Portfolio | Pixel and Code

Selected work

A few ways I bring ideas to life.

A selection of cinematic, editing, and web work. Each project starts with a clear story and a thoughtful finish.

Harbor Outpost | Unreal Engine 5 + Fluid Flux

Oct 29, 202642 views

Harbor Outpost | Unreal Engine 5 + Fluid Flux An isolated harbor surrounded by open water, with a steampunk vessel secured to the dock, designed to bring together environmental storytelling, water simulation, and real time physics in Unreal Engine 5. Built with Fluid Flux , the scene focuses on ocean surface dynamics, buoyancy, collision interactions, and the relationship between the vessel and its surrounding water. Supporting the simulation with carefully balanced lighting, reflections, and environmental composition helped establish the sense of scale, depth, and atmosphere that makes an offshore location feel believable. The goal was to create more than a static harbor environment. The interaction between the boat, dock, and ocean gives the scene a sense of physical presence, while the steampunk design adds character to an otherwise isolated outpost. Tools and focus: Unreal Engine 5, Fluid Flux, water simulation, buoyancy, collision physics, lighting, and environmental composition.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Exploring real time buoyancy and physics based interactions in Unreal Engine 5

Oct 29, 202612 views

For this experiment, I worked on getting both a floating boat and a seaplane to interact more naturally with the water surface. Instead of relying on the default pontoon setup, I experimented with Array Elements to configure the buoyancy points , adjusting their placement and tuning the related parameters to achieve a more stable and convincing floating response. The main focus was on the technical side of the simulation, including buoyancy behavior, mass distribution, collision settings, physics interactions, and material response. I spent time iterating through the available settings to find a balance between stability and believable movement on the water. There is always room for further refinement, but this was a valuable exercise in understanding how individual physics parameters influence the final result in Unreal Engine 5 with different plugins.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Rain Materials Lighting and Cinematics

Oct 31, 20267 views

A cinematic Unreal Engine study focused on atmosphere, materials and realistic lighting. The rainy weather allowed me to push the material response and wetness and other interactios, while the lighting was designed to create a calm and relaxing mood. One continuous cinematic shot Rain & realistic material wetness Detailed clay material response Lumen GI & indirect lighting Path Tracer rendering Smooth cinematic camera movement Real-time optimization & performance balancing Exploring how weather, materials, lighting and camera movement can work together to create a cinematic result in Unreal Engine.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Unreal Engine 5 Crocodile Interaction Test

Oct 31, 202610 views

I created this small Unreal Engine test to explore how far I could push a crocodile character beyond a simple animated asset. The scene includes: • Crocodile character with idle animation • Proximity-based growling audio • Audio distance/attenuation, with the sound disappearing at around 30 meters • Custom collision capsule to prevent the character from passing through the environment/object • Basic interaction testing to understand how different Unreal Engine systems work together This is part of my ongoing exploration of Unreal Engine interactivity and gameplay systems . For the next test, I’m taking it a step further: the crocodile will detect the player, look toward the character, follow them, and eventually trigger an attack with an appropriate attack sound. The goal isn't just to make the animation look good, but to understand how animation, collision, audio, detection, AI behavior, and interaction can be connected into a functional system. Still learning, testing, breaking things, and figuring out what Unreal Engine can do.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Forgotten by Time, Buried by Sand

Oct 31, 20267 views

focused on cinematic camera animation, sandstorm effects, wind, dust, atmospheric fog, lighting, Lumen, Path Tracing, and rendering optimization. The objective was to create the feeling of an ancient place gradually being consumed by the harsh environment around it, while exploring how weather and cinematic lighting can completely change the perception of the same scene. Same environment, different weather, different story.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Forgotten by Time, Buried by Winter

Oct 31, 20262 views

the focus was on the visual treatment, cinematic camera animation, snow and wind effects, atmospheric fog, lighting, snow accumulation, Lumen, Path Tracing, and rendering optimization. The goal was to explore how weather, lighting, atmosphere, and camera work can completely transform the mood and story of an environment without changing its underlying geometry. Same environment, completely different atmosphere.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Implemented a proximity-based crocodile AI behavior in Unreal Engine using Blueprint.

Oct 31, 20262 views

The system uses: - `Event BeginPlay` to start the looping walking animation. - `Event Tick` to check the player continuously. - `Get Player Pawn` with Player Index `0` to find the player. - `Is Valid` to protect the graph from invalid player references. - `Get Actor Location` and `Vector Distance` to measure player distance. - `Less Equal` with `800.0 cm` for the look-at range. - `Find Look at Rotation` with a `-90.0 degree` yaw correction because the crocodile mesh faces along the Y axis. - `Set Actor Rotation` to face the player. - `Less Equal` with an `Attack Range` of `750.0 cm` to determine when the attack can begin. - `Get Is Attacking`, `Not Boolean`, and `Branch` to prevent repeated attack calls every frame. - A custom `AttackLoop` event to organize the attack sequence. - `Set Is Attacking` to lock and release the attack state. - `Play Animation` for the walking and attack animations. - `Audio Component Play` for the crocodile attack sound. - `Delay` set to `1.266667 seconds`, matching the attack animation length. - A second distance check after the delay to decide whether to attack again or return to walking. Next: I’m adding movement sound effects for the character, including walk, run, and jump audio to make the animation feel even more immersive. This creates a reusable AI pattern where the crocodile tracks the player, attacks within range, repeats the attack while the player remains close, and returns to its walking animation when the player moves away.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

MEDIEVAL DUNGEON CINEMATIC ENVIRONMENT

Oct 31, 20264 views

A journey through a forgotten medieval dungeon.This project was heavily focused on cinematic lighting, atmosphere, camera movement, composition, and visual storytelling rather than simply showcasing the environment.I used a single moving camera to explore the dungeon, with dramatic warm lighting, deep shadows, atmospheric depth, and controlled framing to create a darker cinematic mood.Also included a clay render comparison to see how much of the final look was being created through lighting, composition, materials, and environment detail.Unreal Engine 5 • Path Tracing • Lumen • Temporal Denoising • Cinematic CameraThe goal, make the viewer feel like they are actually moving through the dungeon, not just looking at a 3D environment.

Watch video ↗

Unreal Engine 5 · Cinematic

Bringing an Empty City to Life and Making It Feel Dead.

Oct 31, 20262 views

For this project, I wanted to explore the atmosphere of a post apocalyptic city not through destruction alone, but through lighting, fog, scale, and emptiness. The main focus was creating that feeling of a place that was once alive but has now been completely abandoned. I experimented with Lumen, Path Tracing, volumetric fog, atmospheric lighting, exposure, and environmental lighting to build a cold, desolate cinematic mood. A big part of the process was finding the balance between visibility and darkness. Fog helped create depth and separation between foreground and background, while atmospheric lighting was used to control where the viewer's eye is naturally drawn. Technically, this was also an exercise in understanding how global illumination, indirect lighting, volumetric atmosphere, reflections, and exposure work together to shape the final image. Unreal Engine makes it possible to iterate on these elements incredibly quickly, which is one of the things I enjoy most about environment and cinematic work. Another experiment in lighting, atmosphere, and storytelling through environments.

Watch video ↗