This week we were introduced to the game engine Unreal Engine 5, this is my first time interacting with this program as a Cinema 4D user. The difference in workflow was both familiar and so different, the nature of UE’s parent-child relationships is pervasive throughout every aspect of the development process introducing an element of structure and complexity.
The blueprint-based scripting and general management of every component was novel but a welcome change. The customization allowed by such a structure, and the ability to create from a variety of different approaches is something I enjoy, having used multiple software in tandem with C4D. It feels like UE5 is a mix of so many different programs in one, which is both daunting and exciting.
We were introduced to the project brief in this lesson, which has a strong emphasis on research, experimentation and leverage of key aspects of fundamentals that dictate the overall “-ness” of an experience.
These are the design process aspects from how I understand them:
Imagination and research: draw understanding from everything I experience, searching for aspects I can use – or adapt into ideas that can propel my projects to the next level. I will do this by understanding research dynamically.
Deconstruction and Reconstruction: correctly identify every single aspect of every single component. This will require for me to learn deeply about how everything has been intentionally placed and how/ why they interact together.
Proportion: an environment essentially lives and dies through proportion, this is shown in the animation we saw in the first week with the elf walking through the forest. Everything is relative to the main focus of a scene, and the way an environment and the focus interact can essentially dictate the feelings evoked from the audience.
Materiality: we as people are influenced by how much control we have over the world around us, are we in a static unchanging unfeeling world or in a dynamic world that can bend to our will? Can I grant ability to a viewer and take it away to create a feeling of helpnessness, or bring them from a sense of helpnessness to a state of control? This is important to think about as I aim to create horror experiences.
Movement Qualities: How things move can change one’s perspective of them, the difference between a static and a moving object can sometimes make a world of difference. I wish to explore the dynamic this can create in depth.
