What type of sequence do i want to create?
For my visual effect shot i would like to make a trailer / opening cutscene to my video game Astral Anomaly. I want to make something like this as it allows me to build tension without revelling the main threat. Meaning i can use tension and the sense of fear of the unknown. I can make a small scene that will show some gameplay mechanics and show the atmosphere of the game without ruining any of the story beats.
I wanted to make horror themed cinematic for the start of my game that could also be used as a trailer. I wanted it to be a similar experience to the Dead Space games and similar to the alien movies, and to avoid unnecessary work i made it so you cant see the monster. You can only see what has happened such as blood on floor and hear some noises that the monster is making. I want to make this cinematic very atmospheric meaning i will include cinematic bars on each of my shots.
I wanted to make the trailer to show the main themes of the game i am trying to make called astral anomaly which is a game where you are a survivor on a space ship that has been infected by an alien parasite and the sentinels are destroying all life forms on ship to stop the spread. Unluckily for you you are on their target list.
Storyboard
I have used arrows to dictate the camera movements with a mixture of arrows dictating light sources if i want a specific light to hit somewhere. I have made sure to label each scene number and to make sure it is understandable with what’s happening. I have tried to make it clear and understandable to make sure that when i make the scene it doesn’t deviate too far leading to things that shouldn’t be there but leaving enough space to have artistic freedom when creating the shots. I have tried to include the effects that will be there in the text as i don’t want to make the story board less clear by trying to draw smoke or electricity.
This small animatic shows the basic story beats i want in the sequence. I would have expanded it more but the time limit of 2 minutes made me shorten in down to the more simplistic version that is seen here. Although it doesn’t include a lot i feel like it makes the most out of what is there giving me a good base line to work off in the engine.
Changes made afterward?
While i used a lot of these shots i changed my mind on some like making the start different and making it less of a horror story and more on robots vs humans.
VFX List
Electricity Arc
Simple electricity arc that emits light looks like electricity arcing between two points.
Made with a Ribbon Renderer that scales down a bright ribbon and then spawns another ribbon.
Uses a sphere shape with twist to make the middle more random.
Sentinel Beam
Simple beam effect that emits light
Using the same basic blueprint of the electricity arcs i made a different colour and more aggressive version that can be used on a sentinel beam.
Beam Charge
Simple charge effect that emits and overwhelming light that allows me to set the astronauts visibility off and make it seem like he has been vapourised.
Using the same blueprint as the beam, I checked the local space checkbox and it made it spin around itself making a nice little charge effect.
Sentinel Thruster
Simple Ribbon with a jitter to make it seem a bit more like propulsion.
Ribbon renderer mixed with a jitter node and uses the same material as the sentinel emission colour.
Hanging Dust
Hanging dust, simple particles that fade in and out using the scale function.
Simple particle system that uses a sprite renderer and aerodynamic drag to simulate the zero gravity environment of space. Uses the scale sprite size to fade the particles in and out smoothly.
These are all simple VFX as i wanted to combine them in the animations using notify play niagara systems. This way i had more control of each part that was done. Such as combining the charge up and the beam.
VFX from asset pack
Basic Smokes 1 – 4
Smokes used mainly for the ship. The inside uses these all to create the atmosphere that can be seen, and to cover up some imperfections.
Basic Fire 1 – 3
Fire used to show the fuel being ejected and catching fire even if there is no oxygen as it is rocket fuel already mixed with oxygen.
VFX Test
Using some models that i was going to use but felt they didn’t fit the theme, i still used them to create a nice test for the main Niagara system of the electricity arcs. I was thinking of showing this but it didn’t suit the pacing i was going for ands i wanted a more continuous shot.
You can find these tesla coils i made on my Sketchfab https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/large-tesla-coil-79836b025bd3433aaf125ea44c5a229a
Scene composition
Having a good scene composition can make the diffrence between a shot looking bad or a scene looking good. I only added particles where i know the camera can see utilising the same effects in some cases but using it to make a bigger effect such as the smoke outside.
I used the background to lock the camera to let the person viewing to know the general location of where they are.
I made sure to populate the areas that include the light put on them making the scene more interesting to look at. You can also tell which side of the spaceship you are on depending on the colours you see.
I made sure the viewer can only see what i want them too see and nothing else to not ruin the immersion i am trying to create.
