This is the final rendered image of "The Fallen Garden".
Final rendered image, but the textures have been stripped.
Camera perspective, not rendered, showcasing wireframes.
Camera perspective, non rendered lighting.
Perspective, showcasing lighting layout in Maya.
From early on I knew what type of scenery and mood I wanted to convey. I wanted a sad, yet beautiful garden, that looked like it could have belonged to gods. So I knew I needed multiple high poly statues and columns.
Composition Process
At this stage, I was just focusing on trying to get the composition right. I was trying to match the mood I had in my mind and convey it visually without it looking overwhelming. At this point, I had collected a small number of models and placed a few primitives to try and capture the mood I was going for.
After receiving some feedback and sourcing more models, I came up with the close to finished scene composition. I really wanted to capture the depth and a sense of grandeur.
When I initially thought of this idea, I always wanted that godly/heavenly feel to it, and I wanted that to be replicated in the lighting of the scene. So achieving a heavenly, almost cathedral-like lighting style is what I was going for.
Lighting Process
This was my first go at the lighting in this scene. I tried to capture the overwhelming light from the main centerpiece, which is the window. The result was inadvertently making all my models show as silhouettes. Although it looks beautiful, I need to showcase textures and the statues showing that it's a fallen garden.
After receiving some critiques, I knew what I had to do. I went back and changed lighting intensities and exposures, and also added tons of new lights. I really wanted to show the light rays in my scene, but at the time, I didn't know that using the aiAtmosphere with high density in the Arnold renderer was messing up my overall scene by making it too foggy, as result, the models appeared faded.
And this was the final result of the lighting. It captures the rays in a way in which I think still adds divinity to the piece but clearly shows the textures and models without fading them.