Recreating Obduction Loading Screens
Karl Suurkaev, Rasmus Peäske, Rainer Talvik
Links
- Azure DevOps Project Overview page
- Main repo link
- November 11th 2024 - Proof of Concept Build on Google Drive
Project description
In the video game Obduction there is a really cool visual effect for loading screens in which the surrounding scene dissolves into floating particles before forming into a new scene. The effect can be seen in this video. With our project we aim to replicate the same visual effect in a set of 3D environments. The project will be built on the Unreal Engine, in which the environments and visual effects can be created.
Initial progress (12.11)
For starters we wanted to familiarise ourselves with the Unreal Engine as it is a tool that none of us had any prior experience with. Work started on two main fronts: creating the environment and creating the visual effects.
Particles:
We created a very rudimentary testing area in a desert with three little bumps and a few boxes. Then we learned how to get the output from a "camera" object in the world and output the image on an object.
After that, the next step was to create some particles. Particles themselves were quite straight-forward, but sampling colours from a texture didn't work too well at first - although admittedly, this was very much done at the beginning using trial-and-error. One night, we accidentally figured it out, but that method strangely didn't allow the particles to move at all.
Then we stumbled on this video, which addressed that concern as well. Here's a cropped smartphone camera image of a particle'd Miles Edgeworth:
After some fine-tuning, the POC particle demo was ready.
All resources used for learning particles are listed on this page in the project wiki.
Environment:
The initial creation of the environment began by finding and selecting the necessary plugins and tools.
The integrated Water plugin in UE5 was sufficient. It was easy to use while providing the required level of detail.
Initially, we used Quixel Megascans assets, which appeared suitable. However, they were very performance-heavy, especially when many instances were present in the scene, exceeding the texture streaming budget. Instead, we opted for asset packs from Project Nature. These assets were lighter yet still offered great detail, particularly from a distance.
The process can be summarized as follows:
- We chose the Third Person template and later switched to the First Person template.
- Created a rudimentary landscape using the Landscape Tool to form a lake basin.
- Concurrently adjusted the lake's position and parameters to achieve a fairly plausible environment.
- Added trees and smaller foliage using the Foliage Tool. Some trees around the lake were hand-placed to achieve greater detail whilst not sacrificing performance too much.
- Utilized Nanite on the meshes for minor performance improvements without compromising visual quality.
- Applied initial post-process effects, such as overall volumetric fog, modified sun position, and enhanced saturation and contrast etc.
As shown in the first environment screenshot, the result looked appealing but was very performance-heavy. Therefore, it was necessary to scale back for the first milestone while still meeting our overall expectations:
Proof of Concept Demo & Launch Guide video:
Coach meeting (10.12)
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Final release (TBA)
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