Places of the Mind

For this weeks project I was tasked with creating a surrealiest environment. I was introduced to the Italian artist Giovanni Piranesi and his etchings. I was immediately intrigued by his series of prints entitled "Carceri d'invenzione" otherwise known as "The Prisons" or "Imaginary Prisons". They depict enormous subterranean vaults overun with stairways and machinery.

I was very impressed and decided to replicate one of the vaults for myself. My main goal for this project was to create some simple geometry and experiment with lighting and textures in Unreal Engine. However I ended up spending a lot more time on the modelling and UV mapping process than I would have preferred. Hopefully next time I can focus more on Unreal Engine!

Below you can see my recreation in 3DS Max:

 

I was interested in juxtaposing the old stone masonary with horrible piping running along it. I find it unsettling when something old and beautiful has been infused with modern technology, so I thought this would make for a striking visual.

I wanted it to look like the pipes were "growing" along the stone tower as if they are vines ensnaring the structure. My vision was, that the technology was slowly invading the environment and perverting the area into something it wasn't supposed to be.

I was really eager to make some quality materials within Unreal Engine and spent a good amount of my time UV Mapping the scene within 3DS Max:

However this took me longer than I had hoped and I didn't have as much time to work on the environment in the Engine as I would have liked. In the end I made some custom materials within Substance Painter and had just enought time to tweak some of the starting materials In Unreal Engine.

Please see some screenshots from the environment in Unreal Engine below:

I was able to make a simple pulsating green light which I was quite pleased with as I think it adds a lot of atmosphere!

The next project will focus on revamping an older game to fit modern hardware, so I will have a think about what I would like to modernise!

The Reference Image:

Piranesi, G. (1750) The Round Tower. [Image] Available at: https://www.wikiart.org/en/giovanni-battista-piranesi/the-round-tower