Himalayan Treasures: The key to the legendary temple - Anlan Yang

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Name: Anlan Yang
Country: USA
I have read the terms and conditions and and am eligible for prizes

The Himalayan region boasts a rich tapestry of art and culture. The extreme cold of the world's highest mountain range adds an air of mystery to this area. Tibetan Buddhism is one of the region's most distinctive cultural features which is seeking enlightenment, the ultimate state of spiritual awakening and liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. So for this art challenge, I want to create a work based on Tibetan Buddhism.

Story background:
Legend has it that in the extreme cold of the Himalayas, there is a temple that holds the secret of the world's cycle of life and rebirth. Regardless of their motives, this temple has become a place that people spend their whole lives trying to reach.

Basic idea：
The 3D prop I want to create is the key to open the temple's door.
This is not a traditional key; it consists of two main parts. The outer ring is formed by four fan-shaped pieces that fit together like a puzzle, inspired by traditional Chinese mortise and tenon joints, to create a complete circle. The center features a mask inspired by a Tibetan Buddhist deity associated with life. Inserting the deity key into the circular outer ring and rotating it will open the temple door.

Sketch：

Ref：

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Block out：

Edit the wireframe a little bit and ready for ZBrush:

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ZBrush process:

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Retopology:

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Finish the Retopology process:
This is a interesting topic, after this challenge I still willing to create the whole environment in Unreal Engine as a practice and also for my personal portfolio project, so I want to make the key as a game ready asset.

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Unwrap UV maps and ready for bake:

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Reference for texture:
Ready to move on to the textures. Find some ref specific for textures. In my imagination the key should made by stone and metal. Stone as the base and gold metal for decorations. And also for the center mask part it should have some color painted on it.

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Bake:
Adjust the UV and models a little bit to fix some baking issues and finally finish the baking process. Ready for move on to the props texture.

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Textures:
I feel like this is a good chance to practice Substance Designer, cause I am pretty new in this. So decide to create a base rock texture in Substance Designer. And also I have two more versions base on the general rock texture, one with the snow or frost on it and the other one feels wet like some melting snow on it.

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Textures in Substance Painter:

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Final render:
Here is some final render shots for my 3D props. Still want to render a short video to show more details and also shows the breakdown process as a better archive and conclusion for my portfolio.

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Final Video:

Takeaways:

A great chance to practice the whole game art pipeline.
Have chance to practice substance 3D designer and apply the texture on my props.
It's good to record and post every step while making this props, that make me feel much easier to archive my portfolio stuffs at the end. I will keep doing this in my future projects.
Good to see others' wonderful projects. As a beginner looks others' work do inspire me a lot on how to make my work better.
Have a DDL do helped a lot for me...lol

I am really glad to participate in this art challenge. During this process, I know more about the standard in this industry, have one more personal project for my portfolio. Although this project have lots of space to improve, I still think this is a good conclusion for my first year experience in this industry. Will always keep learning and practice!