Crafting Adventure: Behind the Scenes of the Tomb Raider Experience in Seattle
This month, the Tomb Raider Experience opened its doors in Seattle, inviting visitors into the thrilling world of Lara Croft. As part of the creative team, I had the privilege of contributing to this immersive attraction through concept art, 3D modeling, animation and VFX. In this post, I’ll take you behind the scenes to explore how we brought this adventure to life.
The Vision
The goal was to create a live-action experience where participants join Lara Croft in exploring a mysterious temple that has emerged from a volcano. The experience features extraordinary landscapes, challenging puzzles, and live actors, all working together to immerse you in the Tomb Raider world.
Concept Art: Setting the Scene
My journey began as a concept artist, designing various props and characters.
Mood Boards: We curated images reflecting ancient architecture, artifacts, and paintings to inspire our designs.
Sketches and Paintings: Detailed illustrations depicted the various elements, puzzles, props, and characters, serving as blueprints for the next stages.
3D Modeling: Building the World
With approved concepts in hand, we transitioned to 3D modeling to transform two-dimensional ideas into tangible assets.
Environment Modeling: Using Blender and Unreal Engine 5, we crafted the temple's structures and underground volcanic terrain, ensuring that a compelling narrative would drive the player’s experience.
Prop Creation: From mystic relics to larger than life statues and interactive puzzle components, each item was meticulously, coordinating with the client, modeled to enhance authenticity of the experience.
Animation: Bringing Life to the Experience
Animation played a crucial role in immersing visitors in the adventure.
Green Screen: While live actors portray key roles in the rooms with the players, certain sequences required pre-recorded characters to interact with participants, who were recorded on green screens then integrated into a real-time 3D environment in Unreal Engine 5.
Dynamic Elements: There are many segments in the experience that required animated and projected scenery to sell multiple illusions. We worked meticulously with the client to produce these compelling visions to sell the narrative experience.
Visual Effects (VFX): Enhancing Realism
To elevate the experience, we integrated visual effects that heightened realism and engagement.
Particle Systems: Simulated lava flows, dust, and magical energies contributed to the temple's narrative.
Post Production: Post production through Davinci Resolve and Adobe After Effects helped us to sell the lived in nature of each pre-recorded segment, allowing us to add atmosphere to each scene to make it feel lived in, and natural.
Challenges and Solutions
Bringing the Tomb Raider Experience to life involved overcoming several challenges:
Seamless Integration: Ensuring digital elements aligned perfectly with physical sets required constant communication between teams.
Interactive Design: Creating puzzle elements that worked seamlessly in the environments demanded innovative problem-solving and a meticulous eye for detail.
Time Constraints: Meeting the ambitious opening date necessitated efficient workflows and adaptability.
Conclusion
Contributing to the Tomb Raider Experience in Seattle was an exhilarating endeavor that combined artistry, technology, and storytelling. Seeing visitors engage with the world we crafted is incredibly rewarding, and we relish in the opportunity to see the joy and excitement we’ve had a hand in creating. I invite you to embark on this adventure and experience firsthand the hard work that our teams created by working together!
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