Now that the Space Opera challenge is over, I finally managed to get back to working on this scene , since the last update I've sculpted some rocks, adjusted the lighting and some small tweaks to the temple texture. For the next update hopefully I can figure out how to paint some nice looking stylized clouds and maybe add more foliage. 

Concept by Andrew Porter   https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DxaVJE

Quick update, finally managed to make some progress with this scene, been quite busy lately with work but now I have some more stuff to show. 

I sculpted the details on the temple and used the power of instanced layers to procedurally texture it in SP, I might go back later an play with the generators and masks a bit more but the foundation is done.

I'm using as reference the amazing concept by Andrew Porter https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DxaVJE .
  

Happy blocktober everyone! here is the blockout of a new scene I'm working on at the moment. I've been busy lately but finally managed to make some progress and share it.

I'm using as reference the amazing concept by Andrew Porter https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DxaVJE .

Hopefully soon I can start doing some stylized sculpting in zbrush, start setting up some basic lighting in ue4 and adding more details to the scene. 😊

I updated my foliage...again! :p

Since I've posted this scene I haven't been happy with how the foliage looked, The method I used originally has worked great in the past for other stylized scenes with dynamic lighting and a different aesthetic, but somehow it wasn't working for this scene because the trees are larger and puffier than the ones I've used on other scenes, so that technique didn't end up looking so great, After trying 1 or 2 other methods without succes I think I've finally arrived at one that looks better.

I looked at my references again and decided to try a look that I always wanted to try since I saw the post on the polycount forums about making stylized trees, the airborn trees https://simonschreibt.de/gat/airborn-trees/ , recently I saw similar trees here https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ybrDoK by Kevin Brunt,  and really liked the fluffier look they have. I think it works much better with the scene and hopefully now I can let this scene rest.... for now. 😄

I also updated the lighting a little bit, I was getting a washed out look because I had bumped up the skylight to get brighter shadows, I lowered the intensity back to default and increased the indirect lighting contribution from the sun. 

"A Work of Art Is Never Finished, Merely Abandoned"

Hi everyone!

So I'm almost finished with this scene, since the last update I've added mostly small details and fixed some errors around the scene, and also added the house in the bg. I've been staring at it for so long now that I'm probably missing something, so I would love to hear some opinions from everyone, any ideas for small details or errors that I might be missing so that I can finally call it done and publish it on my portfolio.

Hope you are all safe and well.

So it's time for another update 

After struggling a lot to get the lighting just right I finally managed something I like, I updated all the shaders again and might keep tweaking them just a little bit until it's finished, I also added some parallax mapping to the rocks and red bricks to make them pop out more. 

The foliage was made mostly using the mtree addon in blender for the trunks and scattering some planes using a particle system over some boolean spheres to get the nice rounded silhouettes.  

Hopefully this weekend I can start working on the house in the background from the original concept and fix some other details around the scene.

So after playing with the lighting in 4.25 I managed to get a decent first lighting pass (medium quality bake for now), I'll come back to it later but now that I have a good base I can start working on polishing the materials and geometry. 

A lot of the materials turned out better than expected now that I have some propper lighting but they need more polish, others need need a lot more work. 

Regarding the geometry I will add some more irregularities, dented edges and rocks/brick details on the corners to get rid of all the perfectly straight edges.

I usually leave the foliage for last but if I get stuck somewhere else I might take a break from that and work on the trees and bushes  :) . 

I've finished modeling the main elements of the building and exported everything to unreal, next  I'll start working on textures and maybe do some lighting tests.

So I've finally started working on this scene again after a long break, I almost stopped for good but I really love the concept and really want to finish it. 

This weekend I've been working on refining the details, assigning material ids and making sure all the modular elements are aligned and have the proper dimensions. This is a preview from blender (eevee) the final scene will be done in unreal.