Using the point light to simulate the blue nebula giving it a bit more immersion to show that the light is hitting something you can see. Having the scene too dark can ruin the whole point of the shot. But keeping things in darkness can help simulate things like a broken down spaceship that has lost power.
I chose to make the ship very dark apart from where light would naturally hit as i wanted a silhouette look and still be able to see the outline of the ship still. I made sure if you cant tell what some part is i put some particle effects in to light up the area which has a reason to be lit up.
Simple smoke effect highlighted by a light placed to make it more visible.
Character Animation
I wanted to include a character to help guide the scene instead of it just showing off some cool events and hero objects. Therefore i created a sentinel based off the aggressor sentinel from Halo
This was the image I was inspired by to create my version of the aggressor sentinel.
It worked well as i could easily animate it with bones and attach the particle effects linked to it using the bones
The bones allow me to animate each piece of the character for full freedom of control.
The bones make attaching the Niagara systems very easy
The one thing missing is a proper root bone.
Using blenders timeline feature i was able to animate the character easily making things like auto curving for smooth animation.
Using the drop down menu i can create multiple animations for the same character and switch between them when ever i want.
i can use the graph editor to adjust how much some movement or rotation happens, the colours represent the transform and rotation.
This character guides the scene by either following it or seeing the actions it takes. For example destroying a body.
Shot timelines
this shot follows a premade asset using normal camera movement. So that it doesnt get too complicated for a simple follow camera
This shot is the space Scene camera shot, i was originally going to include a dolly camera into the shot but it didn’t fit so i kept the follow cam to wide shot as a single scene.
This one is a bit more complex due to having to toggle visibility and managing the animations i was using. This is because halfway through the sentinel blasts the astronaut meaning he can no longer stay on the scene. Therefore i simply turned the visibility off when the brightness was the highest.
The entire point of these shots is to interest a person watching. Therefore the technical factors do not need to be the highest but to generate the most from as little as i can. This keeps expectations not to be too high but enough to keep someone interested.
Post process effects
I made sure to have manual exposure and to have bloom on to make it more realistic and to make sure the edges are not too dimly lit. This keeps a consistency to the shot.
Made sure Global Illumination was done using lumen to have the highest quality lighting and shadows.
Video
Below is a video of the final product with audio.
Conclusion
I tried to make it as close to the storyboard and animatic but in the process of making it some design decisions were made to make a character the main focus making the main start change from what was originally made to be. I think it turned out well despite going off course a bit.
I learned a lot of the Niagara systems, despite them not being too complicated due to wanting to easily merge multiple different VFX into an animation. I tested out a bunch of different complicated effects to learn what they are such as making a blackhole, fire, smoke, collision based effects and Niagara fluids (do not use as it drains V-Ram).
I think i successfully executed my idea and theme that i was going for. The main inspiration was Halo with it’s flood and forerunner aesthetics .
References
Video list
Royal Skies (2023) Unreal5 Niagra VFX: Ribbon Trails (60 SECONDS-!!) [Video] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXPSNIak64Y [Accessed 19 January (2024)]
PixeledAsteroid (2021) 6 FREE SPACE HDRI ENVIRONMENT MAPS [Video/Assets] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sksfsOSlGkQ [Accessed 13 January (2024)]
Gamer’s Little Playground (2023) SENTINELS DESTROY ASSAULTCARRIER CUTSCENE (Halo Wars 2) 4k Ultra HD [Video] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf7IblMmV2o&t=1s [Accessed 12 January (2024)]
UE Asset library
Denys Rutkovskyi (non disclosed) Spaceship Interior Environment Set [Asset Kit] Available online: UE marketplace [Accessed 18 December 2023].
FX Cat UA (non disclosed) Realistic Starter VFX Pack Vol 2 [VFX Kit] Available online: UE marketplace [Accessed 3 January 2023].
Audio List
Bungie (2007) Halo3 [Audio] Available online: https://www.sounds-resource.com/xbox_360/halo3/sound/11872/ [Accessed 21 January 2023].
wubitog (2013) Tractor Beam / Power Generator [Audio] Available online: https://freesound.org/people/wubitog/sounds/200462/ [Accessed 21 January 2023].
M-RED (2013) PhasingBeam01.wav [Audio] Available online: https://freesound.org/people/M-RED/sounds/183867/ [Accessed 21 January 2023].