The Gem
A pirate's journey to a legendary gem, told through stylized cinematic snapshots in Unreal Engine 5.
Overview
A short film following a Pirate as he ventures to find a legendary gem deep in a cave. The story is told through small cinematic snapshots — stylized, atmospheric, and constructed like a moving storyboard. Each shot was designed as a self-contained visual beat rather than a continuous scene.
What I Built & Learned
The three main technical skills I developed on this project were Unreal Engine's water simulation system, buoyancy physics, and the Ultra Dynamic Sky plugin.
Getting the pirate ship to float convincingly required setting up a buoyancy component with multiple float points distributed across the hull — tuning the mass, drag, and wave response until the motion felt natural rather than floaty or rigid.
Ultra Dynamic Sky gave the project a dynamic, living atmosphere — shifting cloud cover, time-of-day lighting, and weather states that made each environment feel grounded and real without manually keyframing every lighting change.
Skills & Tools
- Unreal Engine 5
- Level Design
- Cinematography
- Water Simulation
- Buoyancy Physics
- Ultra Dynamic Sky
- UE5 Sequencer
- Movie Render Queue
Behind the Scenes
Images and behind-the-scenes documentation coming soon.