Philippine Neighborhood

Hi all, I'm so happy to finally be able to show what I've been working on since last year! A small stylized neighborhood in Unreal Engine 5, inspired by the traditional philippine bahay na bato.
My goal for this project was to create a modular architecture kit, explore an architecture style, work on my composition, texturing and prop making skills and create a vibrant environment with it that tells a story. I also wanted to try out PBR with a handpainterly style.

During my bachelor thesis that started in late April 2023, I did research and created the modular kit for the buildings, logging around 160 hours. After my finals in June of 2023, and for the rest of the year, I have been putting in a couple of hours every week after work for the rest of the environment and assets.

Everything showcased here was done by me (and below, I'm listing the tutorials I used in the process). In addition to the main scene, I have assembled an alternative courtyard scene to show the versability of my modular kit. The inspiration for that second scene is the Casa Manila in Intramuros.

I used Blender for modeling, ZBrush for sculpting, Substance Painter for baking and texturing, Substance Designer for material creation, Photoshop for adjustments. For creating the flowmap used for the water "swirls" shader, I used FlowMap Painter: https://teckartist.com/?page_id=107

I would like to say a huge thanks to a few people who helped and guided me along the way:
Sophia Paez for advice on philippine architecture, Anya Elvidge and Maria Eom for feedback, Saralie Wagstrom, Ryan Pocock, @PaperMartinDev and Etienne Beschet for feedback on the basecolor hue shift shadergraph setup for the rocks, and my examiners Nanette Kaulig and Laura Frings for feedback and guidance during my Bachelor thesis.

I can highly recommend Thiago Klafke's Environment Mastery course for ideas and techniques for environments like these: https://thiagoklafke.gumroad.com/l/environmentartmastery?layout=profile
Further, here are some tutorials I used throughout the project:
PrismaticaDev's technique for global foliage wind bend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Gr2RRhtNM&t=739s
and his setup for grass occlusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bn8lCNMbI8
MrTriPie's technique for water shader foam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zoflexdo70
renderBucket's setup for triplanar textures: https://www.youtube.com/@renderbucket
Ryan Laley's tutorial for splines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKIiWa19EMI&t=1109s
and Mathew Wadstein's tutorial on shader axis rotation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljWoJ7Pp9Ww&t=78s

I've thoroughly enjoyed this project, although it was a first in terms of scale and techniques. This was an amazing exercise to deepen my skills in prop making, texturing and material creation and to dive more into compositions and creating a larger environment. It was great to research the history and properties of the architecture that inspired this kit, and try to do it justice in a stylized way. Also really cool to look at the progress screenshots back to back and see the evolution of the whole thing in the end as I found my way towards a story I wanted to tell.
Thanks for taking a look! :)