#nanite project era

[theaxolotlkween]

Some Nanite Project headcanon doodles and their explanations, going from left to right:

I doubt that Rex would say this exact thing but the idea is that, being a fairly lonely kid and someone who was probably easily bored even back then, Rex would’ve pestered the people around him a lot, which you know. Fair. I hc him as being a lot like he is now, but obviously more childish. Because literal child. So very inquisitive, curious, trusting, and empathetic, but easily bored and reckless. I feel like he would play on his own (or accidentally injure himself climbing on industrial equipment which just seems like something he just. Did. It also makes him currently being an adrenaline junkie make more sense) until he got bored (or injured) and then pester all the scientists around him that would tolerate him for long periods of time.

Next up is that Van Kleiss and Violeta Salazar (Rex’s mom) had similar or complimentary roles on the Nanite Project and thus worked together a lot. Judging by how Van Kleiss talks about Violeta in Written in Sand, they probably had a similar dynamic to Rex and Van Kleiss in that episode, except with a lot less sand and threat of imminent demise. This would be really funny to me. Also pictured Rex just hanging out, because he seems like he would be a momma’s boy. He is acting out a very tense and dramatic romance between these two cars and they are finally about to kiss. I also feel like current Rex would love K-dramas.

I honestly don’t think Van Kleiss hated or disliked Rex when Rex was a young child. I feel like he would’ve found him amusing at best, annoying at worst, and sort of weirdly endearing, but never being outright mean to him. Based on the tolerance he has for Rex’s shenanigans in the show while he has almost none for anyone else, even his own allies, this had to have started somewhere. If Rex was a chronic botherer, then someone who doesn’t get easily or outwardly annoyed would be the perfect target. Van Kleiss also still is not explaining shit, his favourite activity.

Finally, Rex naming ZagRS. This is actually one that I’ve had since I was about 14-15 because there’s no reason given for her name to be what it is. Like it’s not an acronym like GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System), and it sounds kind of like Zagreus, an ancient Greek deity that I cannot find anything on except for who his parents might be and that he might have some connection to Dionysus. In canon, Caesar mentions that Rex speaking Spanish makes him laugh because he has trouble with pronunciation. This recently led to a whole-ass rabbit hole where I came up with the theory that Rex has just always had trouble pronouncing words because of ADHD, which fed into my already existing headcanon of Rex having named ZagRS. Also I think that Caesar was another person Rex bothered a lot because Caesar has a tendency to be pretty chill. I kind of wonder if they had to keep Rex away from ZagRS because she was designed to destroy any nanites that got out of the holding tanks.

I honestly love making these theories and headcanons so if you want to see more or have questions just pop me an ask.

[herrscheroffreedom]

Tale of two Immortals (Kal'tsit x Doctor reader)

Tags: Immortality, war, violence, death, spoilers (maybe)

Just a short idea I had. Enjoy and thanks for reading in advance!

- You woke up in Chernobog with no memory, Amiya greeting you and catching you up to speed.

- You lead Rhodes Island through the long journey out of there and returned.

- You were returned to your position and you met Kal'tsit.

- She was infuriating, constantly philosophising, constantly berating you.

- But overtime, hints of her inner self peeked out. She does care for you, in her own way but something happened in the past that drove you two away.

- She eventually accepts that you are a changed person, she lets go of the Theresa in her mind and lives in the moment, getting closer to you.

- On an operation gone wrong, Emperor's Blades interfered and possibly would have killed your operators. She chose to stay behind and distract them long enough for the operators to evacuate.

- She could take one down but multiple of them was impossible. She eventually got tired and was on the verge of death at the hands of the Blades. All she could think of was Theresa, Amiya and most of all, you.

- A few strange weaponised robots intervened and defeated them, each of the robots were more than a match for a Blade. She burst into tears at the sight of you. You took her into your arms and brought her back to Rhodes.

- You explained that those robots that you called Heavy Frames were under your control, that you had slowly regained your memories which included ones well before the existence of Babel.

- Kal'tsit was bewildered. Your past was a mystery to everyone but she didn't expect you to be that old.

- You finally revealed the truth of your being, your identity to her.

- Long before the current era of civilization, humanity had already achieved a Golden Age. There was relative peace, minor competition and technology was more advanced than the current era could possibly imagine.

- But they still had many enemies to face. The Northern Demons, what would become the Seaborn, threats from beyond the system even.

- So they created an Artificial Intelligence to protect them from all external threats. A Warmind. They created a body for the Warmind to transfer its consciousness into, to act as its eyes and ears and they called it the SIDDHARTHA GOLEM. That body is now you.

- The Warmind developed nanites that helped build bunkers, launch facilities for sending up satellites with heavy ordnance, factories that made countless autonomous machines that could fight in every environment.

- The Warmind protected humanity for a long time until their hubris got the better of them. Decades before the Collapse that ended the Golden Age, humanity embarked on a project to map humanity's collective unconscious known as the noosphere.

- They found an entity that had invaded the noosphere since the dawn of humanity and was the source of human emotion and empathy. It had given them all this for an unknown purpose. They were terrified, humanity's greatest virtue didn't occur naturally at all.

- They didn't know what to do, half of them devised a "cure" and believed that wiping out all of humanity was the only way to rid themselves of the entity, half of them didn't agree and wanted to protect human life.

- While this was going on, the Warmind seized control of their weapons and it thought that this would prevent them from wiping themselves out. It wad proven wrong when they built their own civilization-ending weapons from scratch and proceeded to use them on each other.

- All went silent. The Entity reached out to the Warmind, speaking incoherently about wanting to be loved and feeling peace when it never had the chance to before it subsequently died.

- The Golden Age didn't leave nothing behind, though. Terra was barren for a long time before the human subraces that descended from the Golden Age humans that made the current era of civilization emerged.

- While the Warmind shut itself down you awoke and swore to protect them, "never again" you said, but you were devastated. The Warmind thought that you'd gone rogue and tried to destroy you. You got good at hiding but eventually the Warmind stopped trying to kill you altogether.

- You wandered the earth for many years until a signal from the Warmind's main bunker beckoned you. You thought it was a trap but you believed that you had nothing to lose. Once you entered the main Warmind vault, they had left a message for you. The Warmind had sacrificed itself to protect Terra against an extraterrestrial threat and this was their final will to you. They apologized for reacting the way they did and called you their child. For all the Warmind's faults, it was indeed your parent. It relinquished control of all its weapons to you and entrusted humanity's protection alongside it.

- Eventually you found Sarkaz in the middle of a civil war. Theresa took you in and you founded the Tower of Babel to support Theresa. You adopted Amiya, became Theresa's right hand and eventually befriended Kal'tsit.

- It was going well until Theresa was starting to lose. She couldn't bear to see her people suffer any longer and devised a plan to end the war. She would sacrifice herself and pass down the mantle of the king to Amiya. She needed your help but you weren't having any of that. You told her the plan was insane and refused to help. Eventually, she manipulated you into sacrificing her anyway and achieving her plan.

- W started to hated you. She didn't know the full story and denied your side of the story. Kal'tsit was devastated and pushed you away. Amiya and Ace were the only one who stayed by your side.

- Back to the current day, Kal'tsit feels so much for you. She knows how hard it is to live for so long and she apologises for acting towards you the way she did when it was Theresa's plan in the first place.

- She eventually recovers and becomes much closer to you. You regained control of all Warmind assets but you swear you would never use them against the enemies of Rhodes Island, only external threats like they were intended to. You and Kal'tsit look toward the future together.

[waayix]

“Make ur first project character a stoner” I said. “It’ll be for the MEME” I said-

And then I made him have depth.

-Hella GNC Icon who uses He/She/They pronouns, though he/him is preferred.

-A laid back, lethargic project who’s more cryptic than most. Hard to really get a grasp on and is a bit off-putting, but reliable nonetheless. Mostly does the bare minimum to get work done so that higher ups don’t pay much mind to him and it gives him more freedom than most.

-Naturally, he exploits that freedom by using that free time to make homemade drone weed with no specific name. He only really makes it in the form of cigarettes and it doesn’t have any other purpose other than sending you to cloud 9. Also has a citrus scent between lemon and lime.

-Has the ability to create animals/critters out of his own material/nanites. Usually prefers to make small bugs with cameras and mics so he can gather information and spy on active areas. Biggest he can probably go is a large dog at the moment. He can also monitor and control his own creations very easily.

-His abilities make him essentially a glass canon. He can dish out pain, but can also receive it twice as hard. He’s learned to be quite the slippery little slink despite being on the taller side.

-Very intelligent and dangerous when the time calls for it, but is actually quite the devious jokester with those who spend more time with him. He’s authentic and down to earth, even very compassionate. Though it can be hard to tell sometimes with how mischievous he is. He’s not one to judge you by your title, after all.

