How to Make Sci-Fi Space Station Environment in 3D

Introduction 

Hi, my name is Yuzhi Zhu, but I am also known as Steven. I'm currently working as a 3D Environment Artist and Lighting Artist at iRacing. I first got into 3D art back in 2014. I went to Shawnee State University for their game development program, and I received my Master’s in game design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Ever since then, I’ve fallen in love with 3D art.

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to work on several AAA titles like Madden 23 and 24, Forza Motorsport, Fortnite, and now iRacing. I’ve always wanted to make a space station-type 3D environment. Funny enough, the last time I did an interview with 80 Level, it was for another sci-fi project I made back in grad school called “Escape.”

Upon the Moon

I started this new project by gathering a bunch of references. I wanted to try out some of the newer features in Unreal Engine 5, like Nanite Tessellation and Lumen. Since I already had a clear idea of the scene in my head, I knew how I wanted to set dress everything. I gave it some simple lighting at first: just added fog and a directional light to start setting the mood. When it came to recreating props, reference images were the key.

Modeling & Composition

For the overall layout and composition, I followed some basic design principles like the golden spiral, the rule of thirds, and the harmony triangles. These helped me design the scene based on the camera’s perspective. I placed a few cameras in the scene early on so I could keep checking how it looks from that angle and make sure the viewer's eye goes where I want. 

For modeling, I created a set of modular assets in Maya. Instead of baking all the assets individually, I used the weighted normal workflow for the walls, floors, and ceilings. This saved a lot of time and still gave me those nice smooth edges, similar to what baking would’ve done. Since I had the camera locked in Unreal, if anything looked off, I could easily tweak it in Maya and reimport it to see the update right away.

Texturing

All the texturing was done in Substance 3D Painter. I like exporting all my modular pieces together into the software so I can texture them in context, it really helps with consistency. I created a smart material that included layers like base color, dirt, grunge, noise, and edge wear. That way, all the models had a similar tone and felt like they belonged in the same scene, which makes everything feel more believable.

For the space and Earth visuals, I used actual HDRI textures I found online that are free to download. Then I set up a material blueprint in Unreal to make the Earth glow and rotate. The moon surface was done using a terrain material with tessellation enabled. Paired with Nanite and a height map, it made the ground feel a lot more realistic.

Final Scene

After finishing the textures, I started importing everything into Unreal Engine. Even though I was happy with how things looked in Substance 3D Painter, things can look pretty different in UE5 due to different rendering systems. So I had to do a lot of texture adjustments to get the look I wanted.

Lighting & Rendering

Lighting is one of my favorite parts of a 3D project – it really helps with storytelling and setting the mood. I wanted just a little bit of sunlight coming through the windows to create some nice bounce lighting, but I didn’t want it to overpower the lighting inside the station. So I lowered the overall exposure and bumped up the directional light intensity to create more contrast.

I also used color contrast – cool tones in the hallway and warm tones in the main room – to add depth. One trick I used was “bright against dark, dark against bright.” I closed the third and fourth windows to create areas of darkness between the lit parts, which helps make the scene more visually interesting. I actually picked up that trick from an amazing artist and friend, Steven Geers, so thank you, Steven!

After the lighting, I fine-tuned things in the post-processing volume. I adjusted global contrast and saturation, added some subtle effects like vignette, chromatic aberration, a little bloom, and a dirt mask to give it that realistic camera lens feel.

Sometimes, Lumen creates light flickering in dark areas; we can increase the Lumen scene quality and Final Gather quality to fix it. 

Conclusion

It took me about three months to finish this project. Since the scene includes both interior and exterior elements, figuring out the lighting setup was definitely a challenge, but also a great learning experience.

My advice to beginner artists is: don’t be afraid to try things, and don’t be afraid to fail. As you're building out your environment, you’re going to hit bugs and issues – that’s totally normal. Just do the research, learn from it, and keep going. The more you do it, the more familiar and confident you’ll get with the process.

At last, special thanks to my friends, Jared Kime, Hanna Kime, and Konrad Beerbaum, for providing me with valuable feedback and advice on this project. 

Yuzhi Zhu, Environment & Lighting Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine