Creating Wes Anderson-Inspired Internet Café Game Environment

Introduction

Hi! I'm Elisa Passera, I'm 26, and I'm a 3D Environment and Lighting Artist currently based in Italy.

Over the last few years, I've mainly worked on creating a map for an online metaverse platform, but I've also had the chance to explore other creative areas, like creating visuals for emerging musicians and producing artwork for music groups. I really enjoy mixing different creative fields and telling stories through environments and visuals, and right now, I'm looking for new professional opportunities.

My journey into 3D art has been a gradual one. During my university years, where I studied Game Design, I found myself increasingly drawn to the development side of things. Games like The Last of Us and classic graphic adventures, the Syberia series is my favorite, made me realize just how much I love the way game environments can play a key role in storytelling. That's when I knew I wanted to learn how to create those worlds myself. I enrolled in a 3D Game Art course, and the journey began. 

References

The Temporal Hub project started as a collaboration with a friend and colleague of mine, Giacomo Fumagalli. The core idea behind the concept was to design better interfaces meant for the web while also creating a more enjoyable and meaningful experience.

That concept eventually evolved into the first in a series of environments while the main project was in development. Giacomo shared a few visual references about colors and vibes to get things started. From there, I began expanding the research to help shape and define the environment. 

The references came from various sources, with most of them found on Pinterest. For the design of the booth with the little robot, the main interactable asset, I took inspiration from old telephone booths and the product design of Teenage Engineering. As for the environment, I based it on the same style I  had already defined for the booth, drawing inspiration from various images I found online.

Right from the start, I saw this project as an opportunity to later reuse the assets in Unreal Engine and create a more structured environment, also giving me the chance to experiment with modularity.

Modeling

The core principles behind the modeling process were modularity and maximum optimization. With that in mind, I decided to keep the design clean and fairly minimal. I started by modeling the booth since it's the main focus and also the most complex asset, with more detail than the others. Its look had to feel friendly and reassuring while also sitting somewhere between a classic phone booth and a workstation. So, I went for a boxy structure with side panels that suggest a kind of "protected" space.

The top section features a camera, a screen displaying the little robot’s face, and various controls. At the center, there's a reminiscent of a typical PC keyboard, and on the lower part, I added a few small touches, like some notes and a coffee cup, hinting that someone might have just used it. It also includes a rear antenna and, at the bottom, a structure with fans inspired by those found in desktop PCs.

I then moved on to modeling the other assets that make up the environment. Almost all of them were created in both low-poly and high-poly versions so I could bake the textures later on, preserving detail while keeping the polycount low. The most challenging assets were the walls, ceiling, and floor. For the floor, I created a simple, high-poly version of some tiles designed to be tileable. As for the wall details, I used elements from a hard surface kitbash to add depth and complexity to the high-poly version. I then repurposed that same high-poly mesh for the ceiling as well.

UV Unwrap

The pillows were the only assets I started in high poly, using cloth simulation, then I retopologized them to get clean low-poly models. 

Once the modeling phase was complete, I moved on to UV mapping, organizing the UV sets based on both asset size and material type. I handled this entire part of the workflow using Blender. 

Texturing

For the texturing phase, I used Substance 3D Painter. The textures themselves are actually quite simple, mostly using flat colors. I focused on a limited color palette, especially for the assets, to keep things visually cohesive.

To add more character and make the details stand out, I applied the blur slope filter across different layers. This gave the surfaces a hand-painted feel, I drew some inspiration from the brushstroke look often seen in anime's visual style.

For the export to Unreal, I also played around quite a bit with the roughness values to make sure the materials, though simple, didn't look too flat. All the textures are in 2K resolution, and I exported the albedo, normal, and RMA maps (Roughness, Metalness, AO).

Composition

Unreal Engine is where the scene really started to come alive, specifically I used version 5.5.4. To build the environment, I made full use of the modular assets and looked for a few extra references to create a space that felt a bit like a coworking area or an internet café. 

For the background outside the window, I used simple planes with textures applied. By adding a couple of layers, I was able to give a better sense of depth.

I also imported some of the assets with separate parts, so I could animate them later using Blueprints.

Materials

As for the materials, most of the objects in the scene use a very simple master material. It allows for both the use of textures and a base color set directly in Unreal, along with control over roughness,  emissive, and color variation. 

I also created an animated master material with a wind effect to make the plant leaves move, as well as a master material for the glass.

The glass material took a bit more time to create: I added the option to apply a grunge texture to give it more detail.

For the floor, I used the displacement feature in Unreal's modeling mode to enhance the tile relief effect that was already suggested by the normal map, using the height map I had created in Substance 3D Painter. 

For the screen material with the little robot, I followed a tutorial from SouthernShotty's YouTube channel. Since the tutorial was made for Blender, I used the expression pack he provided to recreate similar material separately in Unreal Engine.

Lighting

Most of the work went into lighting and post-production. The main light source is a directional light that creates the beam coming through the window,  combined with rectangular lights on the ceiling to mimic the kind of neon lighting often found in these types of spaces. I also added a few spotlights to brighten up darker areas and create the right reflections.

One key element for achieving a more cohesive and realistic look is volumetric fog, it really helps tie everything together visually. Another component I added to bring the scene to life was a simple floating dust effect created using the Niagara System. 

The entire lighting setup is in real-time and uses both ray tracing and Lumen. For the first time, I also experimented with the new MegaLights mode, which adds an even more realistic touch.

Then, through the Post Process Volume, I adjusted the color correction to give the scene a vintage film look. I used warm tones, especially yellows, to enhance the calm and cozy atmosphere I wanted the environment to convey. I also added a good amount of noise to complete the effect. 

I drew a lot of inspiration from the cinematography of Wes Anderson's films, Fantastic Mr. Fox, for example, and from street photography, especially images of Japanese city streets, and also from the style of an artist I really appreciate: Cornelius Dämmrich.

Conclusions

I spent a few months working on this project since I was dedicating around two to three hours each evening during the week.

I'm really happy with the result because it allowed me to bring together several aspects, especially technical ones, that I hadn't yet had the chance to explore all in one project. But more importantly, it gave me the opportunity to test the versatility of the models and adapt them to two very different contexts. I had a lot of fun playing with the balance between stylization and realism and experimenting with lighting. This project also gave me the chance to show that an environment doesn't need to be overly complex to be effective.

Sometimes, it's just nice to play around with your own work and adapt it to different settings without worrying too much about complexity or, and I'm sure many other artists will relate to this, about chasing perfection.

I really hope my work was able to share a bit of my vision and maybe spark some inspiration, too. If you're interested in seeing more of my work, here's my ArtStation. Many thanks to Gloria Levine for the opportunity to share my work!

Elisa Passera, 3D Environment & Lighting Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine