Category: WIP

Constructing the Virtual Environment in Unreal Engine

In 1666: The Great Fire of London, we utilize Unreal Engine to seamlessly blend 17th-century London with contemporary settings, crafting an engaging and immersive VR experience. This section outlines the workflow and development process involved in creating these virtual worlds within Unreal Engine.

The project begins with a thoughtfully crafted start screen that includes an intuitive interface, featuring a start button and a controller mapping guide. This setup ensures that first-time users can easily grasp the navigation and controls within the VR experience.

Then, it focused heavily on developing the modern London 180° video segment, which was filmed on location to offer historical context through contemporary visuals. This footage is seamlessly embedded within the Unreal Engine environment, enabling users to transition effortlessly from the present day into the immersive historical setting.

The heart of the experience is the virtual reconstruction of Pudding Lane, the historic location where the Great Fire of London began. This environment is carefully built using detailed 3D models, authentic textures, and atmospheric lighting to capture the dense, gritty feel of London in 1666. The development process includes:

• Layout and Geometry: Narrow streets and buildings are designed with historical accuracy using blocking volumes and strategically placed meshes.
• Texturing and Materials: Authentic materials such as wood, stone, and plaster are applied to enhance realism and visual depth.
• Lighting and Atmosphere: Dynamic lighting effects recreate the time of day and the glow of fire, smoothly shifting between the calm “before the fire” setting and the chaos “during the fire.”
• Interactive Pathways: Guided navigation routes lead users through the environment, striking a balance between exploration and narrative direction.

The experience concludes with a final 180° video sequence that reveals the aftermath of the Great Fire, offering a powerful and contemplative ending to the journey.

This multi-layered approach—merging stereoscopic 180° video with fully interactive VR environments—creates a distinctive cross-platform storytelling experience. It seamlessly blends education and immersion, bringing history to life in a vivid and engaging way.

This post provides a detailed breakdown of the Great Fire of London: 1666, presenting a scene-by-scene guide that functions as both a storyboard and a shooting plan. It serves as the creative roadmap for producing the immersive experience, highlighting essential scenes, key moments, and visual elements that shape the narrative. Whether you’re interested in the production process or the storytelling techniques used to portray the fire, this behind-the-scenes look offers a compelling insight into how the project comes together.

Description for the Script Page:

1666: The Great Fire of London is more than a narrative—it’s a fully immersive, cross-platform experience that connects present-day London to the dramatic events of the Great Fire of 1666.

Currently in development, this project leverages advanced stereo 180° video to offer a fresh perspective, enabling users to explore modern London alongside vivid recreations of its historic past. Through virtual reality, participants are transported into the heart of the disaster, experiencing the fire’s destruction up close.

This script serves as the cornerstone of a groundbreaking experience that combines historical insight with immersive storytelling, delivering a compelling blend of education and innovation.

This collection documents the development of our custom VR 180° camera rig, created specifically for 1666: The Burning City. Beginning with precise 3D modeling in Rhino, the rig underwent several design iterations and 3D printing tests at the LCC print lab. The initial prototype proved too large and fragile, prompting a redesigned version with a more compact and durable frame.

The rig houses two 360° cameras positioned side-by-side to record stereoscopic 180° video—crucial for delivering an immersive VR experience. To enhance the realism, we also captured spatial ambient audio using an ambisonic recorder.

We used Google Cardboard VR headsets to test and preview the footage, simulating the end-user experience. This iterative process of design, testing, and refinement reflects our technical commitment to authentically capturing immersive perspectives of both historic and contemporary London.