Particle systems

I used the Unreal Engine particle system Niagara to create the particle system. The Niagara vfx system enables the user to create various emitters in order to create particle systems such as rain and even fluid simulations. I was able to gain a basic understanding of how the vfx system within Unreal by watching the video “Intro to Niagara Particles [UE4/UE5]” by PrismaticaDev.

I had a list of all the effects I wanted to make with the particle system for my own vfx work, such as blood and fire. Before I started working on the particle system, I wanted to learn the fundamentals by watching simple tutorials and learning how the systems work and how to create them.

Sound

Sound will be heavily used in my piece to create atmosphere and immerse the audience in the environment. Because my animation is set in a cave, I’ll need echoed wind effects. For my animation, I will also record my own sounds and dialogue.

Lighting

Because my scene is set in a cave, I knew I wouldn’t need a sun to light it. To light my subjects, I used several point lights to illuminate the environment, as well as torches in my scene. I strategically placed these lights to allow the character’s face to be hidden in shadow. When I was creating the lighting for my scene, I considered using 3-point lighting to light my subject, but because my camera moves, it would be difficult, so I made sure that my subject had lighting in front of and behind them to separate them from the surroundings.

Colour theory

I wanted my characters to have different coloured magic when I was creating them. The colours I considered using were contrasting colours on opposite ends of the colour wheel. This is because I wanted the colour to represent how, despite having the same powers and being brothers, they are on opposing sides. I researched other uses of colours in fiction for the colours for the characters. For example, in Harry Potter, the bad guys magic is green and the good guys are red. In Star Wars, the bad guys are red, while the good guys are green. I wanted to use red and green for both my characters to show that they are on opposite side, but it is uncertain who is the good guy or the bad guy.

references

colour wheel [N/A] https://www.dulux.com.au/how-to/how-to-use-colour/how-to-use-a-colour-wheel (accessed 30/11/22)