Breakdown: Old Phone with History Created in 3D

Introduction 

My name is Oleksandr Golovko, and I work as an Environment Artist at Pingle Game Studio. I started my journey in 3D in 2018 – back then, it was more of a hobby and curiosity, which eventually grew into a profession. I independently learned the tools, constantly practiced, and gradually improved my skills, guided by the high standards of the industry and the work of artists I admired.

Over the years, I have been fortunate to be involved in many projects, including such famous franchises as Tomb Raider, Dungeons & Dragons, Halo Infinite, and others. In each of them, I was responsible for creating high-quality, atmospheric, and believable environments that enhance the story and captivate the player.

Old Phone

I started the Old Phone project as a personal experiment with in-depth study of materials, surface aging, and conveying history through props. I wanted to move away from standard technical tasks and immerse myself in creating a small but very distinctive object that would look as if it had survived decades of active use.

I took a real military-industrial telephone from the mid-20th century as a basis. The concept was simple: to preserve its authenticity, but to convey its “fate” – scratches, scuffs, remnants of notes, stickers, traces of repairs, even random inscriptions that people often left on the equipment.

As for references, this is one of the most important stages of the work, so I collected a large selection of photos of real field and industrial telephones, mainly German and Soviet models. I separately looked for detailed plans of screws, rubber, cables, and paint that peels off in layers. I even modeled some of the details, relying on photos from auctions and museum catalogs, where such devices are shown from different angles.

The goal was to create the most believable "live" prop possible, in which every little thing looks in its place and works to create an overall impression of time and authenticity.

Modeling

When modeling this phone, I focused on high detail and a large number of different materials that can be interestingly displayed in texturing later.

When I modeled the main body, my goal was to retain all the characteristic silhouette elements, but avoid overly dense meshing. I manually optimized the geometry, removing unnecessary edges and controlling the mesh to keep the model clean and easy to bake. For other details, I used a combination of subdividing and sculpting in ZBrush to avoid too “perfectly” smooth surfaces.

I also processed the metal parts – screws, pads, clamps, brackets – in ZBrush to create the effect of many years of use. I built some small elements using Boolean operations, after which I manually cleaned the geometry to get a neat low-poly for baking.

When you clearly see how an element works in reality, you don't waste hours guessing. In addition, I tried not to "invent" unnecessary details that are not on the real device – this also allows you to work faster and more accurately. As a result, this made it possible to focus on what was important – the form, the logic of the design.

Some details were easier and more correct to make under the sub-frame.

After completing the high-poly, I moved on to creating the sweep, since the low-poly was already ready.

UVs

I used RizomUV for UV unwrapping. For the Old Phone model, I made 3 texture sets. In two of them, I distributed the main geometry to hold the texels I needed, and in the third set, I packed the plains, which I later used to create the protruding threads on the rope.

To save time, I used automatic packing with a little manual correction – this way, you can quickly place UV islands as densely as possible, but still maintain control over important areas where better quality is needed. At the same time, it is important not to forget to align the shells where necessary and possible.

After UV unwrapping, the model was completely ready for map baking and further texturing.

For baking, I used Marmoset Toolbag because it gives fast results and is very easy to set up the cage. First, I imported the high-poly and low-poly models, aligned them in space, and checked the scale. Then I set up baking groups so that each part baked separately and did not create artifacts on neighboring surfaces.

I manually adjusted the cage, slightly widening it where there were small protrusions and sharp elements. Marmoset allows you to quickly preview artifacts in real time, so I ran test bakes several times to make sure the normals, curvature, and ambient occlusion looked clean. I also used skew painting to correct unwanted normal distortions on rounded shapes.

As a result, I got clean normal maps and additional channels, which became the basis for further work on materials in Substance 3D Painter.

Texturing

In Substance 3D Painter, I worked from the private to the public. First, I drew all the places where elements such as seams after soldering plastic, embossed inscriptions and logos, damage, and fake geometry would be added using height maps or normal maps, so that later I could use this detail in the work of the generators.

Next, I created the basic structure of the phone's materials: metal, plastic, rubber, paper, and painted surfaces. I tried to convey the difference in material properties as accurately as possible, so I set up separate roughness layers for each of them to avoid "plasticity" or excessive shine.

Once the base was ready, I moved on to the wear and tear effects. My goal was to convey a realistic, but not exaggerated, state of the old technical equipment. To do this, I worked in several stages:

• Base Dirt & Grunge
  I added an overall layer of dirt and noise that tied all the details together. I used Dirt, Metal Edge Wear, and Light occlusion generators, but always manually fine-tuned the masks to avoid procedural repetitiveness.
• Localized Wear
  Next, I created localized damage – scuffs around bolts, scratches near rotating parts, and hand marks on the body. This was done with low Flow brushes and custom alpha textures.

On the painted metal, I worked on the layers separately: paint, worn paint, bare metal, and corrosion.

The most interesting thing about working with paint was showing how corrosion, time, and light affect it, creating areas with blown, faded, and peeling paint. This helped create believable transitions and micro dents.

