And finally...The submission's beauty shots! I learned a lot during this, and I'm pretty sure I'll keep working on this after the contest as I learn more about UE4 and Substance. I'm super proud of having participated in a contest with so many talented artists around the globe. Wish me luck!

Some more assets...

Small doodle above of what I imagined the environment looked like from the outside, and first screenshots below of the final environment as I started working on the lighting.  I think the foliage is the weakest element in my piece (ironically the only objects I didn't texture with Substance software) and the tree trunk should look better.

All textures were done in Substance Designer except foliage...so here goes what the vegetation looks like. I followed a basic pipeline for this: made some planes in the forms of leaves in 3ds max, added detail in Zbrush, then baked down to texture maps : )

Re-did assets numerous times as I got the "feeling" and form down to something I liked. In the meantime, I kept reading about UE4 and Substance software.

The past 3 months I've been working for The Throne Room Environment Art Challenge in Polycount. I'll be posting some images of the process, but before that, a description of the environment:

On strange lands, a tower is found, consumed by trees. Its top floor holds a throne room, a grand but perhaps menacing place in other times. Was it abandoned? The colossal roots piercing metal walls, the vines consuming and claiming spots suggest otherwise. Whether this empire or kingdom moved on or was taken out by force, this building of theirs still holds some special kind of magnificence.

Software to be used:
Maya
Max
ZBrush
xNormal
Substance Designer
Substance Painter
Unreal Engine 4

I’m going for something that could be found in a fantasy setting. I’d like to mix in metal with plants, pipes, cool architecture and even cooler textures. Big ambitions, little time left. Let’s work!!

Initial Concepts