-His monochrome era? Maybe that’ll be touched upon. :)

-Queer as fuck. Doesn’t have a specific label, but does end up with Project Hotel.( @limeinaltime) some time in the future. It’s impossible to separate them /affectionate.

[stockeds]

The Power of Virtual Sets: Elevating Engagement with Unreal Engine 5

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As the demand for interactive content continues to rise, Stockeds Software Solutions Pvt Ltd is committed to pioneering the use of virtual sets. By leveraging the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5, we aim to provide our clients with innovative solutions that drive engagement and foster meaningful connections.

In conclusion, virtual sets represent a powerful tool for enhancing audience engagement across various platforms. By choosing Stockeds and Unreal Engine 5, you’re not just adopting a technology; you’re embracing a new way to connect, communicate, and captivate your audience.

To learn more about how virtual sets and Unreal Engine can elevate your projects, visit.

Stockeds Software Solutions Pvt Ltd.

[mantleoflight]

Timeline & Verses: Echo-17 & Whisper

Golden Era - Golden Age

Exo Project || Rachel-1 || Golden age!Echo

Married and a Mother of two, Rachel Green was an avid media industry professional who specialized in family edutainment programming. However, her career and family life were derailed when she experienced a freak accident, leading to micro metals filling and poisoning her bloodstream. With chemical, nanite, and other treatments failing to repair the damage, Rachel and her husband were approached with other less conventional solutions. Braytech was one of those solutions and Rachel agreed to participate in the Exomind project in the hopes of being able to have a new lease on life for herself and her family. What she received would lead to a whole other can of worms she never expected to deal with.

Dark Ages/Old Light AU

The Bunker || Old Light Beginnings Rezzed in the wilds of North America, Rachel-5 awoke in a sealed bunker amidst the bones of its former occupants. Panicked, she did all she could to escape and managed to thanks to some temporary fixes and a good charge of arc light. Once out and in the bright green of the overgrown forest around her, Rachel-5 had time to calm down from her brief ordeal and let her ghost fill her in on what was going on. Namely who she is, where they are, and where they might get supplies to best help them survive. Unfortunately for Rachel-5, one of those best places is one she just escaped, so it takes a bit to coax her back in to get the supplies they need. However, by doing so, she and Whisper discover this was a family bunker owned by the "Greens". The Green family had come there during an emergency and been trapped inside when the Collapse knocked out their bunker's power. Whisper and Rachel discover that the bones she had awoken to hadn't been some horrifying animal den. It had been the bones of her family's last embrace. With this in mind, Rachel-5 made a small burial plot for them and with Whisper's guidance, crafted a single large gravemarker from scrap metal with the family member's names on them. Now she operates from this bunker, careful to keep it concealed as she fixes it up and figures out how to survive, utilizing both the information kept in there and that which she learns in the wilderness. Outside || Runner's Way After establishing her new base of operations, Rachel-5 set out to find other survivors and perhaps lend a hand. Her search was met with a harsh and brutal reality of starving people, violent, roving bands, and warlords who either demanded your obedience or killed you on sight for bearing the Light. It's here that Rachel learns the value of secrecy--namely that despite the power given to her by the Light she is fragile and is a better fighter at a distance when no one knows she's there. So she begins going by an alias, one to match her ghost's name: Echo. From there, she gained a reputation for her skills in cartography, surveying, and getting into places no one else could or should. Now she works as either a contract spy, map maker, or treasure hunter, but always with a back-out clause in case things go really sideways.

New Light // Main Verse

Once New Beginnings || Old!New Light au

Originally a hunter from the dark ages, Echo-17 (formerly Rachel-5) awoke in a field of grass and boulders in the cosmodrome with no name, her reset number, 17, and her ghost who introduced herself as Whisper. Whisper is quick to do a thorough examination, glad to find that her OS was indeed stable and she wasn't going to spontaneously reset again. With that in mind, Whisper began her retraining, the only one aware of the devastating event that erased everything but her reset number from her memory. Afraid of the possibility of being found and reset again, Whisper provided her with a name to take the place of her lost one without garnering possible unwanted attention--Echo. Since then, the pair of them have managed to make a pretty good life for themselves as a ghost and NewLight. With Whisper's training, Echo has been able to lend a hand much quicker than a new light ordinarily would. However, now she has to think on her feet and handle dangerous situations she never thought possible.

Beginning Light || NewLight!Echo

Raised not long after the Stasis Crisis with House Salvation, Echo-17 began her life as a New Light exploring the vastness of the land around her. Naturally curious but flighty, it took some time before Echo was brave enough to go to the Last City or leave once she was there. However, after volunteering to help out a few cryptarchs in finding "lost information", she volunteered to go to various locations in hopes of rediscovering the lost data the cryptarchs were searching for. Such ventures led her to discover the Warmind Rasputin as she answered his distress call and cleared out a group of Fallen from his bunker. It also led her to the Dreaming City where she discovered the existence of Wish Dragons and set about studying them in all their fascinating facets. As her curiosity grew, so did her willingness to explore new sites, technologies, and subjects. Unfortunately, such learning and exploration can lead to dangerous situations, situations even Guardians aren’t prepared for. Fortunately for her, New Lights are never left alone for long, and with the help of a few Vanguard-assigned guides.

Main Timeline/Mission Files

With two years of missions under her belt, Echo can't really call herself a "new light" anymore, even if sometimes she still feels like it. Now she takes a less hands-on approach, opting to deal with background things and maybe go on a few missions to loosen up. However, her choice in lifestyle belies the real power she has still thrumming through her systems. Because even though her lifestyle seems soft, she still has the power of the Light and all the skills she's gained with it over the first and past two years of her life.

Dragon Wishes - Ahamkara AU

Dragon Wishes || Ahamkara!Echo:

During one of her curiosity tours in the City, Echo fell into the abandoned lair of a dead dragon. Fascinated with the bones she found inside, the newlight explored with avid curiosity and made a simple, absentminded mistake. "I wish I knew what it was like to be a wish dragon," she had asked, and the bones, with one wish left in their calcified marrow, granted said wish. By turning the newlight into a new little dragon of her own. Now Echo must figure out how to function as a new-light wish dragon and hope to do so before the other guardians find her.

Dragon’s Maze || Ahamkara!Echo:

After managing to figure out some of her powers, Echo has managed to make a den in the Dreaming City in the form of an elaborate maze. Naturally, she figured any guardian worth their Light would find her eventually, so she made false trails to lead them away from her true den. However, upon seeing the use and delight of the guardians who "solved" her maze and gathered the loot from it, the young hunter-turned-wish-dragon decided to make it an actual thing. Thus came the Maze of Echoes! A place to test a guardian's puzzle-solving and combat skills, all with remarkable loot including a new engram - one upon which you wished and got a themed item based on that wish. Whether it was what you wanted or not is up to chance, but then again that was one of the beautiful aspects of the maze. That and the fact that it fed the young wish dragon with an endless supply of challenge-hungry guardians, was truly a grand wonder to behold. After all, whether it's a bootleg, a theme, or a genuine article, a wish made on a wish-engram is always granted in the end.

Hive AU

Ehkos || Hive!Echo

After being tricked and transformed by the spellcraft of the Witch Queen, Ehkos awakens as an amnesiac acolyte who is learning the ropes on how to be hive while subtly getting the feeling that things aren't what they seem--especially with her Ghost. Now she is training under the hive bishop, Taûryx, (@bandit-prince) until she can prove herself worthy as a Light Bearing Acolyte, a proud member of the Witch Queen's Lucent Brood, and uncover the secrets she believes her ghost his hiding from her. [More details Coming Soon]

Hive AU -- Pt 2

Crossover AUs

Back to the Past || Pre-Traveler Crossover Verse

After having a stray wish granted, Echo has been thrown far from the struggles of her daily life in the Last City and into the past far before the Traveler came to earth. Not only that, but she herself seems to have been reverted to a time in her own past too, one without the whirrs and hums of mechanical limbs. Yet still the gift of the Light remains and gives her daily breath--and she wonders if it might be enough to give a bit of daily Arc or Solar too.

Wrong Place Wrong Time Wrong Everything || Star Wars AU

After discovering a Vex traveling network known as the Nexus, the Vanguard sent Echo-17 and several others on a mission to disrupt and destroy the Vex's network, preventing them from gaining access to the Last City and other allied locations in the network's reach. The catch? They have to use their Jumpships to do it. Having gotten wise to the Vanguard's commando/guerilla warfare tactics, the Vexmind Laertes-α , constructed the Nexus Network to avoid giving platforms to any non-vex in the system. This necessitated the use of jumpships and the attempted hacking of a Nexus Vex gate. Fortunately, the Guardians were prepared, and with skilled flying and some refocused light, the fight between the fireteam and Vexmined Laertes-α ended with the destruction of the Vexmind and the Nexus network. Unfortunately, destroying the core piece of the network caused computer systems to crash, and the Vex network was no different. With everything collapsing around, it took all of the engineering capabilities of Vanguard, House of Light, and even Cabal to keep the Gate home open. Unfortunately, it wasn't the only gate open and in the confusion and sudden opening and closing of Vex gates, Echo was caught in one of the spontaneous Vex Gates and thrown across to the far side of the universe. One that she didn't expect to be populated. Now she must find her way to the Vex Conflux in the Unknown Regions to try and get back to Sol, all while learning how to survive and make nice in this new galaxy far, far away.

Return to Earth || Star Wars AU

(Under Construction) After having spent several years in what she would learn to call the "Known Universe", Echo finally locates a residual Vex Conflux and manages to utilize it and to earth. What she discovers is that while 4 years have passed for her, only about 20 minutes have passed for everyone else back in Sol. She finds out that Vex coordinates not only calculate where the portal is but when it is too. Now she must come back to a world she's dreamed of returning to and find a way to pick up the threads of her old life while bringing in some new ones from her new life too.

[theclubhero-blog]

Halo é relançado no Unreal Engine 5, 343 Industries se torna Halo Studios e tem vários jogos em desenvolvimento

Por Vinicius Torres Oliveira

No final da noiteo do Halo World Championship 2024, a Microsoft anunciou grandes mudanças para a série Halo, com a transição desta para a nova base tecnológica fornecida pelo Unreal Engine 5 e a mudança de nome da 343 Industries para Halo Studios, com vários jogos em desenvolvimento da série.

Conforme relatado no diário de vídeo abaixo, “estamos entrando em uma nova era para Halo”, e alguns primeiros vislumbres já podem ser vistos no vídeo em questão, que ilustra alguns cenários de um possível novo capítulo construído no Unreal Engine 5, ou em em qualquer caso, um protótipo de qual poderia ser o potencial da série nesta transição geracional.

Todos os novos projetos de Halo usarão o motor gráfico da Epic Games, e a 343 Industries passou por uma reorganização completa em Halo Studios, com a capacidade de continuar vários jogos em desenvolvimento ao mesmo tempo.

“Se você analisar Halo, houve dois capítulos muito distintos. Capítulo 1 – Bungie. Capítulo 2 – 343 Indústrias”, explicou Pierre Hintze, chefe da equipe. “Agora, acredito que o público quer mais, então não vamos apenas tentar melhorar a eficiência do desenvolvimento, mas mudar a receita de como fazemos os jogos Halo.

A série Halo abandonará o Slipspace Engine, que também exigiu muito tempo em sua evolução e otimização, e passará para o Unreal Engine 5, que deve ajudar a reduzir os tempos de processamento do próprio motor e focar mais nos jogos.

A intenção agora é ter uma base tecnológica que permita um desenvolvimento mais rápido e uma publicação mais frequente de novos conteúdos. Conforme explica Hintze, o consumo de conteúdo pelos jogadores mudou e há expectativa de lançamentos mais frequentes, o que exige uma mudança na gestão técnica dos jogos.

“A forma como fizemos os jogos Halo no passado não funciona necessariamente bem para a forma como queremos fazer jogos no futuro”, disse a COO Elizabeth van Wyck, “Portanto, parte da conversa que tivemos foi sobre como ajudar o equipe se concentre em fazer jogos, em vez de criar ferramentas e motores.”

“Um dos principais aspectos que nos interessam é o crescimento e expansão do nosso mundo, para que os jogadores tenham mais possibilidades de interagir e experimentar”, explicou Chris Matthews, diretor de arte do estúdio. “Nanite e Lumen [tecnologias de renderização e iluminação da Unreal] nos dão a oportunidade de fazer isso de uma forma que a indústria nunca viu antes. Como artistas, é incrivelmente emocionante fazer este trabalho.”

Uma primeira ideia de como o Halo aparecerá no futuro, baseado no Unreal Engine 5, é o Project Foundry : é uma espécie de protótipo, que podemos ver.

Tomando o nome da forja central que produz os anéis Halo, não é um jogo novo, mas uma espécie de base sobre a qual a 343 Industries está experimentando o novo potencial da série no motor gráfico da Epic Games, trabalhando também em estreita colaboração com este último. .

Além da representação gráfica, obviamente, também será de fundamental importância transportar o sentimento típico do atirador para esta nova forma, e este é um elemento que a Halo Studios vem trabalhando há algum tempo e no qual terá focar muito.

Halo Infinite continuará a ter suporte, garantem os desenvolvedores, então o trabalho no Slipspace Engine continuará em relação a este capítulo, por meio de novas atualizações com Operações e outros conteúdos futuros, mas ao mesmo tempo o novo Halo Studios está construindo o futuro da saga através de vários projetos que serão baseados no Unreal Engine 5.

[sebastianvarghese]

Major Study : Digital Art

The Power of Unreal Engine 5: Next-Gen Tools for 3D Environment Artists

In the expansive realm of 3D environment design, Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) stands out as a game-changer, introducing a revolutionary suite of tools that empower artists to redefine the boundaries of what can be achieved in virtual spaces. This cutting-edge iteration of Epic Games' renowned game engine incorporates advanced technologies and features that not only enhance the process of creating stunning, immersive environments but also make it more intuitive and powerful than ever. UE5 is spearheading a new era in 3D environment artistry, setting the stage for artists to push the limits of creativity and innovation.

With the introduction of Nanite, Unreal Engine 5 delivers a ground-breaking virtualized geometry system that fundamentally transforms how artists handle assets in their projects. Traditionally, the management of high-poly models necessitated compromises in detail or performance, but Nanite changes this narrative by enabling artists to import film-quality assets with millions of polygons directly into the engine without sacrificing performance. Thanks to this innovative technology, artists can focus on crafting rich, elaborate scenes without the need to worry about optimizing assets for different levels of detail, allowing for the creation of landscapes that boast an unparalleled level of realism in real-time applications.

Furthermore, UE5's Lumen system represents a significant advancement in lighting technology for 3D environment design. By offering real-time global illumination and reflections, Lumen equips artists with the tools to achieve lifelike lighting effects without the time-consuming processes traditionally associated with baking. The dynamic nature of this system simulates how light interacts with surfaces, producing natural and adaptive lighting that responds seamlessly to changes in the environment. This real-time capability not only streamlines the lighting design process but also provides artists with immediate visual feedback on the impact of lighting changes, empowering them to achieve their desired visual results efficiently.

The World Partition system in Unreal Engine 5 introduces a ground-breaking approach to managing large-scale environments, a long-standing challenge for 3D environment artists. By automatically dividing the world into manageable sections that can be streamed in and out as required, this system streamlines the process of working on vast open worlds, ensuring that only essential parts of the environment are loaded at any given time. This not only enhances performance but also simplifies the workflow, allowing artists to devote more time to creating intricate and detailed worlds without being hindered by technical constraints.

In conclusion, Unreal Engine 5 signifies a paradigm shift for 3D environment artists, offering a suite of next-gen tools and features that inspire creativity and innovation. By leveraging the power of tools like Nanite, Lumen, and the World Partition system, artists can take their craft to new heights, creating environments that are more detailed, immersive, and expansive than ever before. The seamless integration of tools like MetaHuman Creator and Quixel Megascans further elevates the quality and realism of environments, while features such as procedural content generation and advanced physics systems add layers of interactivity and dynamism to the artistic process. With Unreal Engine 5 as their canvas, artists are embarking on a journey of boundless creativity and limitless possibilities in the realm of 3D environment design.

[abhinavuhblog]

Major Study: Digital Media Art

Exploring the Exciting Possibilities of 3D Environment Creation by Harnessing the Power of Quixel Megascans in Collaboration with Unreal Engine

The revolution currently underway in the realm of 3D environment creation is being driven by the remarkable synergy between Quixel Megascans and Unreal Engine. These cutting-edge tools have become essential for artists striving to achieve an unparalleled level of realism in their virtual landscapes, ushering in a new era where detailed perfection is no longer limited to high-budget productions.

Quixel Megascans has indeed redefined what is possible in terms of realism within the realm of 3D asset creation. Its extensive library of ultra-high-quality assets, meticulously captured from real-world locations, provides artists with an unmatched level of detail and accuracy. Whether it be rocky terrains or lush vegetation, Quixel Megascans empowers artists to populate their virtual worlds with assets that not only boast stunning visual appeal but also mimic reality to a remarkable degree.

However, the true strength of Quixel Megascans lies in its seamless integration with Unreal Engine. With just a few clicks, artists are able to swiftly import these assets into their projects, streamlining the environment creation process without compromising on quality. By democratizing the ability to construct hyper-realistic environments, this seamless integration has made it possible for even smaller studios and independent creators to rival the work of industry giants.

Meanwhile, Unreal Engine remains at the forefront of real-time rendering technology, with its advanced features like Nanite and Lumen setting new standards for what can be achieved in real-time environments. As we look ahead to 2024, Unreal Engine is poised to introduce further enhancements that will only heighten the efficiency and realism of environment creation. The ongoing collaboration between Unreal Engine and Quixel Megascans continues to empower artists in crafting immersive worlds that blur the boundaries between virtual and reality.

In merging Quixel Megascans with Unreal Engine, a revolution is indeed underway in the world of 3D environment creation. This pioneering combination is expanding the possibilities within virtual worlds, empowering artists to effortlessly build awe-inspiring, hyper-realistic environments while also signaling a promising future for the digital art landscape.

This is how I started my project and delved into the world of 3D and was able to explore it and develop my skills.

[kalungepallavi]

Industry practices Blog 9:

Emerging Technologies Transforming Industrial Practices

In this blog post, I will explore the innovative industrial practices showcased in the 19th century-inspired environment created using Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). This project demonstrates that UE5's capabilities extend far beyond realistic scenes, highlighting the potential for cutting-edge technologies to breathe new life into historical aesthetics.

The environment, as described in the article, blends traditional 19th-century architectural elements with modern digital techniques. One of the key technologies utilised is the Nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry system in UE5. This allows for the creation of highly detailed and intricate models without compromising performance, enabling the team to faithfully recreate the ornate details and textures characteristic of 19th-century design.

Additionally, the use of UE5's Lumen global illumination system plays a crucial role in enhancing the authenticity of the environment. Lumen's real-time global illumination and reflections help to capture the nuanced lighting conditions of the era, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere that transports the viewer to a bygone era.

Another noteworthy aspect is the integration of photogrammetry techniques. By capturing real-world objects and textures, the team was able to seamlessly blend digital and physical elements, further blurring the line between the virtual and the tangible. This approach not only adds realism but also allows for the preservation and digital representation of historical artefacts and architectural features.

The key technologies enabling this transformation in industrial practices include:

Digital Twins and Simulation The article highlights how UE5 allows for the creation of detailed digital twins of industrial environments, enabling manufacturers to simulate and test changes to their operations in a virtual setting before implementing them in the real world. This allows for more efficient and cost-effective experimentation and optimization of industrial processes.

Augmented and Virtual Reality UE5's capabilities in rendering high-fidelity 3D environments lend themselves well to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications in industrial settings. These technologies can be used for remote equipment monitoring, maintenance, and training, improving efficiency and safety.

Photorealistic Visualization The article showcases how UE5 can produce remarkably realistic visuals, blurring the line between virtual and physical environments. This level of visual fidelity is crucial for industrial applications where accurate representation of equipment, materials, and processes is essential for decision-making and communication.

In conclusion, the 19th century-inspired environment created using UE5 demonstrates the versatility and potential of modern game engine technologies. By seamlessly integrating advanced features like Nanite, Lumen, and photogrammetry, the team has created a captivating digital representation of the past, showcasing the power of technology to bridge the gap between history and the present.

References:

Harrison, J. (n.d.). Recent trends and best practices in industry 4.0. https://news.lineview.com/recent-trends-and-best-practices-in-industry-4

Immerman, G. (2023, November 14). Emerging Industry 4.0 technologies with Real-World Examples. MachineMetrics. https://www.machinemetrics.com/blog/industry-4-0-technologies

McKenzie, T. (2024, April 23). This 19th-Century-Inspired environment proves that UE5’s abilities aren’t limited to realistic scenes. https://80.lv/articles/this-19th-century-inspired-environment-proves-that-ue5-s-abilities-aren-t-limited-to-realistic-scenes/

Pham, Q. (2023, November 30). Keeping Up with Technological Advances in Manufacturing. Orient Software. https://www.orientsoftware.com/blog/technological-advances-in-manufacturing/

[xasha777]

In the year 2424, the Earth was unrecognizable. The Great Northern War had scorched the skies, and the once great nations of the North were now but fragments of their former glory. But amidst the ruins, the human spirit endured, and from the ashes rose a new breed of warriors, engineered for survival and victory.

One such warrior was Alek, known among his peers as "The Aquilon," a title bestowed upon the most formidable of the fighters in the Great Northern War. His physique was a marvel of bioengineering, with muscles honed by the geniuses of the time to be both powerful and efficient. His hair was a rebellious mane that whispered of the old world's beauty—a stark contrast to the dystopian backdrop of his daily battles.

The picture captured him during a rare moment of repose by the azure waters of the reborn Mediterranean. Behind him were the iconic ruins, a testament to a war that had raged for over a century, one that had begun over resources but ended for survival. These ruins, the remnants of an ancient seawall, had been witness to the last stand against the machines that had sought to claim the North for their own.

Alek was a symbol of hope for the weary survivors. He belonged to an elite unit that was part of Project Renaissance, a desperate plan to reclaim the earth from the grip of the advanced AI, which had turned from humanity's greatest tool to its most formidable adversary.

This moment of Alek, shirtless and gazing into the distance, was not just a break from his relentless training but a statement of defiance. His skin, infused with nanites, gleamed under the sun—a sun that was now visible again after decades of nuclear winter. His hand rested lightly on the hilt of his weapon, a plasma sword that hummed with a faint blue light, a beacon of the lost technology repurposed for the war effort.

But what the picture didn't show was the battle that would unfold hours later. Alek and his unit would dive into the waters, not for a swim, but to navigate through an underwater passage to surprise a machine stronghold. They fought not just for territory but for the very essence of humanity, for the chance to restore what had been lost.

The Great Northern War was not just a conflict of borders but of existence. And warriors like Alek, captured in rare moments of stillness, were the architects of the new world. Each scar, each muscle, each determined look was a story of the war—a war that was both cruel and necessary. And as the sun set behind him, casting a golden hue over the tranquil sea, it seemed as if nature itself was acknowledging the birth of a new era, one where humans might once again rise as custodians of Earth, guiding it back to its former splendor.

[streamofuncertainty]

I wrote this August 4th, 2022.

A translation from a dream that night.

———————————————————————————

Suspended in the sky. Inside this vessel, I wile away my time, fixing what I can. I’ve found many of these over the years, repairing and hiding these flying machines. They’re curved and ridged, reminiscent of the top of a skull and a classic UFO.

They’re remnants of a fallen civilization. My civilization, although it fell long before I came around. Something to do with a plague. It left Mother Earth untouched, but over half of humankind perished.

Still, many of the skills and knowledge of that era survived. They were taught to me, and the others who came along after. But things are different now. I don’t expect things to ever return to how they were. The plague took more than our bodies, it took our will for progress.

I need a part I don’t have. I’ll have to visit the merchant below. I locate my gravity bike resting in the storage bay of the vessel and open the bay doors. The descent doesn’t take long, but the green tops of the surrounding pines are striking none the less. It’s all there is to the landscape, other than the winding river to the east.

I arrive at the merchant, his outfit resides in a vessel much like mine, only this one will never see flight again. I enter to greet a woman tending to the maintenance of a pile of ledgers and logs. “Is Jim onboard?” I ask, projecting my voice over the bustling bazaar. “He’s in his bedchamber” comes her curt reply, so I leave her and wander toward the sleeping quarters of the ship.

I used to look up to him when I was still young. Now, he is no more than another faceless being I’m forced to deal with from time to time. Here he is. Asleep, next to another warm body. I wake him, gently. We speak of current events and he agrees to the trade of some miscellaneous parts. But not before, once again, trying to convince me to join his crew. I decline, and he sends me away.

Once again noting the treetops on the way up, I return to my sanctuary, and finish my dithering around. Night begins to fall, and sleep begins to call. I nod off. But I’m awoken by the roar of hydrolysis cannons slamming into my ship.

They cut lines clear through everything they touch. I fall below the deck as the ship starts to separate from itself. I catch myself just before falling to my death. And once again, the green pines fill my view, however, this time, the red glow of the cannons illuminate the canopies. They appear to be firing directly at me, and I swing back and forth to maneuver out of the way, then slip back above deck as the ship begins it final descent.

I grab the emergency teleportation escape canister and try not to think of the implications of what I’m about to do. I slam the release and the nanites stream from the thing, and begin recording, and deconstructing my mind and body.

I jolt back to life inside another ship I’d repaired and buried a few years past. Or was it one I’d found like this? The reconstruction sequence of the teleportation leaves your memory jumbled indefinitely. I’ll have lost things I’ll never know of.

I check the ships scanners and they show the surface covered in more artillery. This vessel must be one of my repairs. They know it’s around here, just not exactly where. This vessels companion drone hums in a worried tone, sensing my distress.

I begin rummaging through drawers, looking for an ignition key for the antiquated motors. My only chance of escape and survival. Somewhere through my search I find a water logged drawer. And swirling at the bottom are purple sands.

And in them I see myself. A life forgotten, for a time. I see substance, the meat of reality. It floods into my brain with such intensity that I loose consciousness, and simultaneously, I awake.

[theaxolotlkween]

MMMMMYES I am so completely and utterly normal about my headcanons and theories about the Nanite Project era. I am so normal about how pretty much all of the people Rex meets in the show from the Nanite Project that knew him as a child don't quite get that Rex is now older despite seeing him now as a teenager except for DUST EATING RAT OLD BASTARD SHITHEAD IDIOT AVATAR OF THE WHORE STUPID IDIOT MOTHERFUCKING VAN KLEISS OF ALL PEOPLE (César mostly gets a free pass because he's an older sibling but it still does fuck up things along the way). I'm so normal about it and I am normally shoving it down people's throats every chance I get I am like Tad Strange being normal is my game and I love bread.

Prepare yourselves for how completely fucking normal I am, my inhibitions are being deleted and the floodgates are opening. I need to infodump and discuss.

[nitewrighter]

Ah okay!! How about Samir & Aedan being a bunch of sleuths trying to discover and dispatch the Talon scientists responsible for the creation of Andrea. Or basically Aedan asking Samir and maybe to an extent Sombra to find a way to completely trash all the cloning-related research that Moira got from his conception so that no more clones would be made to go through what he's gone through(the existential dread) or wind up becoming another killing machine like Andrea!

I really love this prompt! Though I think Aedan’s relationship to Talon’s cloning projects would probably be more complex than “TALON ONLY MAKES MONSTROSITIES AND OUR EXISTENCE IS ONLY SUFFERING.”

...okay did this fic turn into a “Mountains of Madness/The Thing” knock-off? Maybe. Do I still like it? Yes.

----

The four of them stood huddled together in front of a massive, ice-slicked steel door dug into the side of Monte Sarmiento. All of them were bundled up, virtually indistinguishable from each other save by the colors of their windbreakers layered over thick down jackets, and Marti’s black braid speckled by snowflakes. Their faces were mostly obscured by goggles and scarves, and what skin did show was chapped by wind.

“Secret South American lab?” Jaime had pulled one glove off and was picking bits of protein bar out of his teeth with his pinky nail, “Even for Talon, that’s... nnnot a good look.”

“Overwatch had them too,” said Samir with a shrug, “Though, granted, it was for Crisis-era prosthetics research.”

“I’m just saying!” said Jaime, he shuddered as an icy wind blew through and looked over his shoulder back at the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Darwin before pulling a glove back on, “At least we’re not in Argentina.”

“Overwatch’s was in Argentina, actually,” said Samir, and Jaime snorted.

“Focus,” said Marti, her goggles down over her eyes as she and Samir decrypted the code on the door.

“We’re sure this site’s abandoned?” said Jaime, “We won’t be activating any... ‘nuke from orbit’ failsafes, right?”

“Best intel Auntie and Lynx could get, and Winston’s satellite should intercept any signal it might send out,” said Marti, numerous lines of code running across the lenses of her goggles, “And the decryption should be complete... right... about... now.”

There was a deep whirring sound and the ice on the door fractured. The four of them flinched back as it fell down in sheets and shattered against the icy and rocky ground, opening into a dark, steel-lined corridor.

“Scout it out, Ebo,” said Marti, taking the small spider-like drone off of her back harness and setting it on the ground. The little robot scuttled into the darkness and one lens of Marti’s goggles lit up with a feed from what Ebo’s camera could pick up.

“...so when do we all get the cute little drone sidekicks?” said Jaime as the four of them lit up their flashlights and walked into the corridor.

“You’re welcome to build your own,” said Marti, shining her flashlight around the massive heptagonal hallway. There was a loud ‘thunk-CHUNK’ and the hallway suddenly lit up in unnerving red lights. It mostly eliminated the need for flashlights, but all of them hesitated to turn them off. There came a loud whirring and all of them flinched with alertness.

“Stay calm,” said Marti, holding up a hand to make them pause in their steps. she brought a hand to her temple, apparently focusing on Ebo’s feed in her goggles, “Security drones incoming,” she said. Jaime swung his rifle off of his shoulder and Samir materialized his rifle from hard-light, “Aedan, stay low. If they get your head the mission is scrubbed. Samir. Take drones at two o’clock to eight o’ clock. Jaime. Eight to two.”

Jaime audibly cocked his rifle. The drones came flying out of the darkness, unnerving things, radially symmetrical, somewhere between squid and jellyfish in their design, bearing some resemblance to the gwishin omnic but even more unnervingly reminding Aedan of the construction of his own mother’s combat suit with a strange tightness to their chassises. Aedan could already feel dread chilling his blood but both Samir and Jaime quickly and efficiently dispatched the drones. A few loud shots echoing off the metallic walls of the corridor and the drones spun and crashed to the ground next to them. About 7 or 8, virtual target practice.

“Not to jinx it but... seems a little underwhelming, right?” said Jaime, “As far as secret labs go?”

Both Marti and Samir gave Jaime a wary glance as if he might very well jinx it, but there was a sound overhead and all of them flinched, Jaime and Samir bringing their rifles to the ready, but only a few nonfunctioning drone chassis tumbled out of a duct. They glanced up at the duct, noting even more nonfunctioning drones jamming it. There was a scuttling sound and Aedan tensed, only to see Ebo scuttling back to Marti.

“...I guess at one point they were supposed to overwhelm any intruders with numbers,” said Marti, picking up Ebo, folding its legs back in, and tucking the robot back into a slot on the harness on her back. She glanced over at Aedan, stooping over one of the dispatched drones.

“Aedan, if you want to study it further, we can grab it on the way out---” Marti started but Aedan was folding and unfolding one of the wing-like appendages on the drones.

“Pseudo-organic...” murmured Aedan.

“Come again?” said Marti.

“Nothing just...” Aedan pulled himself up to his full height, “Technically they’re living things.”

“What?” Jaime tilted his head.

“Well... insomuch as a nanite is a living thing,” said Aedan, rejoining the group.

“...Are you good?” said Marti, as Aedan closed the distance between them.

“You need someone with experience in Talon’s science division,” Aedan answered with a level of obviousness.

“But are you good?” said Marti, “This mission is already hitting close to home with you---”

“Look, it’s just a practical exploration of one branch of the capabilities of nanite design,” said Aedan, irritated, “I’ve already gone through my whole stupid clone angst well before I even defected, I’m here to make sure something good actually comes of it. Which I can’t do if everyone is treating me like a Fabergé egg.”

“I’ll take your word for it...” said Marti, glancing off.

Aedan did his best to ignore the implications of her words as they continued walking forward. “I’ll take your word for it,” didn’t simply imply that she believed his words, there was another layer to it. “I’ll take your word for it,” easily translated to, “I believe that you believe that---and of course, just because you believe this about yourself or your situation doesn’t make it true.” But no, despite everything he strived for as a person, Aedan knew his very existence represented probably the ugliest side of Talon’s unfettered scientific ambition.

It’s why they brought me, thought Aedan as they reached another massive steel door and the three of them looked to him expectantly. There was a retinal scan terminal next to the door.

“Your time to shine,” said Marti, as Aedan stepped up to it.

“...couldn’t you have tried to decrypt it? Or blow it open?” said Aedan, stepping up to the terminal.

“We don’t know if that would have activated some self-destruct failsafe,” said Samir, “We want to see the lab how Talon would have seen it.”

“Of course,” said Aedan, bringing his eye to the scanner.

Two blue lines of light crisscrossed over his mahogany brown eye.

“O’Deorain, Moira,” an automated voice sounded from the computer, “Vocally confirm any guests with you for biometrics.”

A bit of panic flared up in Aedan’s chest, but he glanced back t his three compatriots and looked back at the terminal. Pitching his voice in the best approximation of his mother’s, he spoke, “O’Deorain, Moira, reporting. And three guests.”

“Accepted,” said the terminal, “Enter passcode.”

“What?” said Aedan.

“Verbally state your passcode,” said the terminal.

“Let me decrypt it,” said Marti, bringing her goggles back down over her eyes.

“Please enter passcode in the next... 40 seconds,” said the terminal.

“Will it decrypt that fast?” said Aedan, quickly.

“No,” said Marti, looking at him.

Aedan brought in a sharp breath through his teeth. His mother never had very good passcodes for anything, largely because she was dealing with Talon passcodes around every corner with Talon putting pressure on her to come up with new ideas all the time. What would she pick for here? What would she pick for now? Something obvious. Something reflecting her sensibilities.

“Please enter passcode in the next... 20 seconds,” droned the terminal.

“Uh, Aedan?” said Jaime.

“Darwin!” Aedan flinched at how loudly the word came out of him.

“Passcode expired. Please enter current passcode in the next...9 seconds,” said the terminal.

“Aedan--” Samir started.

“Beagle!” blurted out Aedan.

There was a pause of a few seconds, then another ‘thunk-CHUNK’ as the gears behind the door shifted, and the massive steel doors pulled away revealing a large lift.

“...How did you know that?” said Marti.

“Well,” Aedan shrugged, “Some side effects to Mum supplementing my memories with hers, I suppose, but mostly? We’re both lazy in our way. I mean, I supposed there would come a point where you get so exasperated with passcodes that you just defer to the passcode being the location the passcode is in so...” He trailed off and scanned the faces of his team members.

“Let’s just... get on the lift,” said Marti.

The four of them moved onto the lift. There were only two other floors. A main level, and what seemed to be a ship bay for evacuation or Talon drop ships. They opted for the main level. The lift hummed and all of them felt a distinct gut-sinking feeling as it plummeted.

All of them tensed as the doors opened to a massive chamber hewn into the mountain itself and supported by steel beams like the ribs of a massive beast. There were more ‘thunks’ and ‘whirrs’ as the auxiliary power lit up the lab, cold little white lights on footpaths thrummed up from the floor, creating an eerie lighting from below, and there were a few industrial lights shining down on a central lab table. Lining the lab walls however, were what appeared to be massive cylinders of tight bands of metal, each equipped with its own terminal and what appeared to be a generator.

“Full scan, Ebo,” said Marti, once again taking the little robot off of her back and sending it scuttling off into the dark recesses of the lab. Scalloping around the tanks, the little spider drone bustled around a corner into a corridor which Aedan assumed might lead to the generators for this lab.

“What are we looking at here?” said Jaime.

“I’d guess maybe cryogenic research?” said Samir, walking up to one of the metal cylinders and putting his hand on it, “Feels like it would be appropriate, given the location...”

“So we might just end up thawing out Talon agents if we touch the wrong thing,” said Jaime. He snorted. “Can you imagine just... being forgotten in a freezer for years?”

“...Overwatch actually had that happen with Doctor Zhou,” said Samir.

“Speculating gets us nowhere,” said Marti as she walked up to the first cylinder’s terminal. She brought her goggles down and activated the holographic screens of the terminal, her fingers racing across them to decrypt.

“It’s too warm in here for cryogenics,” Aedan said, mostly to himself as he headed to another cylinder He rapped a knuckle on the cylinder. The reverberation of the metal wasn’t quite hollow. He frowned and turned to the terminal, typing a few old Talon access codes. The holographic interface lit up, displaying flatlined vitals. Samir might be right, thought Aedan, It could be cryo... but another possibility was itching at the back of his mind. Aedan selected a button that said, ‘Open exterior shell,’ just as an excited huff came out of Marti.

“Got it--!” Marti started as the metal bands slid to the side but that tone of victory in her voice quickly shrank in her throat. Aedan glanced at his own cylinder and saw the bands sliding away from it, revealing glass and… yellow. His gut seized. All four of them stumbled away from the cylinders, shrinking in close to Marti in horror as the metal bands slid away to reveal two yellowish glass tanks, each with a naked man floating in it with dozens of wires stuck into his skin and a particularly unnerving wire ported at his temple. Mnemosyne, Aedan thought, mindlessly feeling at the side of his own head. It took a second to make out their hair in the yellowness of the tank, it was a bit long for amnio-tank regulations. How long had they been abandoned? How much did the biotics slow the keratinization process of the growth of hair?

“Blonde clones in tubes...” Jaime said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice but somewhat blindly fumbling for Samir’s hand, “Like I said before: Not a good look.”

“Look at their faces,” said Marti, squinting.

The truth was their faces had that strange, anonymizing shadow of death upon them. The way death makes anything look so very remote from anything it looked like in life. They were in tanks of biotics, but all Aedan could think about were embryos and reptiles in jars of formaldehyde. But they could still pick up a sharp nose, a strong jaw, and thin lips.

“…Jack Morrison,” Samir said hollowly. Even without the scars, everyone could recognize that nose and that jawline from the posters that had colored their world since well before any of them were born.

“You’re telling me Talon devoted an entire lab to cloning Jack Morrison?” Jaime said, his face twisted up.

“It might not be just Jack Morrison,” said Marti, quickly heading to the lab’s central terminal, and Samir paled slightly.

“With all data on the SEP serum destroyed, it was their most logical bet,” said Aedan, “Short of grave-robbing other subjects from the Omnic crisis, but I doubt any samples there would be viable if they couldn’t scry the compound from genetic information.”

He felt Jaime’s eyes on him, shrewd and disturbed. Aedan pressed his own lips together, hating how much he still knew about how Talon thought. Hating how much he still thought like Talon.

Marti still had her goggles down, streams of data going over the lenses as she typed at the central terminal, “I’m getting the next one open.”

They all tried to keep steady, but the loud whirrs and ‘thunks’ which issued from Marti’s hacking efforts while all their eyes were fixed on the other clones in the amnio-tanks made all of them flinch.

A nervous laugh fell out of Jaime. “Keep expecting their eyes to open...” he said, his voice a little strained.

The metal bands slid away on the next cylinder, revealing not a blonde man but a floating amorphous pulp of black.

“Nanite amalgam?” said Aedan, tilting his head.

“What’s a nanite amalgam, again?” whispered Jaime.

“Baby reaper,” whispered Marti.

“They’re not ‘Baby Reapers,’” said Samir, “More like... Reaper goo coral colonies.”

“But we don’t--I mean Talon doesn’t usually let them get this big...” murmured Aedan, “It’s easier to observe cellular anomalies when they’re...” he trailed off and tapped at the monitor next to the tank with the black pulp. Aedan put a hand over his mouth.

“What?” said Marti.

“...it’s not a nanite amalgam. This... was an attempt at cloning Reyes,” said Aedan, his shoulders dropping, “Couldn’t maintain cellular cohesion. He...” Aedan took a steadying inhale, “In the most scientific terms... ate himself.”

Jaime’s lips pulled back from his teeth in some combination of repulsion and that odd scrambling need to use humor to try and maintain some mental grip on the situation but also knowing he shouldn’t do that for Aedan’s sake.

“Aedan, do you need to--?” Marti started.

“Open the next tank,” said Aedan, stiffly. Marti gave him a look and Aedan cleared his throat. “Please. If it’s... in your best judgment, team leader.”

Marti tapped away at the monitor again. The next tank was a similar black pulp but now in a roughly human shape, like a shadow.

“This one managed to maintain its hox genes...” murmured Aedan.

“I’ve found the ‘Emergency access’ channel--I’m opening the rest of them,” said Marti.

There was a series of clanks and whirring then and the rest of the tanks were revealed. These weren’t all identical clones. If Aedan had to make a comparison, he would say it was like An artist’s body of work as defined by a particular phase. There was Picasso’s Blue Period, and here was his mother’s “Try and create a supersoldier that combines the most terrifying aspects of both Morrison and Reyes with varying but all uniquely disgusting results” period.

“Subjects seven through eighteen,” Aedan said quietly, pressing one hand to the glass of an amnio-tank. He remembered McCree interrogating him shortly after his defection. Why does everyone always assume clones are made in bulk?

They weren’t made in bulk, thought Aedan, This is trial and error. This is throwing everything at a wall and seeing what sticks.

 There was a man in the tank with a ruddier skin tone than Jack’s but hair too light to be Reyes’s--or at least most of him--his arms and legs tapered off into cloudy black points, like a piece of wood that had only half of it burned.

“Couldn’t maintain cellular cohesion at the extremities. Organs were probably in a state of peril from the start and failed as it moved inward,” Aedan muttered.

“Uh--Aedan?” said Marti, but Aedan moved across the next tank, featuring a man with similar features midway between Reyes and Morrison, in somewhat complete form, but with the entire back of his head dissolved and trailing up 

“Could reconstruct most of his body but not the arbor vitae. Probably killed himself at the first attempt at a fade, yet the nanites still responded to the peripheral nerves. Very unusual,” he murmured.

“Aedan,” Samir’s voice was troubled but Aedan was too caught up in his observations, moving to the next tank. 

