Taj Mahal ~ A Peaceful Moment

This is my college graduation project. The objective was to translate a 2D concept to 3D, and I slightly modified the original concept to match the mood I was going for. The concept I chose is "Taj Mahal" by Florent Boston. I picked this concept because I loved the beauty and mood of the environment, as well as the balance between architecture, water, vegetation, and birds. I thought it would be perfect to match the style I'm going for, as well as push myself to improve in the creation of the different elements in 3D. I worked on this environment for the duration of the semester, from January 22nd to May 15th 2023.
With that in mind, I set off to make an inviting, lively and dreamy environment filled with optimism and meaning, capable of providing a relaxing and peaceful experience.
I had the opportunity to improve on multiple techniques that I started learning in my last project as well as learn new techniques to explore different methods and be more confident while creating elements I was not previously comfortable with, such as trim sheets and foliage for example. One of my main goals when creating this environment was to get a deeper understanding of cinematography techniques and what makes content immersive, to make a cinematic instead of a simple environment showcase. Following this objective, I tried to add elements that keep the viewer engaged and employ a few different methods to give the viewer the illusion of being in control, triggering unconscious reactions that avoid breaking the immersion as well as guiding the eye with moving elements from the environment. I still have a lot to learn but I am happy with the results and think that I was able to accomplish my goal of prioritizing the presentation just as much as the environment itself.
Some of the things I learned while creating this project:
-Creating more advanced shaders inside of UE5
-Using trim sheets and RGB trim sheet masks to add more detail at a large scale
-Improving my skills with SpeedTree and learning to make ivy that grows around assets, as well as optimizing foliage
-Use marmoset for the first time to optimize foliage
-Using light functions and color correct regions to easily tweak colors within UE
-Get a better understanding of RVTs inside of UE
-Efficiently troubleshooting and finding workarounds for many different issues I encountered
Overall, this environment is very special to me because it is a big milestone in my journey as a 3D artist and I am very grateful for all the things I learned while making it.
On to the next challenge! I will be aiming for realism and proceduralism while learning new techniques.
Original concept by Florent Boston (Used with permission)
https://www.artstation.com/bfw
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ZegPVm