3D Environment & Prop Artist on Creating Different Environments & Props

Introduction

Hi, I am Pablo García García. I am from Mexico. I started learning 3D when I was 13 years old in a small school with small workshops about 3D and 2D. Later, I started a Degree in Animation and Digital Arts, and after that, I felt that I had to learn more, and I wanted to, so I did a Master's Degree in Modeling, Character Animation, and Advanced Body Mechanic. I always wanted to do Video Games because I love them, and I still play them.

I started doing characters, but I felt that I prefer doing environments because I started doing props for Indie and AAA Games, and like my father, who was an architect, following his legacy, but in the 3D world, I directed my career in this path because it lets me combine my interest in photography and world-building.

Viking Environment

I learnt the structure of Viking architecture and how to think about repetition of kits, organization of materials, and naming conventions, learning how to texture bigger props like the rocky mountains of the environment, and the power of tiling with Substance 3D Designer, and how you can save a lot of time with that technique. The workshop helped me set up a better angle of the lighting and have interesting shapes of the shadows.

Also, with this experience, I analyzed what the weather of the environment could be. The biggest lesson I could say is that it is very useful to learn to do shaders, analyze the structure of complex buildings with modular props, and world-building creation.

I wanted to get an idea of how a Viking village could be in a video game, and I played those games to get inspired, looked for interesting props and environments, analyzed the structures of the buildings, understood the Viking culture, and took screenshots. I modified some elements of those props to be more of my own, making materials that can adapt to my style, and I like adding plates, bolts, or damaged details, and I got inspired by the structures of the buildings and bigger scenes.

I also took inspiration from paying special attention to nature, elements like flowers, plants, rocks, and trees, which help to create the environment and make it look more consistent. I made a short research of pictures of the plants, flowers, and elements I wanted to incorporate, firstly I researched the type of elements that are endemic to the kind of environment I wanted to recreate in order to give it accuracy.

Pipeline

For this project, I used modularity to make it easier to build the structures, and I used mixed various workflows. For most of the props, I made that workflow first with the blocking to have the structure 2x2 to be aware of the proportions, then like a mid-poly to have a better idea of the deails like structures, then exported to ZBrush to add small details like chipping in the sculpture, then exported back to Maya to do the retopology and UVs by using 3ds Max, then I exported it to Substance 3D Painter to create the texture.

I made the decals using the trim workflow with sculpture, baked in a plane, and textured with a metal material, then I modeled the shape of the plate I wanted. Also, I used other decals to cut off the repetition of the modular props and make it feel like a unique prop.

For the roof, I learnt a new technique with ZBrush and Substance 3D Designer to have a repetition with the Height map, and then in Unreal Engine, I learnt a little bit of Shaders to combine two materials and do a paint vertex to have a real-time painting that gives you a better performance and variations instead of traditional texturing.

To create the bigger rocks, I learnt how to texture with masks, combine various textures, and give more variations, as well as better performance. I also used the trim sheets for the modular small props with a black mask to have a variation of dirt, which I learnt during my work in a AAA Game Production.

I think I have spent quite a long time learning Substance 3D Designer and shader creation.

Substance 3D Designer as a New Tool

First of all, you need to be aware of what is the function of the asset that you are creating. For example, when creating a building, you have to analyze which pieces are repeating. In this case, Substance 3D Designer gives you a better performance because you only have to duplicate piece by piece, while when you have a model, like the dragon sculpture, I created a unique painting for that asset because this one does not repeat that much.

I love that you can do an easy and fast tileable texture with the Height map and add that map to a ZBrush Sculpture with some tricks, and it gives you the chance of assigning the right maps there. I decided to do the tiling of the roof and the rock base of the building with this technique, which also gives it the opportunity to be optimized for games.

Mad Max V8 Interceptor Fan Art

This could be a silly answer, but I watched the Mad Max saga, and I took pictures of references. I started with a base rust in the first layer, and then the metal. I also made a black mask with a fill layer, adding a noise generator to add variations, and painted manually in the spots where the rust could be damaging the paint. The references I already mentioned helped me to give it accuracy.

Another cool detail I added, like small Easter eggs, where things like dog food cans are inside the car. I feel like it gives it a different vibe.

Lighting

I started with the default lighting of Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen and ray tracing, but I didn't like the setup, so, while talking with a friend, he recommended me to get "Ultra Dynamic Sky" by Everett Gunther, setting up with the Geo Locator, then setting it up as if the lightning was in Australia, to make it more realistic, and that way the scene got much better. On the other hand, for the framing, I got inspired in the same way as if I were going to do a video game of Mad Max, because of the lookdev and the framing.

The Feudal Japan Scene

I always wanted to follow the tutorial by Tim Simpson and get more familiar with modularity props. I liked the theme that he explained about Japan and the shrine. Another thing that inspired me, in a certain way, was watching the trending of "Samurai Games". It helped me to grow more, investigate references, and learn new techniques, for example, in those times I learnt how to create a moss shader.

"Sweet Spot" Pipeline

Talking about my "sweet spot" pipeline, I think it depends if I am working on the creation of props or a full environment. For example, I am comfortable using Maya for blocking, hard surface modeling, and retopology, because this is the software I am most familiar with, as I have been using it since I was 13 years old. ZBrush is a software I only use for sculpture and to add small and big details for props like stones and damaged metals.

Regarding 3ds Max, I usually like to use it for UVs, hard surface modelling, and it is very useful with the modifiers and booleans. I use Marmoset Toolbag for Bakes and Rendering. I use Substance 3D Painter for texturing, baking, and rendering, Substance 3D Designer to do tileable materials, Gaea to do procedural mountains for Unreal Engine 5, Speed Tree to do procedural vegetation, and finally, Unreal Engine 5 is the game engine I use to show off all the workflows I use for games.

Conclusion

Well, there are a lot of things that you have to do. For example, if your goal is to work for a studio that creates, let's say, a game like "Resident Evil", it would help you to create a portfolio piece according to that universe or that IP. You could elaborate on props, analyze the structure, materials, and lighting to make it look as if it belongs in such a scenario.

A good thing for you is to create a clean and informative ArtStation portfolio, which can be your pass to success in getting your dream job. You can also share WIPs, post on social media, and share your artworks. This way, you make your online presence consistent and visible. Being active with posts in social media like LinkedIn and connecting with people in the industry, even from other countries.

Another important thing is that you have to be constantly improving by learning new techniques, you can watch tutorials, take master classes, and everything you have at hand that helps you to keep your work fresh. Networking is another important part. You need to remember that when you work on a project, you are working with people, which means you have to polish your communication and socialization skills, and you will build working relationships that can help you to reach your goals.

You could go to local or nearby events and get close to meet the artists who already have worked in this industry and have years of experience. They can give you feedback about your portfolio, and if you are lucky, you can get to talk with them about how they grew up as an artist and take advice from them.

Pablo Garcia, 3D Environment & Prop Artist