The Arctic Epoch: Singapore

Tech Art Group Project | 2023

The Arctic Epoch: Singapore is a semester-long class project for Advanced Pipeline in Film and Game Arts at CMU ETC.

In the year 2070, as global climate change gets more and more acute, a new ice age struck the world with unprecedented ferocity. Within a month, Singapore, a once-thriving city, was transformed into a frozen wasteland.

A glimmer of hope, humanity seemed all but lost, or IS IT?

Software

Role

Unreal Engine 5, Houdini, Substance Designer, Github

Procedural Texturing

Visual Effects

Lighting

Interaction Programming (Blueprint)

Production

Time

Team

14 weeks

Christine Jung - Shader Technical Artist, Lighting Artist

Yuxuan Wu - Environment Artist, Look-Dev Artist

Laura Yang - Producer, Tech Art Generalist, Lighting Artist

Caiyu Zhang - Environment Technical Artist

Robin Zheng - Producer, Technical Artist, Look-Dev Artist

Frozen Lake Look Dev

I wanted to make a frozen lake surface with surge of fish frozen inside as a spectacle, to show the drama of the disaster and the desolation afterwards.

  • Frozen lake surface with light cracks

  • Frozen fish beneath the frozen lake surface

  • Adjustable snow in Substance Designer for quick iteration

  • Anti-tilling Material using distance blend

Snowstorm VFX

I wanted to create a snow squall that overwhelms and overpowers everything it passes through, in order to depict the despair in the post-apocalyptic environment.

Composition

It come with 3 layers, one is the snow flakes, one is the snow powder that overpowers the whole city, one is the snow being blown up from the ground.

  • Smoke simulation using Pyro in Houdini, exported as flipbook

  • Layering and adjustments in Niagara

Lighting Transition

I was responsible of designing and implementing the transition of the environment lighting from dark to sunrise, and the final lighting after sunrise.

I want the transition and the final lighting to give players a sense of hope for humanity in this devastating ruins.

Interaction Blueprints

I was responsible of making the interaction blueprints in the scene, I wrote a blueprint for the camera to shake at the beginning to showcase how ferocious the snowstorm is, and later trigger for the storm to slowly stop, and for the sun to rise.

  • Camera Shake

  • Snowstorm Stopping

  • Lighting Changing