Approach

The reference was a small festival from a Tamil Nadu village I had seen, supported by frames from Kollywood films set in rural locations and photographs of real gopuram architecture. I wanted to translate that visual world into a 3D-cartoon stylized shader, which meant writing the materials and lighting from the ground up rather than pulling from Unreal's default photoreal toolset.

Every prop visible in the scene I modeled in Maya, textured in Substance Painter, and assembled in Unreal Engine. The set list included the gopuram tower, the temple walls, a raatinam (the small festival ferris wheel), the amman LED light setup, mic horn speakers on poles, fruit and vegetable stands, balloon clusters, flag bunting, and a row of aruvaal and thirisoolam weapon-fronts. The particle effects, the closest I came to using outside material, I learned from a single YouTube tutorial built specifically to match the stylization. 

The week-long timeline forced decisions early. Stylization meant I didn't have to chase realism. Baked lighting meant I didn't have to fight render times. Personal sourcing meant the visual identity stayed consistent across every asset.

Output

A complete, render-ready environment in Unreal Engine 5.4. All models, textures, shaders, lights, and particles original.

Tools

Unreal Engine 5.4, Maya, Substance Painter.

Final Render