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# Sculpting Bas-Reliefs on a Stone Wall in a Forest Environment

**[80 LEVEL](https://daily.dev/sources/80lv)** · 14 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Concept artist Ilya Oskanyan walks through his production process for Heart of the Forest, a personal environment piece featuring bas-reliefs carved into a stone wall within an ancient forest. He covers finding a 24mm focal length for a monumental yet detailed composition, sculpting bas-relief height maps in ZBrush and using Blender's Displace modifier, reusing base meshes from Sketchfab and Quixel to save time, texturing with simple Principled BSDF shaders, populating vegetation with Geo-Scatter, lighting with dual directional lights plus rim lights, and finishing with a 70/30 3D-to-2D paint-over workflow in Photoshop. The project took three weeks alongside a full-time job.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://80.lv/articles/sculpting-nature-inspired-bas-reliefs-on-a-stone-wall-in-a-moody-ancient-forest-environment>

## Questions this post answers

### How can I create bas-relief height maps in ZBrush for use in Blender?

Sculpt the relief composition in ZBrush, then use the Bas Relief function to generate a height map from it. That height map can then be applied in Blender using the Displace modifier for raised sections, or used to create separate geometry for lower reliefs so individual elements can be moved and arranged independently.

_Artists refining sculpt-to-render pipelines often track workflow breakdowns like this one on daily.dev._

### What focal length works best for a monumental but detailed 3D environment shot?

A 24mm focal length was chosen after testing a range between 20mm and 50mm, because longer lenses compressed the scene too much and made it feel less monumental. Wide-angle focal lengths in the 20-50mm range preserve a sense of scale while still keeping architectural detail readable.

_Environment artists dialing in composition often compare focal length choices like this on daily.dev._

### How much of a forest scene's vegetation can be automated with Geo-Scatter in Blender?

Around 80% of the smaller vegetation and ground cover in a dense forest scene was generated using Geo-Scatter, with larger, more noticeable elements like ferns and fallen trunks placed manually for control over composition. This hybrid approach speeds up coverage while preserving hand-placed focal detail.

_3D artists planning scatter-heavy scenes can find workflow breakdowns like this on daily.dev._

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [Recreating a 2D Environment in 3D Using ZBrush and Substance 3D](https://daily.dev/posts/recreating-a-2d-environment-in-3d-using-zbrush-and-substance-3d-vcd0l5zcm) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments
- [Breakdown: Turning a 2D Concept Into a Detailed & Stylized 3D Scene](https://daily.dev/posts/breakdown-turning-a-2d-concept-into-a-detailed-stylized-3d-scene-syyxdpke5) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments
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---

Tags: [#3d](https://daily.dev/tags/3d), [#game-design](https://daily.dev/tags/game-design), [#blender](https://daily.dev/tags/blender)

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