This diorama was inspired by a Digimon story I came up with. Diversity is significant to me and it was reflected in this story. In it, a diverse group of people become stranded in the digital world. Taking place in Japan it was a challenge to create a scenario that met my needs but through research and the use of Google Maps, I found the perfect solution.

I quickly realized a bus or a train would hold the right cast. Aesthetically I wanted to make a Machiya-styled house which put me in Kyoto. I looked into bus and train routes and analyzed those routes for key areas that would allow for a diverse cast of characters. I found a bus route that met these needs that drove past an elementary school, a high school, an all-girls school, a college, and an international college. In addition, there was a street with a drive-through Torii Gate that was perfect for the transition into the digital world. By tracing a path along each school to the Torii Gate and then to the route’s origin I was able to find this house.

The Diorama was modelled in 3Ds Max using various pipelines such as High to Low poly, Low to High poly, or just Low poly. Organic details like the stone base of the outer walls and the tree’s trunk and thicker branches were sculpted in Zbrush and then re-topologized in max. All assets were unwrapped in Max and then baked and textured in Substance Painter. I ensured textile density was appropriate and kept all textures for the scene under 1k. Maps were exported as Base Colour / Opacity, AO / Roughness / Metallic, and Normal. Like the assets, the materials were created to be modular and allow for different configurations.

The diorama was put together and lighted in Unreal Engine. Screenshots were taken from Unreal’s high-res screenshots.