For my final thesis project in the VFX postgraduate course, I completed three works using Unreal Engine, each more advanced than the previous one.
My first project, Coffee Evening, involved experimenting with Unreal Engine 5, which was new to me at the time. It was my first step in familiarizing myself with the platform and understanding its capabilities. On this second project, Electric Shore, I focused on experimenting with particles and effects, adding models created entirely by me. The concept of Electric Shore was born from the idea of a short film I had planned to do as a thesis project, which, due to lack of time, was reduced to these three pieces.
In this environment, a robot character is shown by a campfire, surrounded by a natural world, devoid of electricity, but beautiful. The sequence ends when artificial light returns and revives the forest, also revealing stars and flying whales made of aerial plankton.
Although the character design and modeling of some props are entirely mine (created with Autodesk Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter), many of the assets that make up this environment are taken from Quixel and Sketchfab.
Unreal Engine 5 Visual Effects using Niagra
By this moment, I was more familiar with Unreal Engine thanks to Coffee Evening, so I was able to experiment much more with the Niagara particle system. I used these particles for the light bugs, whales, moths surrounding the robot’s battery, fog, lighting, and the water surrounding this island.
Through these projects, I was able to explore and learn a lot about Unreal Engine and the possibilities it offers for creating visual effects. Each work represented a step up in my knowledge and skills, leading me to produce increasingly complex and visually impactful pieces.
Final thoughts
I’ve worked on other environemnts as part of this very same project.
You can check them out here:
