[LOG RECOVERED]
Civilian Logistics Pilot, Ferho Genivouh. III
Location: Earth, Orbital Drone Region
Date: 04-07-4747
They didn’t come with weapons drawn. They were the weapons.
At first, the stars just disappeared.
Then came the red.
Light hit Earth like a sun peaking through blinds. a beam torched the crust, thousands of miles wide across the oceans.
The sky went dark at noon. Atmospheric filters fried. Oxygen thinned. Static bled across every comms band.
Then came the sound.
They say there’s no sound in space. But I swear to whatever still dares to observe this galaxy… I heard it.
A low resonance, like a whisper through bone. Not from my ship. Not from their engines. From Earth itself.
From below the crust.
Something old. Something reacting. Waking.
Role: Director & 3D artist
Task
Create a mega-structure scene of Earth undergoing an alien invasion, set in the year 4047. The goal was to visualize a futuristic sci-fi world showcasing humanity’s advanced space technology and planetary defenses.
Bonus: destruction VFX integration.
Extra bonus: Add a choose your own adventure style interactive feature
Process
Building vast, realistic sci-fi environments poses major challenges—even with modern digital tools. The biggest hurdle was optimizing the scene: rendering dark atmospheres filled with thousands of lights, reflective surfaces, displacements, and high-detail assets pushed the limits of my hardware.
Solution
To ensure the style, I used a mix of custom made textures along with high-resolution Earth textures sourced from NASA and combined them with procedural materials to customize city heights, layouts, and architectural styles. This approach eliminated the need for manually modeling thousands of structures while maintaining a high level of detail. I was also able to instance much of the heavy geometry by setting up cloners, making rendering lighter.
Results
The final scene struck a balance between visual fidelity and technical manageability. It was optimized for modular use across multiple camera angles and setups, allowing for flexible revisions and future scalability. The assets and pipeline now serve as a foundation for expanding the project further.