Thesis Production Update #4
Intro:
It's been awhile since I've made a post on my thesis progress! This has been a wild, crazy summer for multiple reasons. I moved from one quarter of the country to the other (for a dream internship at 343 Industries) while working through a summer quarter of classes! Above you see a test capture of some footage from within my scene. A LOT has changed since I last posted. And I am close to the final results.
(Image above is the establishing shot of the village)
Catching Up:
The last time I posted a blog update, I was roughly playing around with blocking out a beautiful corner of my scene. I have since decided to build off of that beautiful corner instead of using the original city layout of the Scandinavian Village. I preferred the newer composition found within the beautiful corner.
(Image above is a shot of the Farmhouse)
Focal points of the Scene:
Going forward, I would like to focus on the development of 5 focal points in the environment:
- The Establishing Shot/Overall Environment
- The Hilltop
- The Farmhouse
- The Marketplace
- The Church
All of these focus shots are at different stages of development so far. As foliage is the most recent addition to my scene, I feel like the general aesthetic and establishing shots are really close to where I want them, but closer hard surface details for the marketplace and church are still missing to an extent. The next few weeks will shift my work away from the establish shots of the village/hilltop, and instead begin to push the marketplace and church so that they standout as narrative elements that showcase the culture of the Scandinavian People
(Image above is a shot of the Hilltop)
Skies, Clouds, Trees and Rocks:
I've really spent a lot of time implementing natural assets into the scene to give it a believable outdoor look. The sky has been continuously adapting to my changes in lighting, and I've utilized sky-cards throughout the sky to create a sense of depth to it. As I continue to change the lighting slightly I will also continue to develop the sky further. Skyboxes have always been an area of environments that have fascinated me, especially as a fan of Bungie and their brilliant skies created in the Halo and Destiny franchises.
As I began to utilize quixel megascans foliage assets, my environment really started to become more grounded. Having dynamic grass on the ground really allowed the lighting to show through the environment much more clearly than it was previously. Similar to the sky, I will continue to develop the foliage and make additional passes to the environment over the final few weeks of development.
(The Church is still only blocked out in the back left of the village. The development of the architectural assets for it will be my immediate focus going forward)
I essentially have another 10 weeks to further develop the environment along with finish my Thesis Research Paper. But I will likely submit my final works within the next 5 weeks so that I can focus on my internship this fall. My immediate attention will be on fleshing out the village and building the church. Along the way I'll make additional environmental changes as well.
We're getting close :)