Added areas where the paint was peeling and rust was showing through.

Added the effect of the swollen edges of the paint, and the places where the paint has swollen from the rust underneath it, but has not yet fallen off.

Added areas where the blown paint changes color and rust of a different color under the blown paint.

Several layers for darkening on AO under paint and scuffs.

In the final stage, I focused on those small details that create a real "story" of the phone and make it convincing. It is these nuances that shape the character of the prop and allow the viewer to feel that in front of them is a real thing from the past, which lived its own life. And this is probably one of the most interesting and creative stages of texturing.

1. Traces of glue from old stickers

The first step was to recreate the glue residue – you can see it on the top and side panels. I created a separate Fill Layer with a semi-transparent color and roughness variation, added light paper marks, and hand-painted a mask to represent the jagged edges of the glue that had partially dried and partially stretched when the stickers were peeled off. Additional micro-scratches and gloss variations helped make these areas more believable.

2. I placed the stickers with a slight variation in scale and orientation to create a sense of natural chaos. I purposely “torn” some of them with masks, added stray edges, and slightly bulged the paper using height deformations.

3. Grease and dirt stains

Since the phone is a technical device, I wanted to convey the feeling of it being used in a workshop or industrial setting. I created several layers with dark, translucent streaks that logically flow down from the joints and screws.

I combined the generators with manual masking to make each smear unique. I also added a slight gloss tint – grease always has a slightly more “wet” look in roughness.

4. Regarding the marker writings, I wanted them to look not drawn, but rather “left by someone.” So I made them a little blurry, with a slight burnout and a couple of worn areas. This adds a sense of history to the object: it seems as if the marker has dried up long ago, and the writing has partially faded over time.

5. The effect of soggy and swollen paper

The small tag at the bottom was to become one of the most recognizable accents.
To give the paper a swelling effect, I combined high-detail normals with individual height accents that slightly raise the edges. The color was uneven: some areas were darker due to moisture or dirt, and some areas with ink were blurred due to moisture getting on them.

I also added small fibers and stains that create the feeling of "tired" paper that has undergone years of use. You also need to remember the history of the object, understand that not all the details on it appeared at the same time.

Lighting & Rendering

For the final presentation, I brought the model into Marmoset Toolbag, where I adjusted the lighting and rendering. The main goal was to emphasize the volume and materials - especially the metal, scuffs, stickers, and signs of use.

First, I put together a small additional scene to create atmosphere. I took the textures for it from Quixel Megascans.

I used a sun light as the main light source and additionally created a direct light to frontally illuminate areas that were in complete shadow.

Separately, I selected an HDRI map with neutral but contrasting lighting – it gave natural highlights on the metal and helped to better show the properties of the materials without interrupting the manual light.

I did the final render in several passes, adding a bit of grain for a cinematic effect and changing the camera focal length for different angles. Finally, I adjusted the depth of field and did some light tone mapping to bring the image together and keep the focus on the central part of the model.

After rendering in Marmoset, I transferred the final frames to Lightroom to carefully bring the image to a finished, presentational look. Post-processing was minimal, but aimed at enhancing the readability of the materials and the overall atmosphere.

First of all, I adjusted the exposure and contrast to balance the light and emphasize the depth.

I also tweaked the highlights and shadows a bit to preserve detail in both the highlights and shadows of the model. I also slightly shifted the hues into a cooler spectrum through color grading, as this better conveyed the atmosphere of the old, worn-out equipment.

Finally, I checked sharpening and noise reduction, setting them to moderate levels so as not to lose the natural look of the textures. In the end, the post-processing only emphasized the work already done, without changing its character.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the secret to creating a truly attractive prop is a combination of three things: attention to detail, a consistent workflow, and an understanding of the object’s history. Even a simple object becomes interesting if its surface “tells” about years of use, repairs, and the environment it has been in. It is these small details – scratches, glue residue, handprints, small stickers, and random writings – that create a sense of authenticity.

One of the main challenges in this project was finding a balance between artistic vision and realism. We wanted to add many layers of history, but it was important not to overload the model. We had to constantly check the proportions, the logic of wear, the placement of dirt - everything had to obey common sense and the behavior of materials in real life.

Another challenge is to add detail without losing readability. When you work with a lot of small elements, it’s easy to create “visual noise.” So I experimented a lot with layer intensity, masks, contrast, and lighting.

I learned a lot while working on the phone, especially how to analyze references more carefully and "read" real surfaces. I also learned how to combine different texturing approaches to make an object look natural, rather than a set of procedural effects.

I would advise a few things for beginners:

• Work from large to small. First, determine the overall condition of the object, then add small details.
• Don't rely solely on generators. Manual work with masks and strokes always adds depth.
• Study real materials. Take photographs of objects, and observe how metal, plastic, and paint behave.
• Take your time. Good props are the result of patience and attention, not quick decisions.
• Don't be afraid to experiment. Often, the best ideas come when you allow yourself to try something different from what you planned.

This project became a reminder for me: the power of a prop is always in the story it carries on its surface.

Alexander Golovko, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Emma Collins