TERRAFORMERS
Terraforming - "the process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable for humans to live on."
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In the year 2232 Earth has been all but entirely reduced to a barren wasteland devoid of resources and rife with pollution. It's been known for a number of decades that the Earth is well beyond saving, and the vision for the future of mankind has turned skyward. 48 Ursa H is considered by many to be the last hope for humanity, the support of human life here has been made possible through extensive terraforming efforts by Earth's GAEA foundation. Thanks to their concerted efforts over the last 40 years, the planet's surface has been engineered to foster potable water and support early forms of agriculture. While still little more than a vista of wet rocks, shallow soil, and vast lakes, the ultimate vision for 48 Ursa H is that of a thriving Utopia. A second chance for all of mankind, or at least those who can afford the trip. One can only hope we're able to get it right this time around.
Much like the USS Shepherd project, this piece was created based off of the mind-blowingly badass concept art of Sergey Vasnev. His work never ceases to inspire me with its ability to drive an entire story through a single frame. This piece was created using Unreal Engine 5.1 and is rendered in real-time. The water is a test of UE5's new physical water body system, while the geo incorporates an informed combination of both nanite and traditional geometry workflows, and the post work is all done through the engine's post process volume node. Going forward with this project I plan to add animated characters, more detailed geometry, custom cloud volumes, and see what kind of post-editing I can acheive using the somewhat limited render elements offered by UE5. This project was a great intro to 5 for me, and has allowed me a lot of work time with Lumen, physical water body systems, and nanite workflow. I feel I gained a strong grasp of both the advantages and the limitations of each. As a direct result, I feel like this project alone has vastly improved my 3D "toolkit" as they say and prepared me for even more badass work to come.
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CREDITS:
This is based off of a concept by Sergey Vasnev
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SOFTWARE:
Unreal Engine 5, Maya, Substance Painter, Zbrush, Quixel Bridge