Kieran Pavy
Game Developer - Looking for Opportunities
Home
Resume
Prints

Sunken Library

A library sunken to the bottom of the sea filled with magic runes and books written in ancient languages forgotten by all but a single little octopus. Created entirely within blender rendered at 12 samples with Super Denoiser
The runes, sand, books, and all animations except for the octopus are procedural. I made a fair few handy little tools during this I should get some use out of. if there's anything in particular you're interested in how I made let me know.
The books have procedural text, you can see it here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LRgrYR

Final Product

All my test renders along the way

I knew vaguely what I wanted from the start

I knew vaguely what I wanted from the start

after some fiddling I got this horrendously over saturated render, not sure how that happened. I thought some seaweed would help show the library is in fact underwater but wasn't satisfied with how it connected to the scene

after some fiddling I got this horrendously over saturated render, not sure how that happened. I thought some seaweed would help show the library is in fact underwater but wasn't satisfied with how it connected to the scene

I tried adding more to match the reference I'd found but it darkened the scene way too much all while slowing my computer down to a halt (literally)

I tried adding more to match the reference I'd found but it darkened the scene way too much all while slowing my computer down to a halt (literally)

So back to no seaweed I went, but keeping the changes in the lighting

So back to no seaweed I went, but keeping the changes in the lighting

at this point I started adding the streams of books moving around the library, but made them all travel left to right without realising

at this point I started adding the streams of books moving around the library, but made them all travel left to right without realising

Then the book cases started bugging me, up until this point they've been flat coloured cubes. so I completely reworked the bookshelves, generating the books from curves instead of extruding from planes, giving me far more control over their shape and UVs

Then the book cases started bugging me, up until this point they've been flat coloured cubes. so I completely reworked the bookshelves, generating the books from curves instead of extruding from planes, giving me far more control over their shape and UVs

I have no idea why this is so dark. this is the moment I realised I broke the runes on the pillars

I have no idea why this is so dark. this is the moment I realised I broke the runes on the pillars

now the light levels are close to where I want them and the books aren't all going in the same direction. the final sprint begins

now the light levels are close to where I want them and the books aren't all going in the same direction. the final sprint begins

in tossing ideas around for the animation and realising I forgot about depth of field entirely I played with having the focal point move in and out of the camera but found it makes the loop extremely noticeable and walked it back

in tossing ideas around for the animation and realising I forgot about depth of field entirely I played with having the focal point move in and out of the camera but found it makes the loop extremely noticeable and walked it back

now the depth of field is static and the books are looking awfully bare

now the depth of field is static and the books are looking awfully bare

so using the same rune generator I created for the books and signs, I added titles to the books spines, as well as bloom and sharpening up the caustics slightly. and suddenly octopus

so using the same rune generator I created for the books and signs, I added titles to the books spines, as well as bloom and sharpening up the caustics slightly. and suddenly octopus

Report