Onward (UE5 Simulation)
Onward is a 3D immersive experience developed to reimagine an existing art exhibition space in Austin, Texas.
This simulation proposes accessible, real-world solutions to transform an unconventional, but beloved exhibition platform into a place for community gathering and shelter from the Texas heat. This project goes beyond physical and material realities into fantasy to suggest a space of limitless possibilities.
The landscape topography, textures, and foliage are all developed in Substance Designer from scanned objects and surfaces of the real-world site at the Museum of Human Achievement in Austin, Texas.
I built 90% of the geometry in this simulation in Houdini. Models were textured in Houdini, or Substance Painter, or both, in addition to vertex shading techniques leveraging attributes set in Houdini.
Highlights include:
Reactive, animated shaders respond in tandem with a procedurally generated soundtrack build in Unreal Engine 5's MetaSounds.
Procedurally animated vine and foliage growth.
Tiled textures developed from Midjourney AI.
This project was made in collaboration with Aryel René Jackson, an artist based in Austin, Texas.
Walkthrough
quad overdraw + shader complexity
loading screen - Unreal Engine 5
title sequence objects - Houdini
"collectible" object Blueprint interaction behavior (music and material properties)
procedural soundtrack with interaction - MetaSounds Unreal Engine 5
"Cage" reconstruction from physical specifications + procedural damage - Houdini
"Cage" interior model - Houdini
ADA accessible Concrete ramp and patio + procedural wear- high poly model - Houdini
concrete ramp - Substance Painter
wooden lattice awning with procedural wood grain - Houdini
wooden lattice awning - Substance Painter
procedural rock wall and metal railing - Houdini
Procedural stone blocks - high poly models - Houdini
procedural stone textures - Houdini
art directable and procedural vines based on dome's structure - Houdini
procedural vine growth animation baked into vertex color - Houdini
vine leaves material graph with growth animation parameters driven by vertex color
L-System foliage with generation growth and varation - Houdini
l-system plant material graph diffuse color and wind animation determined by vertex attributes
procedural willow tree - Houdini
willow tree re-sculpted in ZBrush and given procedural grain and "magic" detail texture - high poly - Houdini
willow tree reassembly with vertex color for wind animation - Houdini
willow tree - Substance Painter
willow tree leaves material graph
willow tree trunk material graph
procedural river rocks - Houdini
river rocks art directable "magic" detail texturing - Houdini
river rocks - Substance Painter
cage dome ground terrain - Houdini
stream cutting through terrain and dome structure - Houdini
stream flowmap development - Houdini
Zbrush sculpt imported and textured with woodgrain - Houdini
art directable "magic" detail texturing - Houdini
forest "seating" - Substance Painter
foliage atlas processing - Substance Designer
leaf fall niagara system
landscape material graph