The Canal District - Breakdown

Technical Breakdown:
- Created modular asset models in Blender, ensuring proper snapping and alignment.
- Used a Nanite mesh workflow for hero assets (bridge and boat) to capture maximum sculpt detail. Workflow: modeled low-poly → sculpted high-poly in ZBrush → decimated to mid-poly with baked details.
- Built low-poly props with trimsheet textures for optimized set dressing.
- Unwrapped UVs in RizomUV, maintaining a consistent 10.24 texel density where possible.
- Created tileable PBR textures in Substance Designer.
- Developed Substance Painter smart materials to generate unique texture maps for hero assets.
- Applied vertex painting to add variation to environment textures and to paint puddles on the floor.
- Performed color grading and editing in DaVinci Resolve.
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I was responsible for all aspects of the production, from modeling and texturing to lighting and rendering, except for the foliage assets, which were sourced from Quixel Bridge. My focus was on creating a captivating atmosphere with an emphasis on realism, assisted by William Faucher's Easy Fog, Easy Atmos, and Easy Mapper tools.