Shizuka (静か) Forest

"As you step into the lush bamboo forest of Shizuka, a gentle breeze caresses your skin. Butterflies arise from the grass, playfully swirling around the lanterns. It's truly incredible how peaceful the world can become under the right circumstances."

This is my first outdoor environment project in quite some time. My focus for this endeavor was directed towards vegetation and level art. As a result, I crafted several key assets myself while also integrating numerous elements from the expansive Megascans library. The scene currently maintains an average of 40 frames per second on an RTX 2070.

The core intention was to create a calming atmosphere, one that feels alive and offers a truly immersive experience. Central to the concept is a winding pathway that meanders through a bamboo forest, adorned with a quaint shrine dedicated to a fox spirit.

Under the guidance of Tim Nickel ( https://www.artstation.com/timnick151297 ), I learned to create vegetation assets using SpeedTree. Tim also assisted me with implementing the PivotPainter pipeline. I also used a neat vertex bake approach on my hardsurface assets.
All hardsurface models use a single material instance and a trimsheet for efficient texturing.