A product of my first exploration into both atmospheric lightning and Substance 3D Painter. A cloth simulation is used as a pedestal for the statue and combined with a two-point lighting setup for dramatic framing.
Modeled and Simulated in Houdini
Textured with Substance 3D Painter & Adobe Illustrator
Rendered with Redshift
I first started out with a series of rectangles scattered in a spiral formation as an initial simulation setup. By animating a custom "bend" attribute across the rectangles, represented by the grayscale pattern, I can control when the rectangles bend in a ribbon simulation.
A low-res version of the Zenobia statue was used as collision geometry to ensure that the ribbons wouldn't clip through the statue in the final render.
I then modeled an environment for the render with the goal of emulating an indoor environment. Since the two front walls wouldn't be visible in the render, I removed them to allow for greater lighting flexibility. We have a window in the back for dramatic lighting on the statue.
In order to create the environment's texture, I first made a pattern in Adobe Illustrator, and then used spherical projection to apply the texture to the environment in Adobe Substance 3D Painter.
A similar color scheme was adopted for the statue as well, minus the teal in order to contrast with the floor.