UE5 - Scrappy

I'm happy to share with you - Scrappy!
Inspired by Wall-E and Fallout, I wanted to create a full rigged character using only UE5 and megascans assets.
By using the latest Rigging tools, decals and shader adjustment to refine the materials I was able to build Scrappy from ground up and to create a nice cinematic showcase shot.
Thanks to the additional Render graph feature from UE 5.4 I was able to split my render into render layers like in a traditional VFX pipeline, allowing flexibility and finer control in the compositing stage, with all that I was able to push my creative vision even further and to get more experiments even after rendering stage.

This project was an amazing opportunity to get to know the rigging tools inside Unreal Engine and once again, to see how amazing this engine is!

Enjoy Watching!

Watch with sound :)

Shot Breakdown

UE5 Scrappy Full Making Of

Animation Turntable

Lookdev Turntable

The parts I was using to build Scrappy, with some simple Boolean operations to get some adjustments.

I attached it all to a Blueprint with the Rig so I can always edit each individual part without changing the rig

Megascans parts used to build Scrappy

I created basic lookdev setup with some studio lighting to see the material values over his different parts, this allowed me to get some consistency and keep everything balanced.
Layering some decals on top of his parts to have the dirty, old look

Using simple shapes for the rig to create non destructive way of attaching my megascans parts later.
To speed up my animating work, I created procedural noise controller in order to create the parts wiggle effect

Since Scrappy doesn't have any ways to show expressions I had to think about a solution, so by jumping, rotating the fan and run the engine faster I was able to give him more personality

Directional light as the main Sun light and HDRI image as fill light,
quick lighting setup that can be adjusted to each shot if needed.
For the environment, simple PCG setup for the junk piles and manually placed megascans assets for the ground

Using the Render graph in 5.4 is amazing!
Created a setup that is using Editor folder so I can drag and drop assets to Environment / Character / Volumetric folders and to have it as a separate render layer later for compositing.

Thanks to the render layers I was able to color correct my layers separately and to gain finer control, thanks to that I was able to push my creative vision and adding some lens FX, Dust and more cinematic grading

And since we are in a loop with all the "Stylized" look I created this version too :)

Reference and mood board