Environmental Change of a Battlefield - Verdun

The project was created using the programs, World Machine, Photoshop, Substance Designer, Substance Painter, 3DS Studio Max and Unreal Engine.

The environment was created to represent the Verdun battlefield during the height of the battle as well as after the battle about 100 years later. Two environments were created and placed into two different sub-levels that could be then switched between the viewer at any moment to see the changes over time. The focus of this project was create an historical authentic space that people could explore and immerse themselves within the battle and then be able to see impact the battle left on the landscape as well as natures ability to reclaim this ravaged land.

The trench-line is located near Fort Douaumont, which was a fort that was heavily contested between the French and German armies throughout the battle. During my production I was able to find aerial reconnaissance of the trench-lines that were near the fort. I took these references and reproduced them in World Machine which allowed me to create detailed landscapes that showed both the destruction the battle caused as well as how the landscape how it changed over 100 years later.

For the project I modeled pieces for the trench line that could be repeated and placed throughout. Due to the intense fighting and constant artillery shelling, the trenches were never properly constructed and many of them were reinforced and built hastily and quickly, but they were still built to offer as much protection as possible.

The environment was built in the Unreal Engine. In the engine I worked on the materials, specifically vertex painting to help tie all of the models into the space. Dirt and mud was being thrown everywhere due to artillery shelling.

short video that shows the how the transition between the two environments.

An aerial photograph that was found during research that was used as the basis for creating the landscapes in World Machine.

Rendered examples in World machine of the various landscapes used to create the project.

Examples of objects located within the space of the during scene. I had to come up with a number of consistent objects that were typically scene in everyday combat all throughout the lines, I settled mainly on a standard weapons, items like helmets and lanterns as well as trench making equipment like sandbags, wooden beams, barbed wire and metal sheets to show how the soldiers would construct the trench lines and how these materials were built out everywhere.

Items and objects that were used to populate both the before and after scene.

Further images of the main trench line that was populated by the German army during this point of the battle.

Images from the After images that show the changes in the environment form the overgrowth of nature and the decay of the trench lines over 100 years ago. Final image shows one of the information nodes that people can discover as they navigate the space that provides further information regarding the battle, the weapons and tactics used during the battle.