This post is another resource review on sources that will help me understand the process of creating a scene in Unreal 4, I have decided to focus more on creating an aesthetically appealing scene, rather than just creating a basic landscape, therefore I can focus on more detailed scenes.

What it is? What did they do and why?

The artist Maverick creates a powerful/ realistic scene based on overgrown ruins, using external assets and the Unreal engine. He does this as a hobby so he can develop his skill further and have a more industry-based portfolio.

What exactly will you learn from it? What can you take forward from this for a production project?

Through the time-lapsed development process, I can roughly see how the scene is constructed, giving me more knowledge and inspiration to create my own scene.

What it does well?

The scene itself is very aesthetically pleasing and is at the high-quality level I aspire to set my output on. The artist shows a high level of skill in this software and all assets are high detailed which compliments the scene, as well as the use of animation and lighting to really bring the scene to life.

Where it falls short?

He includes no voice-over or narration, making it a bit hard to incorporate all he has done within the process, therefore it is not an educational tutorial, but more visual learning.

What it is? What did they do and why?

The same artist- Maverick, uses World Machine to create a heightmap for his environment, then bringing it into UE4 he creates a forest scene. He uses fog and lighting to bring the scene to life. This is another project he has created for his portfolio/ youtube channel.

What exactly will you learn from it? What can you take forward from this for a production project?

The lighting and fog used in this project shows the difference to the scene, and I want to try to incorporate this aspect into my project as it makes the scene look very realistic and aesthetically pleasing.

What it does well?

The scene itself is very aesthetically pleasing and is at the high-quality level I aspire to set my output on. The artist shows a high level of skill in this software and all assets are high detailed which is very complimentary, as well as the use of fog and lighting to really bring the scene to life.

Where it falls short?

He includes no voice-over or narration, making it a bit hard to incorporate all he has done within the process, therefore it is not an educational tutorial, but more visual learning. Therefore, there is no detailed explanation.

What it is? What did they do and why?

The artist Maverick creates a powerful/ realistic scene based on a procedural coniferous forest, using external assets and the Unreal engine. He does this as a hobby so he can develop his skill further and have a more industry-based portfolio. He also uses World Machine in this video to create his heightmap.

What exactly will you learn from it? What can you take forward from this for a production project?

Within this video, I learned how he adds water to his landscapes to create a lake/ beach and the use of foliage and lighting/ post-processing to make the scene look beautiful and realistic. I can potentially take inspiration from this for future projects.

What it does well?

Very similar to his other projects, they are all very high quality and beautiful, his landscapes stand out when browsing competition through YouTube as he shows high level of skill.

Where it falls short?

There is no detailed explanation as he includes no voice-over or narration, making it a bit hard to incorporate all he has done within the process, therefore it is not an educational tutorial, but more visual learning.

What it is? What did they do and why?

“Wiktor Öhman demonstrates how you can create a realistic forest environment with Unreal Engine 4 and Megascans.”

Quixel posted this video on their YouTube channel, which shows the process of how to create a forest using their assets with Megascans. This is used to encourage creatives to work on projects, as well as presenting the work of Wiktor Ohman, the artist. As well as promoting content from Megascans and Quixel.

What exactly will you learn from it? What can you take forward from this for a production project?

I learned more about basic layout, composition, detailing, lighting and post-processing while watching this video and how it is used to create a realistic forest scene.

What it does well?

Wiktor includes a narrated tutorial on how to create a scene in 1 hour, which shows that with correct knowledge and skill, it can be done in a small amount of time, he also shows how to use the assets which are used in this pack and how it adds to a scene. The final output is very beautiful and catches the eye of the audience due to its similarity to reality.

Where it falls short?

As the video is only 1 hour long, he is restricted with what he can explain/ show. Also, he only creates a road, not a whole landscape, meaning you are restricted with where the camera can go without the scene cutting off.

What it is? What did they do and why?

“Quick scene I put together in Unreal Engine 4. Scene took me a little less than 2 hours from start to finish.”

Artist Evilmrfrank (YouTube name) created a cave scene in UE4. He used individual rock assets to create the cave, and the output was very realistic and beautiful. This was another individual project used to develop skills.

What exactly will you learn from it? What can you take forward from this for a production project?

From this project, I have learned to think more outside the box and assets can be used to create new scenes, for example, the idea of the cave from the rocks inspired me to incorporate this into a future project, as it stands out from the popular forest/ mountain landscape.

What it does well?

Very similar to his other projects, they are all very high quality and beautiful, his landscapes stand out when browsing competition through YouTube as he shows high level of skill.

Where it falls short?

There is no detailed explanation as he includes no voice-over or narration, making it a bit hard to incorporate all he has done within the process, therefore it is not an educational tutorial, but more visual learning. Also, the video is only 5 minutes long and the music is too distracting and loud.

What it is? What did they do and why?

“Quick scene I put together in Unreal Engine 4. Scene took me about 3 hours from start to finish. This is the first video that I really tried to up the quality bar a bit and in doing so it took me a bit longer to finish and I spent a bit more time redoing parts and a lot longer on the final touches.”

Artist Evilmrfrank (YouTube name) created a beautiful forest scene in UE4. This was another individual project used to develop skill for industry-level production.

What exactly will you learn from it? What can you take forward from this for a production project?

This project will help me visualize the start and end of the project, and help me visualize the finished desired output, as it will encourage me to think about the process, assets, composition, lighting, etc.

What it does well?

He uses a unique lighting and fog effect which gives the forest a mystical/ fantasy feel to it, which makes it look more attractive.

Where it falls short?

Similar to his other video, there is no narration or instruction, it is a 5-minute time-lapsed video, which visualizes the creative process, rather than the logical and technical process.

From this review, I can see the amount of detail and thought has gone into the composition and positioning of assets, as well as basic landscape creation. I will use this as an opportunity to take what I have learned and apply it to an experiment of my own.