Nashville Zoo — Asia Exhibit Environment Design & Production
I was responsible for the Asia exhibit environment from early concept development through final production. My work included researching and defining the visual direction, planning the exhibit layout and key vistas, building the initial blockout, sculpting and texturing the terrain, creating environment assets, developing foliage and rock systems, set dressing the scene, and implementing the environment in Unity.
The exhibit was designed for a mobile AR experience, which meant the environment needed to feel much larger and richer than the available performance budget would normally allow. A large portion of that budget was reserved for the animals and terrain, so much of my work focused on finding efficient ways to create visual variety through modular assets, terrain shaping, selective foliage, repeated rock formations, and performance-conscious shaders.
I also planned the environment around a series of animal-focused vistas, using the river, cliffs, vegetation, elevation changes, and sightlines to separate habitats while keeping the exhibit visually connected. Early concepts were explored in both 2D and Unity before the final direction was selected and developed.
This project reflects the full range of my environment-production responsibilities: concepting, layout, terrain creation, modeling, texturing, optimization, Unity implementation, and final set dressing.
Final gameplay footage showing the published Asia exhibit and how the terrain, vegetation, animal habitats, and planned vistas came together in the mobile AR experience.
Final in-game view of the tiger habitat, using terrain and vegetation to frame the animal while maintaining the scale and continuity of the larger environment.
Panoramic view of the completed exhibit showing how the river, cliffs, vegetation, and animal habitats connect around the central player experience.
Inspired by Jim Corbett National Park, this selected direction used a central viewing area with animal habitats arranged as key vistas around the player.
An early Jungle Book-inspired direction exploring a denser forest, cinematic animal placement, and ways to create a larger environment within mobile limitations.
An early Maya blockout translating the concept into 3D, establishing the river, cliffs, habitat zones, player position, scale, and major sightlines.
Top-down development view showing the overall terrain layout and relationship between the river, cliffs, vegetation, animal habitats, and player space.
A Unity development view showing how surrounding terrain was trimmed to preserve the illusion of scale while improving performance for the mobile AR experience.
The Indian elephant was chosen as the environment’s main focal point, shown as a mother and calf. I also used the scene as a quiet tribute to my mother, who loved elephants.
The tiger was elevated as a major feature of the exhibit. A body of water separated the player from the habitat, helping create a clear sense of distance and safety.
Areas without animals still needed strong visual interest. Terrain shape, rock placement, elevation changes, and negative space were used to keep these views engaging.
Mobile limits allowed only three tileable terrain textures per terrain section. Curves, elevation changes, rocks, and foliage helped hide transitions and create a greater sense of depth.
