SANM 560 Blog
Winter 2026
Week 1
During the weekdays, we brainstormed ideas for the pitch and talked about what products we want to advertise. I started a Figma page to record our ideas and keep organization. https://www.figma.com/board/aWqXPpAZX2nqJTE5R5rbzt/Ideation-and-Brainstorm?node-id=0-1&p=f&t=xQQxa8fc0WiDL4fU-0
I also came up with one script, which is not the final selection of ours, but contributes some ideas.
Introduction
Flower Valley is an Unreal Engine set dressing project that brings to life a dreamlike, romantic landscape. At its heart stands a grand white Gothic castle, symmetrically designed around a giant magic tree at the center. The valley is bathed in soft pink hues, filled with cherry blossom trees that enhance the ethereal atmosphere.
For this project, I utilized and modified pre-existing assets, making adjustments such as removing object parts, merging elements, and altering textures to better fit the scene. Additionally, I implemented interactive elements, allowing players to engage with the castle gate and elevator. Through careful composition and lighting, the environment evokes a sense of wonder and serenity, immersing viewers in a beautifully crafted fantasy world.
On the weekends, we did the PowerPoint for the presentation. I was responsible for the moodboard and lighting references plan.
Week 2
According to the mentors' comments and suggestions, we discussed and created a new storyboard that emphasizes the visual experiences provided by the VR headset. We removed the processing card part and the Meta Human head, and added shots to show the difference in the room before and after wearing the headset.
Storyboard
This week, I did some basic lighting tests to explore the overall mood of the project. I set up a dark interior room with subtle moonlight coming through the window, focusing on how low light and shadows behave in the space.
I also tested the lighting for the plants and emissive materials in shot 1, mainly to see how they contribute to the scene without overpowering the environment.
For shot 5, I focused on the lighting change as the door opens and closes, testing how the moving light affects the interior and helps guide the viewer’s attention.
Shot 1
Shot 1
Week 3
According to the mentors' comments and suggestions, we revised our storyboard again. This time we changed the order of the shots to make the story more appealing and reasonable.
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Storyboard
TO DO List
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Emissive materials test
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Environment setdressing with simulations in
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Lighting test with tectures applied
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Emissive Test
I used maskbyfeature node to generate masks on the plants and imported the attribute when using SOPimport, so that the masks can be used in material as alpha of emission. This allows me to quickly generate emissive and test lighting while materials are not ready.
Masks
Emission
Asset Development
I also created daisy flowers which serve as background to enrich the scene.
Lighting
Since the assets and materials are not optimized enough to be imported into the scene, the lighting is still at a rough stage. I set up basic three-point lighting for the main focus of the first and second shots, and some ambient light for the general mood establishment.
Week 4
I had a lighting lockdown for shots 4 & 5 in order to have a reference for the live action shooting.
Lit Room
Dull Room
TO DO List for the weekend
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Emissive materials test for the ferns: front of the leaves glow, and the backs do not
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Lighting with emission off​​​
V01 f0r old flowers with and without textures
V02 f0r old flowers with and without textures
V03 f0r new flowers without textures
Details of textures and lighting
