A Guide on Creating a Stylized 3D House in Unreal Engine

Introduction

Hello, everyone! My name is Annie Xiao, and I am a 3D Artist from California. I graduated from the Academy of Art University in 2019. During college, I explored a variety of art forms, including filmmaking, traditional sculpting, and CG art production. These diverse experiences allowed me to build a solid foundation in understanding lighting and composition principles.

I recently had the opportunity to connect with Modeng, a Senior Environment Artist at Tencent. Many thanks for his technical insights on creating a Ghibli-style environment.

In this article, I will discuss three key aspects of my creative journey:

1. References: I will discuss my approach to studying references of both masterpieces and photographs and how I drew inspiration to enhance the quality of my artwork.
2. Secrets of color: I will share my journey of creating a Ghibli-style texture using Substance 3D Designer with an emphasis on the essential elements that made the style stand out.
3. The art of composition: I will examine how composition helps to evoke the desired mood within the scene.

Art Direction Exploring

One of my favorite games is The Legend of Zelda. Cohesive environment art can enhance storytelling, establish an emotional connection, and create an immersive atmosphere for an engaging gaming experience. This motivated me to create a Ghibli-like environment. During my exploration on ArtStation, I came across Wenjie Kong's Magic potion brewing house design, and I decided to create an environment for it.

My approach to starting a new project is to research and analyze references. Take Jasmin Habezai-Fekri's Bird House, for example. First of all, when I applied a mosaic filter to the Bird House, I noticed that minimum noise remained in the plant area, indicating a cleaner color and fewer filler objects compared to the real photo. The shape language leans towards a semi-realistic style, with simplified depictions of both plants and architecture compared to reality. Following this, I realized that the texture conveys a cartoonish hand-drawn feel, with vibrant and highly saturated colors that exceed the levels found in reality. Then, I converted the image to black-and-white to compare it with real-world forest lighting. It indicates that the contrast between the lit and shadowed areas is less pronounced than in reality. Having analyzed these elements, I now have a clearer direction for my artistic style on this project.

This method helps me capture the essence of a particular style, whether it's realistic, semi-realistic, or stylized. For example, Immortals Fenyx Rising and Kena both feature stylized scenes but produce different visual outcomes. After careful inspection, I quickly realized that the contrast of lighting is the primary factor contributing to these differences.

Creating a Tileable Texture Set in Substance 3D Designer

Texturing holds a crucial role in this project, as it is the key element responsible for infusing a painterly atmosphere. To ensure a clear understanding of the amount of Texture Maps required for the scene, I divided the environment into distinct elements like wood, walls, roofs, and so forth.

For most of the assets in the scene, I used the Maya-ZBrush-Substance 3D Painter workflow for texturing, creating mid-poly models in Maya, adding details in ZBrush (erosion effects and swirly wood pattern), and painting in Substance 3D Painter.

Here is a breakdown of how I created textures in Substance 3D Designer for the plaster wall, which is the same approach I used for all assets requiring tileable textures. I began by closely studying a real photo of a plaster wall and bricks to grasp their shapes and patterns. Indeed, the key to creating a Ghibli-like texture is to extract the primary characteristics and keep the shape as simple as possible.

After I understood how the plaster wall was structured, I tried to recreate it in SD. I began with the stone lath layer since it was the first layer of the plaster wall. I used a tile generator node to create random brick shapes. Next, I applied a distance node (in Euclidean mode) and an edge detect node to transform these shapes into random polygon shapes, serving as the groundwork for the Flood Fill node, so I can generate more dynamic shapes with various tilting directions by adding different Flood Fill effects later in the process. Once I had finished working on the stone layer, I shifted my focus to building the plaster layer to fill the gaps between the stones. I utilized Cloud 2 as both the Grayscale Map and Slope Map to achieve the desired noise effect.

