Unreal Engine
Showreel
Summary
This term I developed my Narcissus project in UE5 step by step. The main idea was to build a quiet environment and use visuals to support the theme of self-focus and emotion. I learned that good results come from clear planning, fast workflow, and many small tests.
In the early stage, I built the environment with Unreal’s Landscape tools. I shaped mountains around the scene, hills in the middle, and a small lake. At that time, my main problems were slow terrain editing and weak landscape materials. To improve this, I tested the M4 landscape system, which helped me get a richer terrain look faster and made my workflow more efficient. I also explored basic Control Rig ideas in Unreal, mainly to understand how UE can support quick character tests.
After the terrain base was ready, I focused on set dressing. I used PCG to generate trees and rocks to cover large areas quickly. For flowers, I used the Foliage tool and adjusted scale, Z offset, and density to make them sit better on the ground. I also placed bushes and small assets by hand to break repetition and guide the viewer’s eye.
For the water, I used Fluid Flux to create a small calm lake. I did not add interaction, because I wanted still water and a controlled mood. To save performance, I cached the Fluid Flux result into textures (like ground/height/velocity) so the scene could use the data without heavy real-time simulation.
Later, I developed lighting and camera. I tested dynamic lighting and used Post Process to control the overall look. I learned how important it is to balance mood and clarity. For camera language, I used many quick cuts between the character and the lake area, especially switching between “the image” and “the real subject”, to make the theme clearer. I tried to keep shots readable and purposeful, based on the tutorial feedback.
In Week 10, I created character animation in Maya. I downloaded a character asset, rigged it with the ADV plugin, filmed reference, and keyed the animation. Then I baked and exported it as Alembic (.abc) and brought it into UE to test animation and materials inside the real environment.
In the final stage, I focused on post-processing and finishing. I shaped the mood in Unreal first, then did more careful work in After Effects for compositing, and used Premiere Pro for editing and final colour correction. Overall, this project taught me how to connect environment, animation, lighting, camera, and post into one consistent visual story.
