We spent most of our first lecture introducing ourselves to each other, and being introduced to the unit and Unreal Engine 5. Serra showed us how to download UE5, and showed us some examples of past student work for the unit.
For the unit, we will be taking a familiar physical space of our choice and deconstruct it so we can approach the technical task with an experiential attitude. We were advised to start thinking and researching what sort of physical space we want to work with. We should pick environments that will help utilise the work we want to put into them.
The first thing that came to my mind was the London Underground trains, and how I often space out thinking about my day while on the train there while looking out the windows at the tunnel streaking past, made up of blurred lines and blocks of colours. I think I want to start my project with someone thinking about their day, and then pan over to the window were things they are thinking about are animated into the blurred shapes of the tunnel. We were shown a student example were someone used block colour shaders that I think could potentially work well for this, but I want to later do some visual experiments to find the best look to match my ideas.
I made an account with Epic Games with my UAL email, and downloaded UE5. I also browsed the store for potential assets, and found a few cool looking subway trains I could use, but Serra also mentioned UE5 will be getting an update in the next couple of weeks so the store will change up a bit, so I haven’t downloaded anything just yet to account for that.
I also asked how we can use assets from outside the Unreal store, and Serra told me we can use any music as long as it is copyright free, and other assets are fine as long as they work in the version of Unreal we will be using. She recommended TurboSquid as an example of websites to find good assets on. For music, I definitely want to find something that gives off similar vibes to the urban landscape of London. My initial thoughts are either British punk music, or hiphop music that originated from London.