Gods of War Check-In 3: Grass, grass, and more grass

 This sprint was focused on improving the PCG system to make the spawning of the ferns more natural. Also this is the sprint where I added the ability for grass to spawn as well.

The grass was my nightmare. Because of the number of points that need to be calculated each time, I have spent well over 6 hours in total waiting for debug cubes to generate. Eventually, it did all come together though. The grass is using a point grid and a distance node to create a radial effect of being smaller the farther away from the center it is. 

The large and small ferns are now combined into a single spawner, and have a cluster applied to them to make them spawn closer together. It's not much, but it's honest work.

There was no update to the tree spawning other than the mesh that was replaced after I took my renders.

Also, I have learned the amazing power of the Named Reroute Node. It allows you to be super clean with your PCG code and not have wires everywhere. Editor parameters have been added for quick iterations.

Radial Grid Grass Spawning

Grass Spawning Based on Normal

Grass-Only Render

Fern New Clumping Locations

Fern + Grass Render

Close-up shot of environment spawning

Editable Parameters in Editor

Clean Blueprint (No wires)

Gods of War Check-In 2: The PCG Era

 I took a step back from doing the asset manager because it was repetitive, and instead moved towards a more procedural direction. Using Unreal's PCG system, I have been working on creating a procedural environment for our scene. I used multiple different techniques to achieve the environment including self-pruning, spline sampling, normal to density conversions, spatial noise, and a lot of difference calculations.

For the meshes I used a single conifer tree mesh, three large fern meshes, and three small fern meshes.

This is the base I was working with.

Surface Sample (for Trees)

Post-filter and upper/lower bounds (for Trees)

Normal-to-density calculations (keep only flat surface)

Trees rendered (from above)

Large Fern Density Sample

Fern + Tree Difference Calculation

Large Fern Render

Small Fern Density Sample

Small Fern Render

Tree, Large Fern, and Small Fern Render Combined (from above)

Tree, Large Fern, and Small Fern Debug Combined

Spline added to create non-spawnable section

Render + Spline

Main Spawning Blueprint for Foliage

Applying Spline Data for non-spawnable area

Gods of War Sprint 1 - Project Setup

 For the summer Common Art project, my team will be creating a Japanese mythology scene with 3 characters and 1 creature. For this project, I am responsible for being the asset wrangler for outsourcing and creating tools for the project. 

This first sprint, I setup the initial project, setup the .p4ignore, setup a way for our undergrads to give us their assets, and created a mockup UI for an asset manager. I was also responsible for making sure all assets got into engine seamlessly and in the correct file structure.

The asset manager will use JSON to store information about owner, path, version, etc.

About Me

I hate tedium. Nothing kills creativity faster than getting stuck doing the same repetitive tasks over and over. As a tech artist, my goal is to build tools that cut out the busywork so artists can focus on what really matters—making cool shit. If I can make a workflow faster, smoother, or just less of a headache, then I’m doing my job right.

I’m all about efficiency and problem-solving. Whether it’s automating a tedious process, fixing a frustrating pipeline issue, or making a one-click tool that saves hours of work, I love finding ways to speed things up. There’s nothing better than hearing an artist say, “Wait, that’s it? That was so much faster!”

For me, tech art is about making things feel effortless. I don’t just want to build tools—I want to make them intuitive, seamless, and actually enjoyable to use. The best tools are the ones you don’t even think about because they just work. If I can take something that used to be frustrating and turn it into something artists barely notice, then I know I’ve done my job right.

At the end of the day, I just want to help people create without tech getting in the way. No more clunky workflows, no more wasted time—just smoother, faster, better ways to bring ideas to life. Let’s make cool shit, and let’s make it fast.

Common Art II - Week 4 - Asset Pack Lighting

 This week we had to light an asset pack given to us using references. I decided to do a underground safehouse with a horror twist. 

Common Art II - Week 3 - Custom Subject

 This week we had to do 2 lighting setups. I decided to do a cave with the minecart as the main subject.

Common Art II - Week 2 - HDRI

 This week we had to make a composition using the cine camera, megascans, and an HDRI. I decided to do a desert-bazaar. I tried to keep the colors very warm toned and kept focus on the goods that were being sold and the stalls they were at. I used a quixel pack for the assets.