What is it?
A lone tree stands on a small grassy island under a starlit night sky. When music plays, branches light up, particles drift through the air in response to the rhythm, and the water below catches every flicker. This was the final project for my Unreal Engine course at the University of Bremen — a real-time interactive art piece built entirely in Unreal Engine 5.
Inspiration
The visual direction was minimal from the start: black and white, dark materials, a single organic form against a vast dark sky. I used Adobe Firefly to sketch the mood early — a tree on an island, stars overhead, reflective water — before building anything in engine.
The color scheme stayed deliberately restrained throughout: mostly monochrome with light used as the only source of visual interest. The tree would be the signal receiver — silent when nothing plays, alive when it does.
Building It
MetaSound handled all audio analysis. I mapped specific frequencies across octaves 4, 5, and 6 to drive the visual systems — each note triggering a different part of the scene. Middle C through B across three octaves gave enough resolution to make the response feel musical rather than mechanical.
Niagara powered the particle systems. Ribbon trails drift upward from the branches, their density and speed tied directly to the audio signal. A second particle layer creates floating ambient dust that pulses with lower frequencies.
Material Blueprints handle the emissive glow on the tree. As audio hits certain thresholds, branches brighten — the whole form slowly illuminating from the roots outward. The water surface uses a reflective material that picks up every light change in the scene.
Controls
The piece is interactive: players can trigger sounds manually via keyboard, letting them play the tree like an instrument. A simple UI shows the key bindings.
