Since the last update, I've made some relatively big changes, I've begun to flesh out some of the larger materials in the scene, in an attempt to improve the overall usage of colour. I'm really looking to make this diorama have a very strong visual language with great story telling within the space. To do this I've started fleshing out some basic particle systems that in the long run will help support the idea of this being a crash site. At this moment it's very early days so it's all quite primitive, however I still think it's good to start iterating on these particles early on in the project as it will be extremely additive to the story telling of the final piece.
Sand update:
One of the primary elements in the scene is the ground surface; Sand has always seemed to be quite an intimidating material to create; however with a fairly straight forward process of going through some tutorials and playing around in substance Designer, I was able to get a first pass result that I think works really well; One of the elements I'm using here I find particularly effective is displacement; utilizing helps define the shapes made in the sand texture much better.
To top it all off the node set up is super simple!
What's next?
Well there's still plenty of work to be done; everything as it stands is still very blocked out and quite primitive, I aim to get some of the other basic blockout shapes in the scene to have some more definition and begin to work out what their materials will look like, from there I'll be able to get a better idea of what is and isn't working in the scene, then adjust to get the best overall result I can achieve!