Forest Totem - Breakdown

Hey! My name is Kostia Perry, I’m also known as Tarmunds. I’m a French

Environment and Technical Artist with a strong passion for stylized art and hand-

painted textures. As you’ll see in my work, I also have a deep interest in the technical

aspects of environment creation.

My journey as a 3D artist began during my studies at Artside. I originally set out to

become a Concept Artist, but once I discovered that we could paint in 3D, it

completely blew my mind and that’s when I shifted my focus to 3D.

Currently, I specialize in hand-painted textures, Handpainted PBR workflows, and

Technical Art.

Goals and Intentions for the Environment

Just before starting this project, I spent some time working on another handpaint

PBR project, and I wanted to continue practicing my hand-painting skills with this

new artwork.

A little while ago, I came across the amazing concepts by Ed Laag, and I was

immediately inspired to try something similar. I started with a small fountain, but my

goal quickly grew into creating a larger, more ambitious piece based on this concept

series.

Software and Tools Utilized

For this project, I used Blender for modeling, as well as for retopology and UVs. I

used ZBrush to create a rough high-poly version of the assets, and Marmoset

Toolbag for the baking process. For texturing, I relied on 3DCoat, Textura, and

Photoshop. Finally, the integration and rendering were done in Unreal Engine to

showcase the work within a game engine environment.

References and Inspiration

When I started, I wanted to give the concept a special vibe, a bit of nostalgia. I’m not

sure if it’s the subject itself or the way Ed Laag presented the concepts, but I got a

strong Zelda feeling from it.

I aimed to recreate the concept while capturing that same Zelda spirit. I was also

inspired by Studio Ghibli films, which added to the whimsical and magical

atmosphere I wanted to evoke.

Asset Creation and Workflow

I started with a rough blockout in Blender, and during this phase, I also worked on

unwrapping the UVs to plan how I would split and arrange the final UVs, keeping in

mind my target texel density.

Once I had the right proportions, I moved to ZBrush to block out the shape of the

roots. Given their organic form, it was easier for me to manipulate them directly in

this soft.

In the ZBrush phase, I refined the shapes to add more dynamism to the overall

design. I also did some back-and-forth checks in the engine using decimate meshes

to see how the models looked from the camera perspective.

I did some sculpting on the model, with the goal of having all the major shapes

already defined in the sculpt. I then used Marmoset Toolbag to capture them in

Ambient Occlusion or Lighting maps.

For the ornaments on the egg shape, I used the Panel Loop tool in ZBrush, which

allowed me to use a mask selection to create extrusions for the details.

The main difference compared to a traditional props workflow was that here I

focused more on the overall shape and volume rather than on surfacing. Since I

planned to paint the textures afterward, my priority was to lock in an interesting

silhouette rather than fully sculpting all the details.

UV Mapping and Baking Process

For the baking, I used Marmoset Toolbag to bake several infomaps that would help

throughout the texturing process. I baked a world normal map (which I mainly use to

get a selection of the normal that face upwards), a thickness map (which I find more

useful than curvature when set up correctly), and two ambient occlusion maps: one

with the floor occlusion within it and one without. It’s crucial to properly set up the

baking parameters in Marmoset to get the maximum value range from these maps,

ensuring higher definition in the results.

If you’re interested i made a guide to bake poperly and to correctly setup the baking

parametters within Marmoset toolbag to get the max data out of your bake. You can

find it here : https://www.tarmunds.com/post/how-to-get-a-clean-bake

I also like to set up a blocking light directly in the Marmoset scene and bake it using

the lighting properties in the baker. This gives me a blockout-lit texture that I can use

as a base for painting the final textures.

Materials, Texturing, and Substance Painter

After baking, I imported my models into 3DCoat. I rely heavily on the Photoshop

Bridge throughout my workflow, both for UV painting and projection painting.

First, I created a custom base using the maps I baked, like the AO and thickness

maps. Then, I began painting directly on this base in grayscale. This approach

allowed me to establish the overall volume of the painting, refine the blocking, and

quickly add some details.

Once the grayscale pass was completed, I added the base color, using control layers

to maintain flexibility and adjust as needed.

base color out of the grayscale maps, with a little bit of paint

At this point, it’s just painting and fun. The main goal is to add life through color

variation and detail, but while avoiding overwhelming the visual. That’s also why I

have this soft looking on the grass, to also use it as rest area for my piece. Painting

those rock totems was fun.

