1857 - Napoleon Field Cannon Diorama

This project originally started out as a simple rework of just the recreation of the cannon but it ended up expanding my knowledge of landscape creation and foliage development, which supported the creation of the environment for the cannon to be set in.

The story elements involve the cannon being pushed through the thick mud and readied for active use in battle. Muddy wheels and most of the scuffed bodywork represent weathering and constant usage from being pushed and pulled across the field during times of warfare.

The Model 1857 - 12-Pounder Napoleon Field Gun, officially called the “light 12-pounder gun” by the United States Army. It was the most popular smoothbore cannon used during the American Civil War.

Two variants of the cannon were created for this project. The wooden variant provided the opportunity to enhance my sculpting skills in Zbrush. This workflow also utilised the high to low poly pipeline, which was used for baking in Substance Painter.

The Metallic variant was intended to be a realistic depiction of the Napoleon Field Cannon from 1857, so research was key in order to keep this version authentic and believable. Schematics of the original cannon were used to aid the creation process and proportions of this model.

Breakdown:
- Wooden and Metalic versions of the Cannon were created
- Used the High to Low poly workflow and baked them in Substance Painter
- Used 2K Textures and two texture sets for the Cannon. Props were modelled and textured separately.
- Created a Landscape from Scratch in Gaea and exported it out as 1K texture map
- Utilised Fibermesh creation to create clumps of Grass foliage in Zbrush. The textures were exported from Zbrush as AO, Normal and Base colour maps.
- Used Quixel Megascans for Trees
- Experimented with Focal length (FOV) in Unreal Engine using Cameras and field of view for results.
- Rendered in Unreal Engine and Marmoset Toolbag
- Renders were refined in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom

The rework was a perfect opportunity to enhance my overall skills in both modelling and sculpting, as well as experiment with new workflows that can potentially be used again in future projects.

Thanks for viewing.