Cinematic shot · Unreal Engine 5 · SpeedTree

Boss Fight Challenge

An Attack on Titan–inspired shot with one goal: make five seconds look beautiful. Cinematic lighting, a tree modelled in SpeedTree for this exact frame, a slow-motion beat, Blender animation brought into Unreal, and VFX.

Role — Everything Engine — Unreal Engine 5 Foliage — SpeedTree Animation — Blender → Unreal Type — Cinematic study
Overview

Five seconds, done properly

The goal here wasn't a level — it was a single five-second shot that had to look genuinely beautiful. Everything in it serves that: the lighting, the framing, the slow-motion beat and the timing of the impact.

To get the frame I wanted, I modelled the tree myself in SpeedTree specifically for this scene, animated the character in Blender and brought the animation into Unreal, then added leaf animation and small smoke VFX in-engine. Camera work and the final render were done in Unreal.

Engine Unreal Engine 5

Foliage SpeedTree

Animation Blender → Unreal

Focus Lighting · Camera

Length 5 seconds

Type Solo piece

What I did

Breakdown

01

Lighting

The heart of the shot — cinematic light shaped around the moment of impact, tuned until the frame read the way I wanted.

02

SpeedTree modelling

The tree was built by me in SpeedTree specifically for this scene — shaped to the composition instead of dropped in from a pack.

03

Blender → Unreal animation

Character animation authored in Blender, then exported and set up in Unreal to play inside the scene.

04

Slow motion

A slow-mo beat that stretches the hit — the whole shot is paced around it.

05

Leaf animation & VFX

Leaves animated in-engine, plus small smoke effects that add weight and motion to the frame.

06

Camera & render

Camera work, framing and the final render — all in Unreal.

Credits

Roles & toolchain

Roles performed

Technical Artist — Lighting & VFX Environment Artist Foliage Artist Animator Cinematic Artist

Tools used

Unreal Engine 5 SpeedTree Blender Photoshop
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