In this project I wanted to try building a small environment from scratch and focus on lighting and composition. The scene combines two of my favourite things, which is science and plants. I wanted to learn how foliage and materials such as glass interact with light in Unreal Engine 5s Lumen system. It proved to be a real challenge and I learned a lot about material rendering and setup both in Unreal Engine 5 but also in Substance Painter and Substance Designer, where I made the majority of materials. The glass material needed several iterations to reach a realistic finish.
All 3D assets were built in Autodesk Maya and textured in Substance 3D Painter.
As for foliage the leaves were first sculpted in Zbrush, followed by baking and material setup in Substance 3D Designer. The tree hero prop was made using SpeedTree. The bark and soil textures are from megascans.
The glass material and scene was built in Unreal Engine 5.
Completed within a span of 6 weeks, this project proved to be a bit of an overscope and I originally planned to make an even bigger piece but decided to make it smaller after feedback from my peers and teachers.
Despite many challenges, working on this project was a blast and has really inspired me to strive to become an environment artist.