Hidden Oasis
Using Unreal Engine and prebuilt assets, I created a sunken desert oasis environment complete with buried ancient ruins.
"The crash landing of the falling star unlocked a hidden wellspring in the middle of the desert. After many centuries the wellspring grew into an oasis within the crash site, sitting under the hot sands of the desert and surrounded by rock walls. The area around the oasis is teeming with life, from the plants and palm trees to the native critters and birds that visit. Over time people settled in the surrounding area and used the oasis as a marketplace. As centuries passed and those civilizations fell and the oasis was abandoned. If adventurers are willing to cross the harsh unforgiving desert they would find cracks in the earth and by delving into them they would discover the hidden oasis."
Greyboxing
To figure out how I wanted the environment to be organized, I greyboxed with the landscape tool and basic shapes. This gave me a good idea of how the environment would look with foliage and other props. Before adding the textures and final props, i made changes the landscape to add more space for the tents and added the cacti and rocks surrounding the crater to emphasize the desert environment even more.
Extra Renders & References
These are all the extra renders to show off the different layers of the environment. It also contains the setup for the landscape material and the reference images i used to build the environment.
Foliage only render
Mesh only render
Landscape only render
Unlit render
Lighting only render
Wireframe only render
Landscape Material
Reference Images
Final Render
Final Renders
For the final environment, I made sure to use a bright sun and a hazy atmosphere to emphasize the heat of a desert.
