Behind the Scenes: Landscape Bathroom

INTRODUCTION

Hi there!

My name is Diogo Maurício, a 3D architecture and interior design artist from Portugal. My passion for 3D began during my degree in Digital Game Design, where I made some assets for games.

Later, I learned about 3D visualization or archviz, so I decided to take an online Blender course for archviz.

I now work as a freelance 3D artist for archviz, using programs like Blender and Photoshop to bring my ideas, and those of my clients, to life.

INSPIRATION

This non-commercial project idea wasn't something that came up suddenly. Over the last few months, I've come across various photos, AI images, and renders by other artists that mix nature with our home. 

So after saving some reference images and watching a video about using photos as a 3D background, I had the idea of mixing the two concepts and making my own project: a modern bathroom in which you share your intimacy with nature.

Some of the artists who inspired me were Egzon Rexhepi and Augusto Cezar.

PROCESS

Tools

• Blender
• Photoshop
• PureRef

Addons

• Blenderkit
• Photographer
• Vegetation
• Geo-Scatter
• Aquatiq

References

Before starting any project, I usually collect and organize reference images, because it will help me get to the end result that I'm looking for. I usually look for references on Google Images and Pinterest. Finally, I organize the images on PureRef.

Block-out

My workflow usually involves starting with architectural structures such as walls, floors, windows, and doors. In this particular project, as it was a personal idea, I designed the bathroom little by little, making the necessary changes and adjustments with real measurements to achieve something that I liked.

Modeling

I started by modeling the structure of the bathroom (walls, floor, windows, doors) and then I moved on to the phase where I place the main assets, to find out how I'm going to arrange them and place the cameras. 

In archviz, we usually only model assets when we want something very specific to try to deliver the project to the client as quickly as possible, which is why I use some asset libraries such as Quixel Bridge, Imesh, BlenderKit, and personal libraries. 

At a later stage, I finished with some decorations and details.

In general, I didn't use very complex techniques—just basic modeling and the use of some modifiers such as bevel, subdivision surface, mirror, and some booleans.

Texturing

In the texturing phase, what took me the longest was looking for the PBR textures I had in mind which are always high-quality textures. Usually, I use 4K textures and in some specific cases, I use 1K or 2K if the object is far away and 8K if it is very close to the camera.

Once I've found what I'm looking for, I apply the texture to the asset, usually using the addon that comes with Blender, called node wrangler. 

In the end, I just used a few other nodes such as mix RGB, Gamma, and Hue Saturation Value.

It should be noted that in some of the more important textures, I used the displacement map to bring greater realism to the project.

Lighting

In the lighting phase, the most important part was combining the background image and the exterior lighting to really make it look like the bathroom was in that place. 

So first, I looked for some images of incredible landscapes. It was important that it would impress. 

Then I tested which images I liked the best and mixed them with Blender's Sky Texture. I got a result where the exterior lighting made sense with the background image and at the same time, illuminated the bathroom in a way that brought a feeling of calm and relaxation. 

Then I added some area lights that I used as interior LEDs and some point lights for the spotlights, with the Blackbody node to bring out a realistic color. 

At the end, to bring more depth to the exterior environment, I added a cube with a very light principled volume shader effect to get a slight touch of mist.

Rendering & Post-Processing

The project was rendered in Cycles in three different image sizes.

• 3840 px x 2160 px
• 2700 px x 3375 px
• 3840 px x 3840 px

I used 2048 samples and denoiser in all of them.

In View layer properties > Passes, I enabled Glossy Direct and Indirect to enhance the image, later in Photoshop.

Post-production was done in Adobe Photoshop. I used the Camera Raw Filter to make some improvements to the contrast, exposure, shadows, highlights, temperature, vibrance, sharpening, and a bit of film grain. 

Then, I added the Blender passes (Glossy Direct and Indirect), a LUT (Lookup Table), and finally the vignette.

RENDER: Landscape Bathroom

Thank you for reading my article, and I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to ask questions on my social media. Have a wonderful day!

About the Artist                       

Diogo Maurício is a 3D artist from Portugal, specializing in archviz, or architectural visualization, of interiors and exteriors. He currently works as a freelance 3D artist.