Wicklow National Park

CONCEPT

The aim of this project was to produce a virtual emulation of a real-world landscape to test and explore the environmental design capabilities of Unreal Engine. I chose Wicklow Mountains National Park, located just south of Dublin, as the focus of this study.

As Ireland’s largest national park, Wicklow presents a wide range of environmental features: rocky mountain ranges, woodlands, open moors, bogs, ancient medieval ruins, and diverse protected flora and fauna. This mixture of natural and cultural elements offered a rich test environment to explore how Unreal Engine could replicate both ecological diversity and atmospheric nuance.

IDEATION

When analysing Wicklow, I focused on four main aspects. Ground texture, foliage placement, pathways, and atmosphere. Visually, Wicklow is defined by its interplay between cold, misty expanses and warm tones from native vegetation. Expansive moorlands and bogs dominate the flatter areas and are often punctuated by still lakes and small water pockets. The ground in these areas is damp and moss-heavy, with cotton grass, and dense clusters of heather shrubs providing strong colour accents in purples, reds and white. In contrast, the slopes and mountainous regions support denser oak forests, intermixed with rocky gravel textures and patches of snow at higher elevations. Around the lakes, I observed a concentration of smaller wildflowers such as sundews, sorrels, and lesser celandines.

This natural organisation guided how I approached the digital distribution of textures and assets. Ground-level plants and shrubs were tied primarily to the flatter soil and dirt layers, while tree coverage was reserved for higher stone and snow layers. Using ecological logic to map out the procedural generation rules. Pathways through Wicklow are subtle but significant. Rather than formal trails, many of the visual references reveal natural desire lines formed through the natural formation of the landscape. These natural “paths” were not carved directly into my Unreal scene but became implied through vegetation density and focal points, particularly where heritage ruins or water systems acted as natural destinations.

The above images are all from National Parks Ireland, “Wicklow Nature Conservation”, accessed 10 August 2025. https://www.nationalparks.ie/wicklow/nature-conservation/ and also from National Parks Ireland, “Things To Do”, accessed 10 August 2025. https://www.nationalparks.ie/wicklow/things-to-do/

Images in order: First is an example of the mossy streams found all over the park and some of the plants in the nutrient poor soil. Next shows shows hikers on one of the many popular trails through the park as well as Liffey Head Bog, an actively growing mountain bog in Ireland, and a Special Area of Conservation. There is The Round Tower, a 30m high tower that was apart of an ancient monastic village and St Ciaran’s Church, dating back to the 10th century. Finally there is the remains of the old Miner’s Village in lendalough, and one of the oak woodlands found within the park.

WORKFLOW

Creating the landscape began with generating a suitable heightmap. Early attempts using generic tools produced maps that lacked the scale and diversity required. I ultimately found success with Harry Mustoe-Playfair’s heightmap creator (@manticorp on GitHub), which is specifically tailored for Unreal Engine. This allowed me to accurately capture Wicklow’s rippling terrain.

Applying procedural material instances introduced its own challenges. At times, mismatches between the landscape scale and material distribution compressed or “squashed” textures unnaturally. Refinements to the material blending eventually allowed a balance between grass, stone, and snow layers. This then allowed me to have greater control over the assignment of foliage assets.

Because I did not model new assets, I relied on adapting existing foliage models by recolouring materials to better match Wicklow’s palette. For example, I adapted a generic flower mesh into the bright red sundews by reworking its shader. This approach felt limiting at times, but also practical for rapid prototyping within the scope of the project.

Heritage ruins presented another challenge. I experimented with applying photogrammetry models directly to material layers, but the effect was overwhelming, cluttering the scene unnaturally. Instead, I placed ruins as isolated set-pieces, using them as visual anchors within the composition. These focal points also structured my documentation video, functioning as markers of scale and atmosphere.

The above images show the issues I had attempting to make the procedural material fit the not very good landscape. Blocky edges, stretched out maintains, water appearing in odd spaces. You can see the result after using Mustoe-Playfair’s heightmap generator that is specifically designed for unreal Engine and how much easier it was to have the material work easily with the landscape.

The images of the Sundew flower, sourced from Devlin, Zoe, Wildflowers of Ireland, “Information on Oblong-leaved Sundew”, accessed September 1, 2025. https://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=271&wildflower=Sundew

Next is the process I followed to change a model of yellow flowers into a recreation of the Sundew flower rather than attempting to find an exact replica of the flower or build my own.

One of the defining qualities of Wicklow is its atmospheric coldness. To replicate this, I relied heavily on exponential height fog and cool-tinted lighting. This combination produced the sense of mist and overcast skies characteristic of Ireland. In retrospect, I may have overcompensated, as at times the fog combined with cool lighting made the scene overly dark. Post-render colour correction in DaVinci Resolve allowed me to reintroduce subtle contrast and achieve a more natural, and lighter chill.

The result balances terrain accuracy, ecological logic, and atmospheric tone. Although river systems and finer path structures could have been more deliberately carved, the scene demonstrates how real-world analysis can translate into procedural Unreal systems, producing landscapes that feel grounded and believable.

Other references

Mustoe-Playfair, Harry, “Unreal PNG Heightmap”, accessed August 11, 2025. https://manticorp.github.io/unrealheightmap/

National Parks Ireland, “Wicklow About Us”, accessed August 11, 2025. https://www.nationalparks.ie/wicklow/about-us/