Role: Prop & Environment Modeler - Real-time Assets
Project Summary
As one of my favorite spooky attractions at any Disney park, the Tower of Terror was the inspiration for this project as I looked to strengthen my scene lighting skills. At a previous job, I was tasked to design and build annual haunted houses. This project really spoke to me and my passions. The goal was to create a real-time animation showcasing this eerie scene.
My Responsibilities
Software
I built my reference library through a combination of online image, YouTube searches, and in-person scouting. I took this approach to ensure precision and authenticity to the real-life set pieces. Taking part in this process was really rewarding as it provided valuable insights into the techniques and some of the decision-making behind the Imagineers' craft.
Samples from my reference library
From the get-go, the assets needed to be optimized in a way that would run smoothly in real-time. With that in mind, I knew the textures would be doing a lot of the heavy lifting–and so, I kept the meshes simple. I also took the time to optimize the UVs for certain assets for efficient texture usage.
Modeling in Maya
All texturing and material creation happened inside of Substance Painter and Designer. I used Designer for more of the complicated procedural materials and Painter for more of the hand-painted materials. Before starting all this, I did a quick pass on baking ambient occlusion to give the materials and textures some more depth to start.
Material creation in Substance Designer & Painter
Lighting here really became its own character in this project. Not just in static images of the scene but also in the animation as well. While working on the lights, I would ask myself constantly, “What story am I trying to tell? What’s the mood I am trying to convey?” The art direction would be heavily influenced by these two questions.
I left global illumination very, very low and focused on dialing in the local lights. The bluish spotlight acted as the main focal point and the other companion lights added to the color variety. I also utilized an emissive material for the elevator’s floor location indicator.
Lights interacting with the environment
After dialing in the composition for static images, I then worked on some basic animations for the lighting and camera to create a dynamic video to show off my environment. I wanted to keep within the theme that wherever this service elevator is, it was not in the best shape and all the electrical connections were sketchy. Multiple cameras were set up - a cinematic camera and a couple of panning cameras to show off the details I created. At the actual attraction, watching the elevator change levels creates this sense of anxiety and tension, so I wanted to include that here as well.
Setting Up the Animation
Before getting to the final output of images, I went through a bit of a refinement stage to make sure everything was looking as good as possible. This meant tweaking the settings within Toolbag - which would include lighting, animation, cameras, and post effects. This is the really enjoyable part of the process as everything comes together and I can get the specific look I want.
Before and after with post effects
Render Settings
This video has audio!
Takeaways
This project was all about lighting and seeing where my abilities stood with it. The Tower of Terror attraction has a pretty complex lighting setup, and it was interesting trying to figure it all out. One big challenge was balancing the emissive lights with the rest of the ambient lighting. A big part of the project was to work out how the lights would interact with each other and all the textured surfaces. It took some trial and error, but I feel I eventually got it right.
As someone who used to build haunted houses, this spooky theme resonated with me, and I wanted to do it justice. While I'm pretty happy with the textures, I can't help but notice that some of the geometry looks a bit too perfect – too straight and clean. Next time, I'd add more geometry to break up those silhouettes and make things feel more natural. Plus, adding more props in the foreground would give the scene more weight and story.
But overall, I'm proud with how this project turned out, especially the short animations. Animating all those lights really brought the whole thing to life!
The TLDR
