Lotus Garden

Work by artist @Rory H with PBRMAX assets
More assets: https://pbrmax.com/

Rory H:
Once I had a good idea and layout, thanks to PBRMAX’s incredible scans I was able to bring the concept to life quickly.
The whole process took a week. In the first few days I went through assets from the PBRMax website and prepared them for the scene.
Initially it was a rocky, mossy environment inspired by the moss gardens of Kyoto, but it felt a bit lifeless, so I focused more on fluffing out the plant life.
I used one of PBRMAX’s moss textures to texture a lot of assets in the scene using a falloff node to mix the moss with the original rock scans textures. Keeping everything uniform really helped with the scene’s realism.
I used 2 of the rocks scans and scattered them throughout the scene with a separate one under water as a pond floor.
I also used some of the rocky cliff scans to fill the sides and scatter grass and plants on them.
One of my favourite assets from the PBRMAX website is a beautiful peaceful looking Buddha statue which I placed on the pond bank with a lamp shrine. I added some penny grass and worked on the dirt textures to make it look like it was a part of the landscape for a long time. I imagined it as a beautiful area of peace and solitude within the scene.
Once the scene came together, I placed a scanned pillar from PBRMAX in the centre of the pond.
Then came the fun part of adding volumetrics, lighting, a character and tidying everything up.
I worked with an ultrawide layout and looked for some cinematic angles and light.
I also tested some bokeh shots which worked well.
These scans are beautiful, and I would recommend highly if you wished to delve into realism.
A huge thanks to PBRMAX for the opportunity to use their assets.