Tree of Life in a Steampunk Lab

I have a strong interest in layouts and environments so I designed a blend of life form creation in the shape of a tree surrounded by steampunk style technology. I needed the perspective, view and lighting to provide the viewer the impression of entering the lab. The blocking allowed me to organize the objects around the layout and choose the shapes and objects that later be the various steam-powered machinery. When the tree took shape, I tested various angles to offer the best lighting. The making of the tree started by producing the main trunk and branches in Maya. I then used ZBrush to shape the bark with an Alpha Map. I created two different branch styles and varied the placement and directions to fill the tree. Substance Painter allowed to me to texture the tree, branches and leaves. I then started modelling various steampunk objects such as the wrench, crowbar, control panel, steam pipes, valves, gears, wall layout, lever and dials. The objects were positioned in an organized fashion on the UV maps to process them with the appropriate textures. The walls and most objects had to show rust, wear and tear - for this, I used rust looking paint, multiple layer to make a more realistic look making the surface uneven, adding oil drops, various metal collars, worn patches and mat colour choices.