3D Environment Art

Here is my Swamp project in which I wanted to explore different techniques for creating organic environments. It was inspired by Louisiana's swamps and the Florida Everglades.

One of my main goals was to learn how to approach making natural environments without the use of scans or photo information. This is because I wanted to improve my sculpting skills in Zbrush and get into Substance Designer. I used however some ready alpha brushes in Zbrush and I used Gradient Map filter in Substance Designer to pick interesting color gradients from photographs.

Most of the meshes were made in Maya and sculpted in Zbrush, except for the tarp on the roof which was first made in Marvelous Designer and then sculpted in Zbrush. All the assets were textured in Substance Painter and Substance Designer.

One of my inspirations while making the Swamp was the concept “Hermit’s Hut” by Chander Lieve: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RD3PX

Bald Cypress is part of my Swamp project. The basic mesh with big branches was sculpted in Zbrush. Small branches and leaves were modeled in Maya. The bark material was made in Substance Designer. Branches that were used to make cards were textured in Substance Painter. I used 2k resolution maps. Final presentation was made in Unreal Engine.

To make the bark I followed a tutorial by Peter Sekula: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AgJ1V

Here is a mud material I made for the Swamp scene. Everything is made procedurally except for the leaves with needles. These I modeled in Maya, baked and imported their height and AO into Substance Designer.

I followed a tutorial by Daniel Thiger: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5wJdA as well as a tutorial on how to make a leaf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RwdPIG8SQk&t=1860s

The screenshot below shows a blend between two versions of mud material I made in Substance Designer. 

Here is some wood that I made for the Swamp scene. All the meshes are made in Maya and sculpted in Zbrush, textured in Substance Painter and Substance Designer. The project was made in Unreal Engine.

Inventor’s Room is the room of a researcher from early 1900s who explores aviation mechanics. The idea was largely inspired by Wright Brothers’ discoveries. Programs used: Maya, Substance Painter. Presented in Unreal Engine. 

A handcrafted plane. Modeled in Maya, textured in Substance Painter.