of Spellborn is a name which was allready used by the game of “The Chronicles of Spellborn”.
The dutch company no longer exists, but the name is something which brings back good memorys of my ingame playtime there.
There’s also a website and forum called spellborn related to the game of TCOS, I would suggest using a different name for your project,
people might think it’s a revival of their favourite game TCOS.
Been tons of work lately but I final have some downtime =)
I know of the game “Spellborn” but this is a different style, theme and story so I don’t feel that its stepping on their toes. Its like calling your project “Avatar” or “Soldier”. Had I called it “The Secret World” or “Something Chutullu” then I would have been more cautious but I appreciate the comment. =)
As of update on this project, its been a bit slow but I am now getting things up to speed. Most assets are in the game (or at least in production)
I am using temp characters. They will probably stay the same shape and size, but I will change their clothes and some appearance to fit the mood as well as giving them a slight futuristic look. My project concentrates on the use of the pipeline rather then making the assets, so I have “chart blanche” on most assets though I try to make as many of them I can myself. At the moment I am focusing on getting most assets into the scene, so I can start animating and editing cameras then tweak the assets up until deadline.
Also with me I have a sound designer making a custom sound-score/ambient sounds as well as foley work/dialogue.
Got the character in their places and working on angles and camera shots now. There is about two scenes into the story (Point of no return) and is that the gang is now in their hideout when they get attacked by the “monster”. This is the most demanding scene (for now) so getting this done is 1, Pri.
Going to rig/skin and start animating the characters this week. Anyone know of a good tutorial for setting up animations in the matinee. Going to try this one tomorrow, but if you have any tips. Please do share.
Also UE4 crashes when I add a sound-layer in Matinee, or more when I start scrubbing immediately after. Anybody know a work around for this? Going to try new versions as I am still on 4.2.1 and it happens in a new clean scene as well.
Haha… I know! Its going to be a bit different but the story only serves as a vehicle for the production pipeline. The main story has an start, mid and an ending so Im happy with that. If you care to spice it up/or have any good ideas I am all ears
This is a rough cut of the short and there is still two more weeks left so expect some heavy editing, awesome music and more/better animations!
You can see it here:
Stuff that will change:
Models are taken from misc free sites and will be changed to better fit the setting. This will include mesh changes/optimizing and textures. Assets are done by me but I will make tons more for the final version. Signs, pipes/doors and windows are in the works as we speak. (Definitely windows!)
The angles and editing will also change a little as well as the lighting that needs some serious reworking as its to flat and not as impact-full as I want now. Lighting is the biggest hurdle in UE4 so far as its quite random like it looks good in the engine but gets super dark in the preview/export. Must investigate further.
Music and sound effects are in the works as I have a sound designer on the project. Dialogue is also getting done as I am only using text to speech to have something in there.
All in all, I am quite pleased with this short but cant wait to add more.
Also if you have some ideas or some good matinee/camera tutorials, come with them. Unreal is super-friendly so love working in this engine!
A very nice start! I think a few extra decals here and there, and you could turn this into something stunning (for example, breaking up the flat repetitive wall texture in the first shot with some grafitti, drainpipes and the like).
Its slowly getting there. I got a bug that makes Unreal crash when I start up Matinee so had to redo the cameras but that’s fine, since it gave me a shot at redoing the camera-structure and angles. I have been kinda patching stuff into each other and it was really dodgy so glad I got it a bit more organized. If anybody knows what caused this, please tell me. Would be good to know, as it did push me back a day
Updated the engine to 4.3.1 so haven’t had any trouble yet. In the meantime here are some screenshots from the new version and your first look at one of the tweaked characters.
Hi there! Thanks Sandboxgod! Yeah Its a workload but in about a months time, Im quite happy with the result. Just delivered today so here is the film all done.
(famous last words, I know!)
but awesome job man
