Kyoto Sanneizaka

I've always been awe inspired by the beauty of Japanese architecture and environments. That's why when I came across this concept art piece by Keen art: https://sicuvn.artstation.com/ I was inspired to try my hand at recreating the scene in Unreal Engine 5.
I managed to locate the exact location in Kyoto that this concept art is based on which enabled me to capture many real life references using google images.

I decided to take this opportunity to learn how to create and work with custom RGB Masks and use them as much as possible. I had not yet attempted a scene of this scale and complexity so I decided early on to utilise a weighted normal workflow for all props instead of doing a sculpting pass. This allowed me to iterate on designs quickly, while enabling me to practice getting as much out of my textures as possible.
All the tiling materials / trim sheet were authored in Substance Designer while RGB masks and unique textures were authored in Substance Painter using a Texel density of 1024px/m. I focused heavily on trying to push my trim sheet as far as possible and utilise the UE5 material editor to produce believable variations.

All assets in this scene other than foliage & FX were handmade for this environment. Foliage & FX assets were sourced from the Epic Marketplace.

I would like to thank all the people who provided feedback along the way especially the Experience Points community.https://experience-points.artstation.com/