In this video I show some of behind the scenes stuff concerning environment design.
I start in 3dsMax, creating some previz environment concepting. At this stage, all I'm concerned with is getting a feel for the space and size of things. I collect tons of reference images, which I don't show, but that gives the initial inspiration, based on an idea I have in mind. Doing the concepting this way, in 3d, gives me lots of freedom to experiment and "find" the space of the environment; it pretty much comes together on it's own, I'm only there to give it the right push :)

I then go into Softimage and work on creating finalized asset for the environment. By now, everything is coming together and the space starts to come to life, with real shapes, details, and textures. I use a combination of photographic reference and hand painting for my texturing, I find it gives me the right balance of speed and quality, and it hasn't done me wrong in the 6+ years I've been using the technique.