Animated concept art and previz explorations in Blender

At the last VFX studio I worked for, we used Unreal Engine exclusively for concept art and previs. I created these Blender sequences to explore how far I could push Blender to match the level of visual polish we were achieving in UE5. I used a mix of 2D image planes, 3D elements, and lighting setups—along with a few fully 3D scenes. I was really impressed by what EEVEE NEXT can deliver. Being real-time, the render speeds were very fast and almost comparable to working in UE5. That said, I did use Cycles for a few sequences, accepting the longer render times where necessary. This was also my first time using DaVinci Resolve. Thanks to Gleb Alexandrov’s, Blender to Resolve FREEMIUM course, I was able to export my EXRs and color grade them effectively. I highly recommend his course—if you're working with Blender, Resolve can be the perfect destination for your final renders. I really enjoyed keeping everything in Blender, avoiding the additional step of having to set up scenes in UE5—which can often be time-consuming and overkill for certain tasks. Game engines also come with their own set of nagging issues that can quickly become time sinks. While Blender can’t fully match UE5—especially when it comes to complex environments—I think it can be the better choice when you don’t need the full power of UE5 or don't have the support of larger team. It never hurts to have options since no tool is ever perfect for all tasks.