Hello everyone!
After getting portfolio feedback from multiple sources, the general consensus was that I have too many stand-alone props (they are 100% correct) and not enough environments so I decided to remedy that situation and work on an environment for my next project. After much deliberation and many, many different concepts I decided that I was going to model
Tim Kaminski's Sanctuary Tomb Concept. I feel in love with this concept the moment that I saw it up on ArtStation and I've wanted to model it for quite so I'm glad that I'm finally getting started with it.
PROJECT GOALS
- Learn Substance Designer
- Implement trim textures into workflow
- Learn techniques to create stylized foliage / grass
- Further develop knowledge of Unreal Engine
- Learn how to properly light an environment in UE
- Create a polished stylized environment for my portfolio
PREPARATION
Before starting to create any assets in Maya I took some time to break down the concept so I had a reference of what unique assets / textures / trim I would need when moving into the asset / texture creation stage of the process.
Props
Foliage
Texture Sheets
Trim
During this stage I also gathered style references and compiled them into a mood-board.
Mood-board
I've always been a huge fan of stylized PBR so I want to have a similar aesthetic as games such as Spyro: Re-ignited, Crash N-Sane Trilogy, and Overwatch, while still being unique.
BLOCK-OUT
After a few days of stressing myself out researching methods of blocking out environments and how to match perspective from a concept perfectly in Maya, I decided to stop worrying so much and to just start creating. Once I stopped stressing out about finding the "perfect" methods I started to have a lot more fun and eventually this is where I ended up with the block-out. I'm sure it's not perfect but it's a good start and it gives me a solid base that I can refine and develop further moving forward.
After a few tests and some iterating on the placement and scale of some of the objects I imported the block out into Unreal to get a feel for the scale of the environment.
Here's the scene with a 3rd person character for scale.
Remarks
Ultimately, this is relatively uncharted territory for me. I don't have a whole lot of experience when it comes to creating a cohesive environment like this so I'm figuring it all out as I go. I'm going to take my time with this project as I want to use it to test new workflows and learn new software. In the end I want to end up with the most polished portfolio piece possible.
I appreciate any comments, critiques or advice that anyone has for me during this journey. I want to learn and grow as much as possible during this project and I welcome any help along the way. I look forward to posting more progress (hopefully) soon.
Thank you all!