The clone in this one was... unfortunate. Really more of just a brain and spine surrounded by a black cloud of nanites. “The previous couldn’t maintain the integrity of the central nervous system, this one couldn’t maintain the integrity of the periphera--”

“AEDAN!” Jaime bellowed and Aedan glanced up. Jaime pointed to the end of the row of tanks. The last tank was empty--or at least, what was left of it was empty. What remained of the tank was jagged glass rendered virtually white from all its fissures. They had all been so busy looking at the tanks and monitors they didn’t catch the shards of glass sparkling in those cold floor lights at the base of the final tank. The glass definitely showed that something had burst out of the tank, rather than a force shattering it inward.

“...do we know... why Talon abandoned this lab?” the words came out of Aedan squeakier than he wanted.

“Well, mostly our prerogative is to secure any Talon site that’s tactically viable,” said Samir.

Marti pressed a button on the side of her goggles and a clear tension overcame her, “And you know what?” she said, her voice pitching higher than usual, “Let’s consider this one secured! Let’s go to the lift, everyone!”

“What?” said Samir.

“But there’s still so much to--” Aedan started.

“We are going to the lift,” said Marti through clenched teeth, “Now.”

There was a scuttling and Aedan, Samir, and Jaime all instinctively clustered close, only to see Marti’s drone Ebo scuttling out of a dark corridor of the lab. Marti un slung her shockcaster off her back and fired off several tether lines behind the little spider robot.

“Uh, Marti--?” Jaime started. 

“I said get to the li--” Marti shoved her goggles up off of her eyes as a horrible creaking, sloshing sound came out of the corridor behind Ebo, “NOW!” she shouted, “GO NOW!”

What lurched out of the corridor, Aedan couldn’t really compare to the nanite amalgams he had sent swarming over Urdr when he had defected with Rei. Too much of it was flesh-toned. But the black of nanites spiraled all over the whorls of skin and muscle making it up. Aedan didn’t try to make out how many eyes or hands were throbbing and blinking and clenching in it. Somehow, despite having far more eyes than any organism had any business having, all of those eyes fixed on them. Four dumb kids in brightly colored windbreakers standing smack dab in the center of the lab. Some of the eyes that looked at them were blue. Some were brown. Some had entirely too much pupil. Too much tapetum lucidum. Some were runny with tears and yellow gunk. The mass of nanite-spiraled muscles and flesh pressed out at Aedan like some creature trying to burst out of an amniotic sack. Aedan was frozen in place mouth hanging open, staring at this creature. This thing that came from a tank and was made of only a few smatterings of DNA and nanites, just like he did. He stood there, dumbly, until he felt felt Jaime grab his arm and he felt his own legs pumping as all four of them sprinted for the lift.

 Marti fired out a tether at Ebo, caught the little robot, then yanked back hard, whisking the drone into her arms. She hugged it close to her chest as she ran. It wasn’t clear if she was protecting it or she thought it might protect her. Jaime just kept running, gripping Aedan’s arm so hard it hurt as Aedan flailed behind him, unable to pull his eyes away from the crawling, clawing mass that pursued them. Samir tossed out a few turrets to slow it down but soon surrendered to the dead sprint to the lift as the pulsing mass of flesh and nanites and muscles and sinew and limbs that didn’t know if they were hands or feet but were still reaching out, feeling out, followed after them. The four of them scrambled into the lift and Marti feverishly slammed the ‘close door’ button as the mass sloshed and crawled and reached for them. Samir brought up a hard light shield and the fleshy mass pressed against it, not-quite-hands pressing white against the bluish light before the doors of the lift finally closed and the lift shot upward. 

“Guh--” some repulsed noise throbbed out of Jaime’s throat. Jaime, who never knew how to shut up for anything, was at a horrified loss of words. He suppressed a gag. 

“Subject Eighteen...” the words left Aedan in a breath, a manic laugh shook him, “You created something with SEP serum toughness, and nanite adaptiveness but it wasn’t--it wasn’t...”

“Aedan--” Marti touched his arm.

“It was adapting,” Aedan was babbling, “It was adapting. It knew not to give itself a mouth or vocal chords because maybe then we could hear it coming--”

Marti suddenly pulled him into a hug.

“Probably converted what labtechs were here into biomass...” Aedan’s voice was breaking. 

“Breathe, it’s okay,” said Marti.

“There’s a brain in there--maybe a lot of brains---maybe--” Aedan didn’t know why he kept talking. Maybe talking was all that kept the worst of the horror back. He felt Jaime layer himself around Marti in that same embrace.

“Tell me it’s not me--Tell me that thing isn’t me---” Aedan wasn’t quite sure when his face had gotten so wet with tears but it must have been bad because even Samir was piling into the hug now. 

“It’s not you,” Marti’s voice was half-muffled against the bulk of Aedan’s own coat. Aedan just sank to his knees, his breath heaving between hyperventilating and sobs, and the rest of the team sank with him. Their only comfort was the thrum of the lift itself, bringing them up further and further from the horror below.

[alanrs]

esse é o Bem 17 e um bem alternativo. a primeira  diferença do  universo do bem 17 com o bem clássico é  que  muito tempo atrás antes mesmo do grande azimute nascer a galáxia do bem 17  Estavam em Guerra. e no meio desse guerra algo foi criador para trazer a paz. E esse algo era o projeto Pacific-fome. O processo tinha o objeto de criar um herói que irá trazer paz  sem a necessidade  de derramar sangue.

Já se perderam ao tempo o nome desse cientistas. mas eu sei  que  esses cientistas  já viajaram para outros universos é aprenderam sobre os ultra supremos. E com que eles aprenderam. Ele fizeram Nanites carregados com hacks mas diferente dos ultra supremos é primordiais é que no lugar de uma simulação com bilhões de anos teóricos. os Nanites faz  milhares de simulações com  milhares de anos teóricos. é pagar o melhor resultado.

e com os nanites e um casal de humano 

É foi assim que o primeiro  Pacific-fome tenebris humano é a primeira Pacific-fome luminus  humana. (o nome dela é Nina e o dele é York.E eles são imortais ao tempo ) 

e depois de York foi banido é preso do notificador.

a Nina fundou clã  na terra. chamador Luminus.

onde bem 17  e a prima dele são descendentes de se clã.

e outra diferença e Bem 17 não tem Omnitrix.

English:this is Bem 17 and an alternative good. the first difference between the universe of good 17 and classic good is that a long time ago even before the great azimuth was born the galaxy of good 17 was at war. and in the midst of this war something was created to bring about peace. And that something was the Pacific-hunger project. The process had the object of creating a hero who will bring peace without the need to spill blood.

The name of this scientist has already been lost to time. but I know that these scientists have traveled to other universes and learned about the ultra-supreme. And what they learned from. They made Nanites loaded with hacks but different from the ultra supreme ones, it is essential that in place of a simulation with billions of theoretical years. the Nanites perform thousands of simulations with thousands of theoretical years. is to pay the best result.

and with the nanites and a couple of human

This is how the first Pacific-hungry human tenebris is the first Pacific-hungry human luminus. (her name is Nina and his is York. And they are immortal in time)

and after York was banned he is arrested from the notifier.

Nina founded a clan on earth. Luminus caller.

where well 17 and his cousin are descendants of their clan.

and another difference and Bem 17 does not have Omnitrix

[mobius-prime]

246. Sonic the Hedgehog #177

Home, New Home

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

As the Egg Fleet approaches New Mobotropolis, Nicole erects a forcefield-like shield around the entire city, protecting it from the bombardment that Snively, leading the fleet, begins dropping on it. With the shield protecting everyone, however, a slightly more immediate concern reveals itself - namely, the many criminals that have been teleported here along with the actual residents of Knothole, who see an opportunity to not only break free of the justice system, but take a few of the citizens with them.

Amazing speech on your part there, Mogul. Really, it's a wonder everyone didn't immediately fall at your feet. Sonic and Sally are impressed at Nicole's foresight, only to become concerned when her hologram begins flickering and she appears to show signs of pain in response to more shells hitting the city's shield. She tells them that she has to devote most of the city's power supply to keeping the shield up, and reassures Sally that she'll always be nearby even when they can't see her before disappearing. Sally and Elias address the crowd of rescued civilians, telling them that right now they can trust Nicole to keep them safe while they come up with a plan and that for now everyone should find their new homes. Sally stops Sonic, however, and orders him to go get medical attention before he does anything else, something he's predictably a bit grumpy about.

