Cosmic Quarry

Video

Detail Lighting Only

Simple composition and lines of flow. The aim of the space was just to accentuate the directionality of the quarry. The snaking of the small flowing creek, the sharp angles of the rocks, or lines of light all just help push the perspective of the space.

Clip showcasing the Dynamic Cavity+PixelNormalWS effect which allows sand (or snow, anything similar) to pile up correctly despite the orientation of the mesh. This is unlit, and with black and white coloring for clarity.

Clip showcasing the Dynamic Cavity+PixelNormalWS effect which allows sand (or snow, anything similar) to pile up correctly despite the orientation of the mesh. This effect is lit and with sand piling on top of rock.

This is the graph that creates the effect. It's very simple, but adds a lot of functionality to reusing meshes by rotating and scaling them but achieving a believable, consistent look.

Sample Mesh from the scene

Blockouts

Initial Idea, sketched.

Gathered references.

The Machined, Cosmic Quarry. This was a space initially created for Project Phantom, but never saw full production. I decided it would make a great study into some shader and lighting techniques that I wanted to learn. Two big focuses visually speaking were emphasizing the lines of flow in the composition and perspective of the space, and to express a strong tactile feeling. Textures and ideas throughout the space are contrasted against each other - hot and cold, dry and wet, smooth and coarse, soft and hard, light and dark.

This is a simple scene, but it took me a long time due to working two jobs while this project was active! I hope you enjoy.