Finley Cooper - 3D Environment Projects

Project 1 of 3: Forgotten (ThinkTank Online)

Forgotten is a real time environment made in Unreal Engine 5. It was my first ever project using Unreal, I had a great time learning lots of new techniques; from creating a complex triplanar material, to learning how to utilise Unreal's volumetric capabilities

The lighting throughout the project was a key focus for me, and while the light setup itself is very simple, I spent lots of time art-directing every shot, manipulating everything from fog density and cloud noise, to focal length and aperture. I took heavy inspiration from the lighting in traditional paintings, particularly the works of Thomas Gainsborough and John Kensett

This project was created with: UE5, Maya, Blender, Gaea, Speedtree, Quixel, Photoshop & After Effects

I am responsibe for everything in the scene (including the concept), apart from the megascans boulders

Detail Lighting + Colour + Values

BREAKDOWN

Shot Breakdown 01

Shot Breakdown 02

Shot Breakdown 03

Gaea Models

Church Ruin

I created the church ruins in just two days (due to time & the deletion of a previous version of the church model). I used Maya and Blender to model and sculpt onto the pieces, and UE5 to texture them with my triplanar material (no UVs needed!). The vines were made in Speedtree

Speedtree Models

Boat Model

In my first iteration of the project, the boat was very prominent in the film, as the project developed I chose to focus on it less - the model therefore has some areas with very high details and some with lower. I focused heavily on the overall silhouette to achieve my final image

Node setup for the triplanar material in UE5. It was originally used on the mountains, but later adapted for the pieces of the church ruin

Inspiration Comparison 

A comparison between my work and the works of John Kensett, Ivan Aivazovsky & Thomas Gainsborough

Reference Sheet

Project 2 of 3: Malbion IV (Personal)

Malbion IV is a desert-like planet, it features large mountain ranges, detailed rock formations, and shrub-filled plains. It is a personal project using Blender Cycles & UE5. The concept is original, and the work resembles initial concept work more-so than a finalised idea, I had lots of fun working on this project!

It was a great expereince learning about how to effectively texture with procedural textures, I had a great time experimenting with volumetrics too. During the project, I had my first experience incorporating Houdini into my workflow. Simon Houdini (on Youtube) has a great tutorial on generating rocks procedurally, I built upon this to create my own 'alien rocks,' and I'm excited to learn more

This project was created with: Blender, Houdini, UE5, Gaea, Quixel & Photoshop

Planet concept renders

Blender

Landscape concept renders

UE5

Values

Breakdown

Houdini rock generator

Blender Viewport

UE5 Viewport

Reference sheet

Project 3 of 3: Crash Site (ThinkTank Online)

Crash Site is a project made in Maya (with Vray). The concept is original, although I took inspiration and references from various works

It was particularly fun to explore Vray during this project, especially achieving the grassy look that I wanted with the Vray Hair. This project was also my first piece of experience with Nuke, learning the basics in itself already took my work to the next level

The biggest challenge in the project was definetely effectively deforming / damaging the TIE fighter. My workflow used a combination of techniques, from using Zbrush to add both large and mico deformities, to utilising Blender's array of modifiers to add the extra layer of detail

This project was created with: Maya, Vray, Blender, Zbrush, Gaea, Quixel, Nuke & Photoshop

Values

Breakdown

TIE fighter

Progress of the main camera angle

Before & After (Nuke process)

Key references

Bottom 2 concepts provided key inspiration, amazing work by Tom Bentkowski (Artstation)

Thanks for checking out my projects!!