Airport Lounge
A panning shot of an airport lounge, created by combining a green screen shot I filmed, with an environment I modelled and textured, and lit within Unreal Engine.
Storyboarding
I began by creating a storyboard for the rough layout and motion I wanted for my scene.
Previs
Next I created a previs animation to develop this initial idea and get a better sense of how the shot will move and look.
Postvis
After filming a test shot against a green screen, I composited this together with a rough blocking out of my idea to create a postvis shot. This helped to refine my idea more.
Modelling
I began by modelling the chairs and table, as I had taken reference images of their live action equivalents on set. It was important to match these images as closely as possible.
I then moved on to modelling the rest of the objects in the lounge, as well as the buildings outside. I had collected a large number of reference images of each of these objects that I replicated in Maya as closely as possible.
Texturing
I textured the models in Substance Painter. I replicated the textures of each model's live action equivalent. I also added weathering and dirt to each model to add more depth to the textures and make them look more realistic overall.
Lighting in Unreal Engine
Due to the rising intergration of Unreal Engine into VFX pipelines, I decided that for this project I would use it for the lighting stage. I used its ray-tracing mode to get physicially accurate results.
After this point it was relatively simple to get my lighting set up. I used an HDRi as the primary source of lighting, and then added lights throughout the lounge on the ceiling.
Compositing
I began by using Nuke's Unreal Reader node to connect my Unreal and Nuke scenes together, meaning I could make changes in Unreal and they would be shown in Nuke.
I then keyed my footage, and graded it to match the CG environment. I rendered out shadow passes to replace the live-action carpet with the CG one. I then added has and depth of field to the CG, completing the shot.
VFX Breakdown
For further details on the making of this project, as well accreditations, visit my project blog here: https://thomaschewav3412honoursprojectblog.wordpress.com/