Postcards from the Desert of the Real, (2023) / Graphic Print.
This project was born from a tangential exploration into real time 3D game engine software called Unreal Engine 5 while I was learning about compositing. Unreal Engine is a software that is becoming a standard in real time 3D visualization across diverse creative industries such as film/tv, advertising and architecture. While its primary use has been engaged in game development, recent innovation in video game technologies have widened its use case far beyond just video games. It simulates models and lighting in a specialized rendering technology called “Nanite” - in it, users are able to visualize environmental scenarios with physically accurate lighting interact with 3D models with high pixel detail in real time. Combined with procedural terrain generation softwares such as Houdini and publicly open-use 3D assets from Unreal Engine’s Quixel Bridge store, artists are now able to create lifelike environments with ease.
The phrase, “Desert of the real,” popularized from the movie The Matrix (1999), refers to the postmodern ideas of the French philosopher, Jean Baudrillard. In his book “Simulation and Simulacra,” he writes on the matter of false realities found in media representation, where the public associates one’s own experience of reality from places or objects designed to inform and conceptualize an idea that exists in life. He refers to maps and DisneyLand to be an example of this theory - both miniaturized and widely accepted forms of socially engineered design that exists to conceptualize an idea of a place and emotion. Baudrillard’s stance towards the digital future predicted that every idea represented as reality through digital means. With the current advancements in real time 3D rendering such as Unreal Engine, his idea that a representation becoming more real than its imitation (hyperreal) is becoming even closer to life.
This design project aims to translate Baudrillard’s theory of the “Hyperreal” through playful means. A virtual scene rendered in Unreal Engine, printed on a postcard. The terrain was procedurally generated via Gaea and added in with assets from Unreal Engine. The format contextualizes the use of location photography and physical prints to be another form of hyperreal media object. And while postcards retain their sign to refer to a physical location in time, this one stands as a realistic depiction of a copy outside time and space, adding further into the concept of living in a hyperreal reality.
The Process.
Even if the setting had no direct real life reference in its terrain, I began the process from taking a look at photos for features likely to compose for a postcard like scene. I gathered set of images from the web that I could refer to when sculpting the terrain within Gaea.
The Key features for consideration were the rippled sand patterns of the dunes, peaking stones on canyons and an atmospheric sky that lead the eye to the horizon line. The dramatization of a landscape in nighttime photography also inspired the decision to add a night setting along with a common afternoon sand dune picture.
After multiple rounds of trial and error, I managed to come up with a terrain that worked as a location I was happy with in Gaea. Infinite waves of sand and a twin facing canyons that lead the horizon line towards the middle of the scene, sheltering a silhouette of mountains a far.
After finishing up the render of the terrain, I imported the work to Unreal Engine and applied an overall sand dune texture from Quixel Bridge along with a primary camera to set up the scene.
I experimented with multiple textures to find the right color, as well as the ripple that would compliment the vastness of the locale. Then I selected suitable assets from Quixel that would suit the desert canyon setting. Rocks, hills and boulders were scaled and placed to fit to the natural levels of the hill generated from Gaea.
Next, I added in some sky atmosphere with an HDRI to give the scene the right look. The sun was angled off camera behind the right hill to light the terrain with a pleasing gradient silhouette under the layers of fog placed outside.
Added spheres with mirror and white texture to test the scene’s overall color.
Night scene and Nanite in action.
Creating a night scene came with its own set of challenges. First, I had to manipulate and tweak the sun’s color temperature to give the scene blueish glow that highlights the entire waves of sand. The darkness of the scene also meant that a right HDRI was needed to help illuminate the scene just right for the landscape to be visible while keeping the photographic integrity. The moon’s location right in the middle of the scene built up dramatization of the look which helped the picture to be akin to a postcard.
Final night scene with Nanite visualization
