YICHUAN(RIVER) WANG
Real-Time Worldbuilding
Unreal Engine 5 Production Studies
Role: Real-Time Designer and Technical Artist
Tools: Unreal Engine 5, Blueprints, Sequencer, Movie Render Queue
2025
Overview
These studies examine worldbuilding as a technical and visual process rather than environment construction alone.
I developed a range of Unreal Engine 5 prototypes to explore how spatial composition, lighting, character performance, camera movement, event logic, and rendering operate as interconnected systems. Each study focuses on a different production challenge, while contributing to a larger workflow for translating visual concepts into functional real-time scenes.
The work involved assembling environments, directing cinematic sequences, integrating characters and animation, developing Blueprint-based behaviors, troubleshooting engine workflows, and preparing high-quality final outputs.
Case Study 01 - Lakeside at DuskEnvironment Composition · Real-Time Lighting · Atmosphere
This study focused on constructing a cinematic lakeside environment at dusk. I combined landscape, foliage, water, props, atmospheric effects, and real-time lighting to create a coherent sense of place and visual depth. The composition was organized around the contrast between the open water and the dense foreground vegetation. Framing elements such as the trees and branches guide attention toward the illuminated boat and horizon, while warm artificial light contrasts with the cooler sky and water. The project explored how lighting, color, atmospheric perspective, and spatial composition can transform assembled assets into a unified real-time environment designed for cinematic viewing.
Focus: Environment Assembly · Lighting Direction · Foliage Placement · Water · Atmospheric Perspective · Cinematic Composition
Case Study 02 - Relic StudySet Dressing · Still-Life Composition · Real-Time Lighting
This study focused on constructing a small narrative environment through object placement, material contrast, and controlled lighting. I arranged architectural fragments, vegetation, soil, furniture, books, food, and animal remains into two related compositions: an exposed archaeological setting and a tightly framed still life. Rather than relying on character animation or explicit narrative, the scenes suggest history through spatial relationships between objects. The main challenge was creating clear visual hierarchy within dense arrangements. I used concentrated warm light, deep shadow, foreground obstruction, and contrasting surface qualities to direct attention toward the central objects while preserving a sense of ambiguity around their origin and use. The project explored how set dressing and cinematic lighting can turn isolated assets into a visually coherent environment with implied narrative.
Focus: Set Dressing · Prop Composition · Material Contrast · Lighting Direction · Cinematic Framing
Case Study 02 - Relic StudySet Dressing · Still-Life Composition · Real-Time Lighting
This study explored how objects captured from everyday public space could be reconstructed and recomposed inside Unreal Engine 5. I used Polycam to scan found objects and environmental fragments in Providence, including tree remains, plants, concrete structures, signage, and discarded urban materials. The resulting photogrammetry models were imported into UE5 and assembled into a new virtual landscape. Rather than building the scene from conventional asset libraries, I worked with imperfect scanned geometry, baked surface information, irregular scale, and incomplete forms. The project focused on preserving the visual specificity of the source objects while reorganizing them into a fictional environment. Through scanning, asset preparation, spatial composition, and real-time lighting, the work examines how physical traces of a city can be collected and transformed into a digital world.
Focus: Polycam Scanning · Photogrammetry · Asset Preparation · Environment Assembly · Real-Time Lighting
YICHUAN(RIVER) WANG | Product Designer & Creative Technologist designing systems that behave
Based in Providence, RI, USA
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yichuan.wang.work@gmail.com
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