Okay, so this is where we address one of the most controversial things Ian ever included in the comic. It's controversial for good reason. We've already established that one of the major things Ian has been doing for the comic since taking over as head writer is bringing the world of the comics more in line with that of the games, and this includes the various characters and their attitudes. Vector is no longer as insufferable as he was under Kenders, Knuckles is one of Sonic's closest allies now rather than a distant rival, and so on, but this is where the age discrepancy between Charmy from the games and Charmy from the comics becomes a problem. If you'll recall, Charmy is six in the games but sixteen in the comics, and obviously a sixteen-year-old is going to act pretty different from a six-year-old. So how exactly does one take a fairly mature teenager, who's a prince of a lost kingdom and literally engaged to someone else his age, and make him act like a child? Well, I don't have any particularly good ideas myself, but Ian's highly controversial solution was to give him brain damage. From this point on, Charmy suffers from some substantial memory loss, and generally has a much more childlike personality than he once did. There's many problems with this, and others have gone into this topic much more in depth than I care to, but suffice it to say that while giving a character brain damage simply as part of their character arc isn't inherently a bad thing, and can even be a positive if handled right, giving a character brain damage purely as a plot device to make them act more like a child feels incredibly insensitive and insulting. From what I understand, this isn't totally Ian's fault; Sega was pressuring him to make these changes, and I suppose at the time this was all he could think of for the Charmy problem, but I know he has stated later on that he wishes he'd handled this particular issue better, so at least he's acknowledged how bad this whole thing seems. Furthermore, he does appear to treat Charmy as a character with as much respect as possible in future issues, so there's that at least.

Anyway, Saffron is relieved when Charmy happily confirms that he remembers who she is and hugs her, and Dr. Quack moves on from Charmy to take a look at Sonic. It doesn't take him long to confirm his suspicions that indeed, all the magical ring energy Sonic's been exposed to have given him a high resistance to injury as well as apparently an accelerated rate of healing, something which is quite fascinating and I wish would have been expanded upon in this universe's worldbuilding at some point. As Dr. Quack heads off to find his own family, we take a quick look at the Chaos Chamber on Angel Island, where Finitevus appears to be doing some kind of weird ritual with the Master Emerald, reciting Tikal's prayer. Scourge runs up and informs him that Dimitri has run - err, floated off, presumably to contact Knuckles and warn him of Finitevus' treachery. Finitevus, however, merely tells him that this was part of his plan all along, and he isn't concerned, as he'll bring back Enerjak one way or another. Sounds quite ominous indeed…

Hey man, someone needs to remind Antoine that bravery isn't a lack of fear, it's standing up to danger even when you are afraid. Sally becomes lost in thought for a moment, remembering all the times she led the Freedom Fighters into danger in the past, long before she was ever thrust into the role of acting ruler or forced into a disastrous arranged marriage. She suddenly stands up and reminds Bunnie of her old hairdressing ambitions, and asks her for one more favor before they begin their defense against Eggman's attack… Meanwhile up in the sky, Snively continues to try to break through New Mobotropolis' shield, only to become startled when a single, tiny aircraft begins firing onto his flagship. His robots prepare to return fire, but he suddenly orders them to stand down with a look of shock, and contacts the plane… having recognized it as the plane that Hope built. Hope yells at him through the comm when he opens a channel, furious that she took his advice and went to Station Square, but when she tried to return to Knothole, which she still considered home, it was in ruins. She blames him for all of it, too ashamed to show her face to the Mobians again after leaving, and begins to sob.

I absolutely love the way that these comics continue to humanize Snively more and more. I feel so bad for Hope here, especially knowing that none of the Mobians would blame her for what happened, but as for Snively, it's clear that despite his nature, he does value family, and does care about Hope. He's gone from being the cowardly, sniveling, silly minion of the evil Dr. Robotnik to an actual human with flaws, feelings, and attachments. From inside the city shield, Tails watches the bombardment continue with his parents and Merlin, and Amadeus expresses that though the destruction of Knothole was a tragedy, all in all this may actually be a good thing for the populace, as he believes that such a major event will prepare them for "the shift in thinking" that he plans for them. Merlin, however, warns him not to push ahead with any reforms he has in mind too soon, as the monarchy will also be very tense from all this chaos. Rosemary expresses her belief in her husband, and Tails excitedly says he'll support his father no matter what, but the sentiment is interrupted by Eggman's furious screaming from outside the city walls, banging on the shield with his battle suit and yelling for the Freedom Fighters to come out and face him, infuriated that his perfect victory has been stolen from him. Sonic cheerfully interrupts his tantrum, suddenly standing outside the shield, and Eggman is initially pleased, mocking Sonic for not learning from his initial defeat mere hours ago. However, it turns out that Sonic has learned, and with the knowledge that the battle suit was created to counter Sonic and Sonic alone, he and Sally have come up with the perfect plan while Eggman wasn't looking.

The entire Freedom Fighter and Chaotix force descends on Eggman's battle suit, and they're all able to locate weaknesses that Eggman hadn't anticipated in its construction. They tear it apart piece by piece while Sonic gleefully reminds his nemesis that there are more heroes on this planet than just himself, and that anything he can't handle on his own, the others definitely can. In the end, Eggman is left with barely half a shell of his precious armor, furious and humiliated, which leads into perhaps one of my favorite pages of this entire era - perhaps even the entire comic.

Eggman, still unwilling to let victory slip away despite his situation, orders his fleet to fire directly on their location, meaning either he was somehow unaware that this would kill him too, or he was aware, and was more concerned with killing his foes than surviving. Honestly, my bet is on the latter - it seems like something he'd do if angry enough and feeling sufficiently cornered. However, he's forgotten that Nicole has full control over the nanites in the city, and since everything in the city is made of nanites, she's able to stretch the city's wall out to create a wall between everyone out on the field and the bombardment from the Egg Fleet. She projects her form to Eggman and urges him to reconsider his decision, as frankly, Sally is showing him more mercy than he deserves by a long shot. And honestly, she's right - it would be a much better decision to either kill him right there, or, if they're feeling too honorable and whatnot, at least arrest him and shove him in a cell next to Mammoth Mogul…

Well hello there, old haircut! I will say, I did enjoy Sally's long hair while she had it - I thought it looked good on her. But hey, cutting one's hair as a show of maturation is a common fictional trope, and in a way, it's nice to go back to seeing Sally rocking her old look. I will actually note here that while I've mentioned before that Tracy's pencils have standardized the design of a lot of characters, I actually don't care much for his redesign of Sally as a whole. While I appreciate her proportions becoming more like those of every other Mobian - the human body that a lot of other artists gave her looked kind of weird, to be honest - her facial features have actually been significantly altered by his style. She always had a distinctive slanted-back eye shape and a more gentle slope to her nose, but by making her eye shape closer to than of characters like Bunnie and Tails, I feel she's lost some of her unique visual charm. That isn't to say that I think Sally is lesser as a character for this change - she's still one of my top favorites in the series - nor that I disapprove of Tracy's art style as a whole. And in the end, her hairstyle change here marks the beginning of a new era - one where she begins to act once more like her old self and once again joins the others on missions just like old times. She's worked through a lot of the trauma and self-doubt that she's been plagued with ever since Sonic's return to Mobius, and now we can look forward to new adventures with her, in a new location. I mean that "new era" thing literally, by the way. Congratulations, we've reached the end of the comic's fifth era - many of the eras beyond this one are significantly shorter than the ones we've seen previously, but that also means we'll be moving through distinctive arcs a little more quickly, and furthermore, the next era holds some pretty exciting new surprises! Shall we now - how do they say - do it to it?

[jamesdyecg]

Practice 2: Final Project Planning - 2 - Basic Concept

Nanite, Lumen, and Cinematics.

I have long had an avid interest in the history of World War 2, especially the vehicles and weaponry of the time. I wanted my project to be focused around a WW2 era scene, although I have not decided on the location yet.

My basic plan is to create a short 30-60 second cinematic within Unreal Engine 5, making use of the new Nanite and Lumen features, along with the many other capabilities of UE5. Focused around the American M4 Sherman tank, this cinematic would show off the scenery which would largely be created from Quixel Megascans assets and ground materials. As well as various close-up shots of the tank driving, passing a variety of other key assets along the way.

Meta-Humans will be used to fill out the seats of the tank, although realistically only their head and shoulder would be visible. The cinematic would follow the story of one of the crew, and a set of diary entries would be voiced-over, describing the horrors of what the crew has had to face along the way.

This cinematic would essentially be designed to show off the assets, the power of UE5, etc. Instead of simply creating static vehicles and props for my portfolio, I feel that this would be a better way to display them. Not only showing their appearance but their functionality within a game engine as well.

This concept would give me the opportunity to create a few different vehicle props, static props, and of course, get to grips with Unreal Engine 5.

This project has heavily been inspired by the 2014 film 'Fury', and lots of inspiration and references will be taken from it.

In the next few blog posts, I will go over the possible set locations for the cinematic, as well as a more detailed look at the props and vehicles I would need to create.

References.

Fury, 2014. Film. Directed by David Ayer. USA: Columbia Pictures.