Tunnel of Love

The Tunnel of Love set was unique for a couple of reasons, including the plan to build a full tank of water inside the volume as well as being one of the sets where the VAD team were given the opportunity to complete the final, screen ready version. I believe the meshes of the tunnel walls, the canal, and the wires are still my work, although I'm fairly certain at least the textures were redone after I had moved onto another set.

I was responsible for creating a modular kit for the tunnel which I then built into a spline-based Blueprint, allowing for rapid iterations on the layout of the tunnel. This came in handy as the need to have a tank of water inside a round volume raised many challenges as to how to shoot a long tunnel sequence, and the set went through a number of versions before settling on the final layout.

I also created the initial version of the filigree ribbon inside the tunnel. This was done using a material with a hue shift whose value was based on the distance along the tunnel, and an opacity slider allowing the ribbon to fade in down the length of the tunnel. The animations were then laid on top and moved down the ribbon. The final on screen version of the ribbon was done by the team who did the animations playing along the tunnel and is much prettier than my initial version.

And yes, we did all have "What is Love" stuck in our heads for weeks.