LogInAnton K. shared how he created the dark fantasy environment inspired by Dark Souls and Bloodborne in Unreal Engine, explaining how the lighting helped set up the dramatic, moody atmosphere.
Introduction
I'm Anton, and I'm originally from Ukraine but now live in Beijing. I started exploring 3D environment art in 2022 when I first got into visualizing exteriors and interiors. Early on, I realized I was much more excited about working on exteriors. There’s something incredibly satisfying about choosing plants, rocks, and natural elements to bring outdoor scenes to life, and that quickly became my main focus
From the beginning, I’ve worked with 3ds Max, using Corona Renderer and FStorm, which helped me build a strong foundation in rendering and composition.
I’ve primarily built my skills through self-study, exploring tutorials, and experimenting with different techniques, always focusing on creating detailed and atmospheric landscapes. Currently, I live in Beijing, where I continue to develop my craft.
What sparked my interest in environment art was the chance to create an atmosphere. This is really what drew me in — the idea of building scenes that make people feel something, almost like they can hear the background sounds or music as if they’re inside an epic movie shot. I love creating environments that pull the viewer in and make them feel part of the world, even if just for a moment.
I’m currently working on a project called Phantom Blade 0, which has been a great challenge and a chance to improve my skills. I’ve also worked on personal projects to develop my style, including one environment that got positive feedback on ArtStation.
Cinematic Dark Fantasy Environment
I started with the idea of creating something lighter – maybe some small houses or simple architecture surrounded by rocky terrain, greenery, and a sunny atmosphere. It was just meant to be a casual doodle project, and I didn’t even have any references on hand. Within an hour, I quickly assembled a basic scene. But, knowing myself, that didn’t last long! I soon found myself shifting towards a darker atmosphere. I’m not very comfortable with bright, sunny setups and naturally prefer darker, moodier scenes. So, the project evolved into something more cinematic and dark fantasy, which really fits my style.
When I began reworking it, I already had references and a mood board ready. I used references to set the mood and structure of the scene. I gathered images that matched the dark fantasy vibe I wanted, focusing on shapes, textures, and colors. I organized them into a mood board to keep my vision clear.
Blockout & Modeling
I initially created the blockout in the first version of the project, along with a rough draft using Megascans' models to fill the space. I'll skip over it here, but I'll show a few screenshots of the process. I could already see where to introduce focal points to guide the viewer’s eye across the scene.
The blockout shows a narrow, canyon-like setting made with simple whiteboxes.
This was an intermediate stage before I made significant changes
I used Megascans' assets, assets from Scans Factory's 'Abandoned Manor' pack, and a few assets from the 'Fishing Village' collection.
I used this location as a reference and then built the shapes of the buildings by combining the individual parts I needed. After merging them, I used the Warp tool to shape them as I wanted.
Using Warp tool to deform merged actors
The blockout is pretty rough and has no real details. This stage is just about laying out the basic structure and composition without getting distracted by small elements. Keeping it simple lets me focus on the overall flow and make quick changes if needed before moving on to finer details.
I wanted to have two focal points: a main one and a secondary one that fades into the mist. To make these focal points stand out, I used contrast in size, position, and lighting. This way, the main and secondary points really pop and lead the eye naturally through the scene.
Since the main building was already finished, I started assembling the scene. Here are a few intermediate stages along the way.
Texturing
Apart from the buildings I modified, I also used ready-made blueprints and level instances created by Scans Factory.
This is an example of how I tweaked a Megascans material. I just adjusted the contrast, saturation, and brightness, keeping the edits simple but effective to get the look I wanted.
In the end, the winding path was removed because it drew too much attention, in my opinion.
Lighting & Rendering
The lighting in my scene is designed to create a dramatic, moody atmosphere. I used a combination of directional light and subtle ambient light to cast deep shadows and highlight key areas with a strong spot lights. By positioning the main light source at an angle, I created contrasting light and shadow patterns that add depth and focus to the scene.
At first, I liked the cold, almost sterile lighting – it gave the scene a kind of artificial, hospital-like feel that I found interesting. But once I added a warm light in the background, it seemed like a warmer atmosphere might suit the scene better. Even though I’m not usually a fan of warm tones, the added warmth brought a depth that felt surprisingly fitting.
