The Journey of Laojun Whale: Traversing Dynamic Weather
Yifei REN
Art Creation
The Journey of Laojun Whale: Traversing Dynamic Weather
This Thesis demonstrates mastery in three key technical pillars: Historical Recreation, Destruction, and Dynamic Weather. The project captures the majestic flight of a colossal creature through shifting atmospheric conditions. For the subject matter, I selected the“ Laojun Temple”— a magnificent historical structure— and meticulously reconstructed its traditional timber architecture. By blending Taoist mythology with fantasy, I merged the temple with a mythic whale to create the“ Laojun Whale,” a legendary creature carrying an entire temple on its back.
During development, I conducted an in-depth study of Houdini’ s destruction systems, manually adding intricate details to produce a vivid and believable structural collapse of the temple. Furthermore, I designed three distinct weather systems— Cloud Sea, Thunderstorm, and Black Hole— to
highlight the creature’ s scale. Through the interplay between these environmental transitions and the creature, I constructed a highly imaginative ecosystem.
This ten-month project followed a full production pipeline, encompassing environmental modeling, creature sculpting, Houdini destruction, and complex weather integration within Unreal Engine 5. This Thesis marks my evolution from a focused VFX student into a versatile Technical Artist. By bridging architectural accuracy with high-end simulation, I have refined my ability to manage complex assets— a skill crucial for developing immersive, large-scale environments in the modern AAA game industry.
20 ART CREATION