Ideated and executed multiple augmented reality (AR) entrances for WWE wrestlers
My Roles:
LA Knight Team Leader, Concepter, & Unreal Engine Particle Lead
Damage Control Concepter, After Effects Lead Animator
Alexa Bliss After Effects Lead Animator
LA Knight Team Leader, Concepter, & Unreal Engine Particle Lead
Damage Control Concepter, After Effects Lead Animator
Alexa Bliss After Effects Lead Animator
With a deadline only 8.5 weeks away from our start date, our team of 22 people divided and conquered the task of creating three vastly different environments inside Unreal Engine for the WWE wrestlers; LA Knight, Alexa Bliss, and Bayley.
In this massive design sprint, our entire team also flew out to Detroit to do some on-site research at a WWE Smackdown event and get a better understanding of the technology in use every night.
In this massive design sprint, our entire team also flew out to Detroit to do some on-site research at a WWE Smackdown event and get a better understanding of the technology in use every night.
At the start of the project, we divided into smaller groups to perform extensive research on assigned wrestlers. Looking over their available merchandising, WWE entrances, and any other information available on our wrestlers, our teams went straight to work creating nearly 40 concepts to share with our first round of designs.
LA Knight
My original concept for LA Knight was ultimately selected from the initial design round and developed through all 5 rounds of concepting. This idea ended up being in the final deliverable to the WWE team and has since been on-air! The initial sketch can be seen on the left, along with two mood boards that were put together through various stages of the creative development. (Click to enlarge images)
Inspired by his name, the LA Knight concept captured the essence of Los Angeles and pulled creative inspiration from the Wrestler's motion visuals from their LED Screen entrance video. With neon yellow and blue poles shooting out from the center of the screen, the idea was to have a neon city with a distinct 80s synth-wave aesthetic. Envisioned with the city's silhouette, there would be vibrant palm trees, brightly lit poles, and a low-poly ground to complement the dynamic atmosphere of particles flying through the air.
Inspired by his name, the LA Knight concept captured the essence of Los Angeles and pulled creative inspiration from the Wrestler's motion visuals from their LED Screen entrance video. With neon yellow and blue poles shooting out from the center of the screen, the idea was to have a neon city with a distinct 80s synth-wave aesthetic. Envisioned with the city's silhouette, there would be vibrant palm trees, brightly lit poles, and a low-poly ground to complement the dynamic atmosphere of particles flying through the air.
What was temporarily split into two concepts to best understand what the WWE team was looking for, we merged what worked best between both concepts and split our group into roles to begin asset development. We had our bases covered as we had individual members handling each step of the process, modeling, texturing & configuring shaders, particle artists, and a general unreal lead tech artist all compiling assets around the clock to achieve our desired result, seen on the right. (Click to enlarge images)
Credits:
Darlon - Lead Unreal Tech (Triggers & Shaders)
Braden - 3D Artist (Ground Geo & Palm Trees Animation)
Cole - 3D Artist (Palm Trees)
Hyein - 2D/3D Artist, Producer (Building Sprites, Concepting)
Ethan - 3D Artist (Textures & Shaders)
Elijah - 2D/3D Artist, Producer (Team Lead, Concepting, Particles)
Yining - 2D Artist (Concepting)
Suzaan - Producer (Experience Team Lead)
Darlon - Lead Unreal Tech (Triggers & Shaders)
Braden - 3D Artist (Ground Geo & Palm Trees Animation)
Cole - 3D Artist (Palm Trees)
Hyein - 2D/3D Artist, Producer (Building Sprites, Concepting)
Ethan - 3D Artist (Textures & Shaders)
Elijah - 2D/3D Artist, Producer (Team Lead, Concepting, Particles)
Yining - 2D Artist (Concepting)
Suzaan - Producer (Experience Team Lead)
Damage Control > Alexa Bliss
Concepting originally started with our group intending to work with the wrestler group Damage Control, but as we continued to pitch our concepts, the WWE team saw a style that fit better with the wrestler "Alexa Bliss". The initial ideas can be seen on the right as they evolved into what became the final deliverable. (Click to enlarge images)
Also inspired by their name, the Damage Control concept originated with the idea of absolute control. The concept started with this idea of an arena in full disarray, damaged and chaotic in nature. There would be pieces of equipment like lighting, truss, and concrete raining from the ceiling and glitching out of control as the trio of wrestlers would enter the ring, further emphasizing who was at the center of all the damage.
Also inspired by their name, the Damage Control concept originated with the idea of absolute control. The concept started with this idea of an arena in full disarray, damaged and chaotic in nature. There would be pieces of equipment like lighting, truss, and concrete raining from the ceiling and glitching out of control as the trio of wrestlers would enter the ring, further emphasizing who was at the center of all the damage.
There was also a secondary concept utilizing a holographic, pseudo-point cloud type projection of the wrestler above the arena. The projection would appear intimidating as it glitched and gave off a damaged projection effect. (Click to enlarge images)
As WWE switched our tracks to Alexa Bliss, our team combined all the previous ideas together and got the idea of this swarm of creepy doll heads and a giant pseudo-point cloud style hologram of Alexa Bliss' head glitching in front of the LED Volume as the focal point of this environment. There would also be pink smoke emerging from behind the giant head to add to the chaos going on in the arena.
Credits:
Thalia - 3D Artist
Sebastien - Unreal Tech
Tomas - 2D Artist
Ritika - 2D Artist
Josh - 2D Artist
Isael - Artist
Juan - Unreal Tech
Elijah - 2D Artist (After Effects Glitch Lead)
Yining - 2D Artist
Suzaan - Producer (Experience Team Lead)
Thalia - 3D Artist
Sebastien - Unreal Tech
Tomas - 2D Artist
Ritika - 2D Artist
Josh - 2D Artist
Isael - Artist
Juan - Unreal Tech
Elijah - 2D Artist (After Effects Glitch Lead)
Yining - 2D Artist
Suzaan - Producer (Experience Team Lead)
