For this XR project, we wanted to create an immersive and wonderful environment prospective students could move in and out of easily for an open house day, per my university’s request. I was the Art Director for this project, but I also assisted in managing textures, models, blocking in Unreal and Maya, and lighting with my fellow leads.

This is probably one of the most fulfilling leadership roles I have ever had and I am so thankful to have worked on such a great team. Huge thanks to Neivy Martines, Trent Bellet, Regina Vera Castellanos, Luis Ponce Pinon, Tanisha Saini, Sebastian Abou-Chakra, Kit Yan Lam, and Emily Prescott for their hard work and support.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to the current footage. Here is an early demo featuring some implemented elements of our scene.

Pre-Production

For the beginning of this internship, each of us were asked to come up with a singular pitch for an environment to be created on the XR stage. I pitched an alien mangrove forest with bioluminescent plankton in the water, making for a spooky environment.

Original Moodboard-Alien Forest

We then had to combine our pitches with others to create a more solid pitch that would move into finalization. The sketch below is the first instance of what we envisioned this new environment to be: an inconspicuous forest that, upon night falling, comes alive with glowing plants and creatures.

Our design was the first to be greenlit to move forward with final production. It was at this point our current team of 15 was formed and I was appointed art lead. I was responsible for coming up with our style frame. I began the long process of the style frame creation with two value ideas, using a composition created by my co-lead Tanisha Saini.

We then move to the first colour passes, and then I created the final style frames (pictured first). After this stage, we moved on to colour ideation and texturing of the models.

Colour Concepts-Small Creature

Textures

With the texturing process, we wanted to make sure that we stuck closely to photo-realistic textures by layering effects layers, filters, and smart materials to create the look we wanted. I textured these rocks, and helped oversee the texturing process with the 3D Lead.