Additionally, I blended in another Noise Map (in my case, BnW Spots) in subtract mode to replicate the appearance of holes in the plaster layer, adding more details. Upon reaching a satisfying look, I employed the Height Blend node to merge the stone and plaster layers, thus completing the first layer of the plaster wall. I applied the same technique to create the brown layer and the finishing layer. Once again, the Height Blend node was used to bring everything together.

Furthermore, in the plaster wall texture, two main kinds of details helped tell the story: cracks and pieces of plaster coming off. These were more than just random imperfections; they helped tell a story and made the texture seem real and engaging. 

Once I am happy with the basic shape, I move to the coloration phase. Creating Ghibli-style texture has two key aspects: lighting and brushstroke feel. I'm happy to find Jimmy Malachier's helpful breakdown for the stylized color creation process. 

I started by using the Slop Blur node to create a watercolor-like base color. Then, to create a stroke pattern, I took real oil painting stroke pictures and used them to subtract Alpha Maps. Next, I employed the Tile Sampler to generate the stroke arrangement randomly as an Opacity Map for the unified color, which I can then blend on top. By adding various color layers, I gained a Ghibli-style effect. 

To create a Ghibli-style environment, it's important to simulate lighting effects on the albedo texture, given that this style often has increased saturation in light and shadow color compared to reality. Simulating lighting on the albedo texture allows for better control over the colors and adds an artistic touch.

In this project, I had my first experience with Substance 3D Designer, and I was amazed by its flexibility and efficiency. Its node-based approach allows for quick iteration and adjustments. For instance, while working on roof tiles, I only had to create the material for the flat tiles. Then, with a simple modification to the initial shape, I could effortlessly generate the material for the cylindrical edge tiles next to them. I'm excited to dive deeper into Substance 3D Designer to further enhance my workflow in future projects.

Set Dressing

I initially began working on my composition based on my reference, but the more final assets I added, the less satisfied I became. The scene appeared flat and uninteresting. To address these issues, I decided to revisit my reference images.

A good composition should include elements like depth, clear focal points, a well-balanced arrangement, and variation. Keeping these considerations in mind, I returned to my composition and made significant improvements. I have provided a detailed explanation of these changes in the image below for further clarity.

Vegetation plays a significant role in enhancing the mood of a natural scene. As for the aesthetic aspect, creating believable and appealing vegetation involves three elements: distribution, shape, and movement. Accordingly, I introduced various plant species to enrich the scene, ranging from ground plants to bushes, flowers, and trees. To infuse life into the scene, I incorporated a SimpleGrassWind node to add some movement. Furthermore, I integrated RVT (Runtime Virtual Texture) into the vegetation to ensure a seamless blend between the plants and the ground.

Finally, it's essential to ensure that colors, textures, and shapes work harmoniously to create a unified visual style. One trick I used was to convert the rendered images into black and white. This helps me check if my focal point is clear. By comparing it to outstanding references, I can easily spot areas that need adjustment, such as brightness, contrast, or even rhythm issues. Afterward, I experiment with the Post Processing Volume to fine-tune settings like saturation, gain, and offset until I achieve the desired effect.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I'm satisfied with the outcome of this project, and I had a lot of fun making this scene. It was my first time creating a whole environment in Unreal Engine. This project was a valuable learning experience as I improved my expertise in tools and workflows. 

One of the lessons I've learned from this project is to make a thorough plan before you start asset production. A mood board keeps your stylized environment in harmony and ensures a consistent art style as you work on your project. It ensures that all elements within your scene, from colors and textures to shapes and lighting, cohesively contribute to the overall aesthetic. 

For those facing challenging problems in their projects, here's a simple tip: break things into smaller pieces, really understand each part, and then take it one step at a time. If you have a good understanding of the basics, you can work through difficult issues gradually, as long as you give yourself the time and mental space to do so.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. A special thanks to 80 Level for the opportunity to share my creative process. If you have questions or simply want to connect, don't hesitate to reach out through my social media channels: ArtStation and LinkedIn.

Annie Xiao, 3D Artist