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This week, we would like to highlight this incredible experience by 3D Environment Artist, Tav Shande. Explore the grounds of this 3.5 acre known to be the “most beautiful Villa in Tuscany”. Don't forget to take a dip in the pool!
Villa Cetinale
Created by Tav Shande.
This engaging environmental project originated from an exploration of Maya's robust procedural node network, MASH. Following a prior experiment where MASH was used to distribute moss in a forest scene, inspiration struck during a nature walk in Hawaii while observing lush vegetation. The idea emerged to leverage MASH for crafting dense hedge bushes and topiary art. While sourcing reference images for hedge bushes, the enchanting gardens of Villa Cetinale consistently appeared in Tav’s searches, sparking a shift in his original plan. “Inspired by the villa's beauty, I decided to embark on recreating the entire exterior and grounds of what many consider "the most beautiful villa in Tuscany," stated the artist. This endeavor was intended to serve as a full video game level and the primary location in his cinematic short film, "Gateway Protocol: The Hitman’s Wedding," so he had to build with that in mind.
The creative process for the bushes involved crafting diverse single-leaf cards and employing MASH to distribute them across various hedge bush shapes. Vertex color was applied to simulate wind movements. Subsequently, these elements were imported into Unreal Engine 5, where materials were created using channel-packed PBR texture maps generated in Substance Painter. The buildings and terrain, modeled in Maya, were imported into UE5. The buildings feature parallax mapping for interiors, faithfully recreating exteriors from reference photos. MASH was employed once again to distribute billboard trees on the surrounding hillside. Additional enhancements included a smart film grain post-process and accurate physical values for sunlight, complemented by puffy volumetric clouds. Upon completion, a separate, optimized version of the villa level was created for Fortnite (Island code 2850-5124-9286), utilizing under 400 MB of storage space. The project was made available on the Unreal Engine Marketplace.