Here is my lighting setup. Keep in mind that there's no universal rule for all scenes; every situation – and even each shot – is unique. What worked in my scene might not work in yours.
The warm light in the scene acts as a key accent, adding warm contrast against the cooler, darker atmosphere and drawing attention to important details. This touch adds drama and creates a sense of mystery and depth. In the background, a bright light casts silhouettes of the architecture, layering the scene and boosting its cinematic feel. The mix of warm highlights, dark shadows, and bright background naturally pulls the viewer’s eye, giving the scene a rich, atmospheric look.
The default fog was set to standard values, so I added the main fog using the Niagara Starter VFX pack and VDB clouds. This combination created a beautiful glow when I increased the Volumetric Scattering Intensity in the lighting settings. The fog spreads softly through the scene, catching the light and adding depth and mystery. It gives an ethereal glow around the architecture and landscape, enhancing the atmosphere and making everything feel more immersive and cinematic.
Here's how it looks when increasing the Volumetric Scattering Intensity values from 0 to 15.
Since I was creating a cinematic, I didn't have to worry about FPS performance. This gave me the freedom to use VDB clouds, which added more depth and realism to the scene.
I scaled up one of the rocks to create an artificial shadow over half of the shot. This added more depth and directed the viewer's gaze toward the areas I wanted to highlight.
I didn’t use a regular box because it creates a very sharp shadow, while the rock provides a softer, uneven shadow. This helped me achieve a more natural look and guide the viewer’s gaze more subtly.
I decided to add a boat gently rocking on the water, which added a nice touch of realism to the scene. This was a bit challenging, as I had to spend time finding the right values to get the movement just right. I used Buoyancy to attach invisible buoys to the boat, keeping it on the water’s surface and allowing for a natural, subtle rocking motion.
To enable debug mode and view the position of the buoys during simulation, use the following command: r.Water.DebugBuoyancy 1.
To disable it, change 1 to 0.
Using this method, the character can also interact with the boat.
At first, I planned to keep it as a quick five-second video since creating multiple shots wasn’t part of my simple doodle project plan. But then came the music. I decided to check out Artlist, promising myself to stop after three tracks – normally, it takes me days to sift through music until I find the perfect match. And guess what? Right away, I stumbled upon a track by Roie Shpigle and instantly loved it. I chose a section that really stood out to me, and suddenly, five more shots came to life. I found myself expanding and finishing shots I hadn’t planned for, as the scene was initially meant for just one frame.
This was probably the most interesting part of the process for me, but also the most challenging. Creating a sequence that aligned with the flow and emotion of the music required a lot of careful planning and adjustments. I had to make sure each shot flowed naturally into the next, with the lighting, camera angles, and pacing all working together to match the rhythm and mood of the track.
This is a material setup in Unreal Engine for creating a subtle swinging effect on a net, giving it a motion as if it's swaying in the wind. The nodes are configured to control the position, swing speed, and amplitude of the movement.
The sequencer in the project was pretty standard. The only specific settings I adjusted were the frame rate to 24 FPS and linear keyframes, which are perfect for cinematic videos.
The render settings are also fairly simple; I'm using the ACES color workflow, which enhances color accuracy and dynamic range. Here are the render settings.
Tip: To make sure animations display correctly, I set the engine warm-up to 500 frames, just to be safe. In testing, 150-200 frames was usually enough, but I wanted some extra buffer.
After rendering all the EXR images, I brought them into DaVinci Resolve for editing. I started by assembling the sequence and checking for smooth playback. My color adjustments were very minimal or sometimes unnecessary, as I focused mainly on small tweaks to enhance the mood. Using masks, I fine-tuned specific areas to bring out details in shadows and highlights. Finally, I added finishing touches like slight saturation adjustments to give the scene a polished, cinematic look
Conclusion
This project was a great experience that pushed me to learn and try new things. I’m grateful for the chance to share my journey, and I hope it offers inspiration to others. Big thanks to 80 Level for having me – it’s been a pleasure to be part of this!