Aurora's Embrace:
The Lonely Hut
A solitary hut stands in the heart of an uncharted virgin forest, untouched by human hands, and yours to claim. The days are long and isolating, where the only companion is the quiet soothing hum of the wilderness. As night falls, you step outside, lantern in hand, braving the snowstorm that howls around you. The cold bites, yet the only warmth you find comes from the ethereal glow of the northern lights, guiding you through the storm with their silent, otherworldly dance. In this vast, unyielding landscape, the lights are your only comfort, offering both warmth and direction in the endless night.
For my first year 3D modelling module at the University of Greenwich, I created “Aurora’s Embrace: The Lonely Hut” a 3D environment project developed using Maya 2025 and Unity. The project’s goal was to capture the experience of isolation within a vast, untouched Alaskan wilderness, where the only warmth comes from the glow of the northern lights and a handheld lantern.
Set in the Yakutat Ranger District of the Tongass National Forest. I learned to use Unity’s terrain plugin with procedural height based mapping for the landscape, and Unity’s shader graph for the aurora and custom skybox. During this project, I developed foundational skills in Maya 2025 by creating all the assets:
- Alaskan Railroad Lantern: This prop was modelled using extruded primitive shapes, with its handle shaped via deformers. It features distinct metallic and transparent glass materials and is lit by a point light with a bloom effect.
- Forest Assets: I created tall, slender trees by sculpting simple cylinders for a more organic look. The branches were formed using NURBS curves converted to polygons. To achieve a natural feel, I designed a procedural bark texture using Voronoi noise.
- Various Props: