mai linh au

she/her ✦ stylised 3D environment artist

Mai Linh is a recent Games Art graduate from the University of Hertfordshire specialising in foliage and vegetation production for 3D environments. She has a passion for creating stylised and colourful, textured hand-painted work for lighthearted and whimsical games.

featured work

about me

I am a 3D enviroment artist experienced with Unreal Engine 5. My primary modelling packages are Maya and ZBrush, and I typically texture my work in Substance Painter and Photoshop/Clip Studio Paint.

I love playing JRPGs and most indie games, especially roguelike/lites and Metroidvanias. I also enjoy crocheting, baking and composing and playing music on my violin and piano!

Pounce! is a fast-paced action multiplayer party game that seeks to put a twist on the familiar cat's game of laser chase.

This project was produced over the course of around three to four months for the second semester of our second year at the University of Hertfordshire. As the principal environment artist, I took responsibility for greyboxing, laying out and lighting the Kitty Glade, our demo level. I also handled the production of the level's foliage and tiling materials.

We were fortunate enough to receive a Draft Selection for this project as an entry to The Rookies 2024.

demo level: kitty glade

The Kitty Glade is an elegant, high-class cat cafe/tea room situated in a lavish greenhouse that serves as a natural feline sanctuary and a beautiful venue for special occasions. Our concept was inspired primarily by the lush extravagance of Victorian palm houses combined with the eloquent origins of afternoon tea culture.

greybox

main area

extension

materials

This page is the full collection of tiling materials I produced for my second-year group project 'Pounce!'. I plan to update these with further polish and refinement in the future.The floor tile and bark materials were sculpted in ZBrush and baked/textured in Substance Painter, while the grass and dirt materials were made with Substance Designer.

foliage

Working on a level set in a greenhouse was the perfect opportunity to dive into the world of foliage creation in combination with my forays into hand-painting for 3D, something I have always been interested in as a new 3D artist with a predominantly 2D background.The base atlases from which I created my branch atlases were painted in Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint, while the branch atlases and majority of the foliage models were done in SpeedTree (exceptions have been noted under images).

hero asset: cat tree

The main attraction of the scene, I largely referenced the branches and foliage of the Dipteryx olifeira tree from South America when designing the atlases for the cat tree. Since it is a tree situated in a greenhouse, an attraction that typically hosts more exotic and foreign plants, I decided it best to use references of this nature.As the tree would have platforms built and stacked around it, I had to limit the branch growth when modelling them onto the trunks.These custom trunks were sculpted in ZBrush and textured in Substance Painter, while the branches were modelled on in SpeedTree.

general foliage

These foliage models were used to compose the majority of the scene population. The specific and hanging foliage models remained within the interior of the level, while the generic foliage assets saw use both inside and out of the greenhouse to give the impression of a world outside.

The hanging foliage models were handmade in Maya and distributed around the scene using Unreal Engine's built-in Foliage mode.

The fantasy fashion capital of Brocatelle awaits your prowess in Mythwoven, an action role-playing & management game where your strength lies in creative style and strategy!

Design and grow a couture brand unique to your whims on your journey to stardom as a Mage Modiste raring to conquer the forces of fashion and evil alike while helping others discover their beauty within.

Mythwoven is a fantasy dress-up ARPG game demo that was produced over 6-7 months as our final-year degree project at the University of Hertfordshire. In addition to leading the environment art production of the project, I was also its leading producer and director.Below you can find all of the environment work I completed for the project and its three levels: the Sewing Room, the Street and the Silken Forest respectively.

props

This is an assortment of hero props I created during the pre-production stage of Mythwoven to populate the Sewing Room level.

sewing table

vanity mirror

wardrobe

The concepts for the props were created by Devon Fell-Smith.

street

This street showing the exterior of the player's boutique and a neighbouring bakery acts as a transitioning area between her tailoring studio and the wild forest. Initially, for scope purposes we did not plan to present the outside of the boutique, but ultimately decided to include it for improved flow of movement in the game to bridge the two areas more clearly.

boutique

bakery

materials

silken forest

The Silken Forest is a lush, warm place home to silk moths, sought after most for their soft and comfortable fur, commonly used as a material to weave fabric from. This is where the real action takes place in the demo, as the player gathers crafting materials and defends themselves against the resident bugs of the woods.

As the lead environment artist, I was responsible for the majority of the elements, including layout, lighting, the tiling materials and most of the foliage shaders and textures. I experimented with more manual foliage creation workflows utilising Maya with hand-painted textures, as well as relying on a more shader-based approach in Unreal for the trees. I also explored stylised material creation further with Substance Designer, which I find to be most efficient for producing tiling materials.

other credits

VFX & Water shader: Kaveesha Amarasinghe
Lily Pads: Amanda Hui
Rocks, Tree Stumps and Logs: Lulu Ross-Bouquet
Stylised Volumetric Cloud shader: FAB

flora

Flower and tree concepts by Devon Fell-Smith.

materials

forest of liars: demon teeth

I wanted to challenge myself to recreate a scene from a concept that would allow me to explore and understand more technical art in relation to stylised foliage and scene creation. My focus for this project has also been on practising my abilities with composition and lighting for a scene.The original concept art for this scene was produced by Sylvain Sarrailh.