After a bit of painting

Foliage Creation: Flowers, Grass, Moss, and Weeds

For the grass, I began by painting the ground to achieve the color variation I wanted.

Once I had that, I created a few grass masks directly in Photoshop.

For the texture of the grass, I used a Runtime Virtual Texture from the ground to

seamlessly blend the grass into it. This technique gave the grass a soft shading

effect, with the transition occurring only where it meets another material or at the tips

of the grass blades.

For the flowers, I aimed to recreate the style of flowers you often find near fairy

temples in Zelda: Breath of the Wild. To achieve this, I used a few planes and

painted alpha textures for the leaves and petals in Photoshop. It was a simple yet

effective approach to capturing that delicate, stylized look.

VFX and Wisps

For the VFX, I decided to combine both shader animation and the Niagara system in

Unreal. The wisp itself was created entirely using shader animation.

I used vertex colors for masking, and with some simple math, I was able to animate

the little wing movements. I also added a more global, irregular noise to the wisp to

simulate subtle flying movements, which complement the Niagara animation.

In Niagara, I focused on spawning my mesh and moving it around using a vortex

force. I also attached a small particle spawner to generate a fairy dust trail behind it.

To give the movement a more stylized look, I added a ribbon to enhance the fluidity

of the animation.

Shaders, Technical Setup, and World Asset Placement in Unreal

The first thing I did was set up the ground using a simple plane and applied some

rough color to it. I created a Runtime Virtual Texture (RVT) that samples the

ground’s albedo, allowing me to blend the tree seamlessly into the terrain. This

blending effect is also controlled by vertex painting, giving me the ability to control

where and how much blending occurs.

I reused the same RVT in my shader to make the grass blend with the ground as

well. This gave the floor a more volumetric and textured feel. I also applied a simple

world-position offset (WPO) wind animation to the grass to make it appear more

organic.

For the flowers, I baked the pivot position and length of the flower, which allowed me

to add custom rotation and create a more natural wind effect. This is something I

focused on throughout my work, especially with complex foliage, I avoid the typical

"yippie wind" effect (simple grass wind) in favor of a more refined and controlled

movement. (see the grass video for example)

For the sword, I followed the basic baked props workflow based on the amazing

concept created by Olympia del Medico. Once that was done, I decided to enhance

the emissive properties to give it a magical effect. To reinforce the Zelda vibe, I took

inspiration from the Master Sword and the little VFX it had when it was locked in the

stone. To achieve this, I created a simple billboard using WPO and applied a wavy

texture to give the sword an aura effect.

Polishing and Finalizing the Environment

An important step in the polish phase was adding the rim light to the tree. To achieve

this, I first took a screenshot of my current view and designed the light in Photoshop.

While this approach may not be physically accurate, it has a stronger visual impact.

To drive the rim light, I painted a mask on the UVs and used emissive materials

directly in Unreal. This process gave me more control over the look of the rim light

within the engine, and I could also set up gradients and use vertex color painting to

control the intensity.

For the ground, I wanted a more painterly outline. To achieve this, I created a

custom noise scatter combined with vertex painting, allowing me to define custom

edges using a masked shader. To soften the mask and make the transition less

sharp, I applied dithering, which created a smoother gradient in the final render. This

technique helped maintain the masked material effect while faking some opacity.

Lighting and Rendering Techniques

In terms of lighting, I kept it simple. Since everything is painted, I set up the scene

using an unlit shader. The only additional lighting setup I made was for the painted

rim light, as mentioned earlier, and for the fake godray effect above the sword.

To achieve the godray effect, I used a cylinder with a translucent shader, simple-

sided shading, and a gradient created with a top-down gradient from a front

projection UV.

If I had the opportunity to redo it, I would experiment more with the post-process

volume to add a subtle bloom effect and bring a bit more depth to the scene overall.

Final Thoughts and Reflections

This project was primarily aimed at practicing my painting skills, and I can confidently

say I’ve done just that. It was an enjoyable process, and I’m happy with how it turned

out. In the future, I’d love to create more fully hand-painted dioramas if I have the

time to do so.

I want to thanks Lionel Cregut and Matthieu Laude who gave me some valuable

feedback on this project, made at Artside. Thanks also to my classmates and friends

for their support.