This cinematic introduces the temple in Time Rift, guiding the viewer’s eye through a foliage-lined path using procedural content generation (PCG) in Unreal Engine 5. PCG helped me control plant density, scale, and placement efficiently, creating a natural flow toward the temple.

Lighting and post-processing were used to enhance the mystery and direct focus, with darker edges and a brighter central path. Assets were sourced from Megascans, and color grading was applied to set the tone. Below is the cinematic render with a breakdown of the post-processing and PCG setup.

Path-Guided Foliage Composition with Procedural Content Generation in UE 5

I used layered PCG scattering to control foliage density and variety. The environment features:

• Base Layer: Tiny grass scattered uniformly to establish natural ground coverage.

• Side Layers: Tall ferns and broad-leaf plants densely populated along the flanks to shape the edges of the path.

• Middle Strip: A thinner layer of smaller foliage and minimal tall plants forms a clean path that guides the eye directly to the temple entrance.

The foliage density tapers as it moves inward, creating a deliberate visual path that subtly guides the viewer’s eyes to the ancient temple at the center. This was achieved through a modular PCG setup using multiple graphs — each controlling species, scale, density, and slope/height falloff for organic layering.