This is the second demo project I created at PixlVisn and my first project using Unreal Engine.

I followed a reference by Lok Du that I found on artstation but made some changes to the exact dimensions and materials to make it work better in 3D.

First, I created a rough blockout of the environment in Maya. I identified repeating parts that could be made into modular pieces, of which there are a lot in this reference.

Once I had established my main building pieces and their dimensions, I brought my meshes to Unreal Engine and began creating my scene. With every update from Maya, I only had to reimport the models, and all instances would be updated automatically.

I created the landscape and water material early on to get a better feel for the scene. I also began making textures for different materials using Substance Designer. Once again, I only had to reimport the new textures and my scene got updated.

I sculpted some extra detail into many pieces and used nanite to make the high-poly models work in a real-time scene.

Other pieces, like the floor in front of the house or the wood used throughout the scene, are tileable materials using displacement maps to add more depth.

Next, I added the rocks, trees, and other organic assets. I made the trees in SpeedTree, using its parametric workflow to set up precisely the type of tree I had in mind and then generate multiple variations.

Lastly, I added warm lighting to the scene, going for a cozy sunset setting.

As mentioned before, this was the first project I created in Unreal Engine, and I have stuck to it ever since. With all that I have learned in my projects following this one, I am really happy and proud of my progress.