ISOLATION

A Pure-Ref board for the LAV-25 A2. It was a lot more challenging than I thought looking for references because the LAV-25 A2 I had decided to build is a newer military model that is actually quite different from the older A1 model. These military vehicles are also outfitted in many different variants so it was harder to find a common base platform for me to reference from.

My environment started as a concept by Sergey Zabelin. I originally looked for an isolated, gloomy, and wet environment for me to push for a fairly weathered and rusty military vehicle that would make sense in the real world. I believe I was able to recreate the environment pretty close to the concept, however in the end I changed my lighting set-up to remove the gloomy atmosphere for one that was more of wonder and discovery.

A low-polygon wireframe of my LAV, made in Maya. The high-poly and low-poly models were then baked within Marmoset.

I had to find a good balance between rust, paint, and exposed metal while still allowing the LAV to be front and center within the overall environment. My first few attempts ended with a vehicle that was too mottled; the vehicle was camouflaged within the environment. In the end, I scaled back my rust erosion and was able to settle on a good blend of colors and variation on the LAV.

With the concept as a foundation, I started the set dressing with Megascans ground and embankment assets.  I then used the landscape tools to fill out empty spaces within the composition. After, I hand placed dead trees in key locations to add more variation and depth to the scene. I also used SpeedTree and Megascans foliage with the UE vegetation brush to populate the swamp with more volume and give the swamp more life. I then used added vines on specific trees to add some final touches.

This is my basic lighting pass for the environment. I used a gobo of tree branches in the sky to help direct the flow of light within my scene. I then used point and spot lights to help add clear areas of contrast. To finish, I rigged animated caustics to spot lights to help add more realism to the scene.

This is my beauty pass without the environment fog and god rays. Here I made edits to my lighting setup and vine splines to make sure my vehicle would still visually read properly within the environment without the help of the god rays.

My completed real-time render with environment fog turned on. The fog helped add more depth and color to my scene, while the god rays helped frame my vehicle and allow it to pop out within the swamp. Although hard to see, I finished the scene with small dust particles within the god rays to help with the feeling of old, abandoned, and untouched.

I composited my Unreal Engine video renders with Adobe After Effects, and modified stills with Photoshop. I ended with a piece that was far less gloomy than the original concept and opted for a piece that has a bit of mysticism and discovery instead.