How to Set Up a Teenager's Bedroom 80s Style Scene

Introduction

Hi guys! I don't want to bore you with too much of my life story, but my name is Willyam and I'm a recent graduate from Think Tank Training Centre. I'll do a little self-promo here. I’m currently looking for opportunities, so feel free to reach out!

Like many people who got a bit too addicted to video games growing up, I naturally ended up falling into an artistic field like 3D art. With Teenager's Bedroom, I decided to go for an interior scene since I had done a lot of exteriors before and was starting to get tired of them. There's really no right or wrong choice in the concepting phase of a project.

Ideas & References

It's always beneficial to base your work on something that truly resonates with you on a deep level. The story behind Teenager's Bedroom came from imagining myself growing up in a different time period. Putting myself in a scenario like that really helped me during the idea-finding phase!

I also always try to find a piece of media that inspires me in the moment, whether it's a video game, a movie, or really anything. This helps bring new ideas to the table. For this project, it was Joseph Chan's concept that really inspired me.

When you use 2D concept art as a base, like I did for this project, it's perfectly okay to deviate from it. If there's something unclear/something you want to improve in the original vision of the 2D artist, you can always rely on other references to fill in the gaps. I didn't hesitate to do that in the Teenager's Bedroom.

There are no strict or "right" answers you have to follow. Ultimately, it comes down to personal artistic preference. Sometimes a piece just works better in 2D, where lighting isn't perfectly calculated and perspective isn't photo-accurate. You won't know that until you test it out in 3D. I think some artists can feel intimidated by going off-road with their art, but that's often where the most creative results come from.

I'd also love to talk about the importance of finding benchmarks before starting a project. Everyone understands the value of references, but I don't think enough people mention how crucial it is to study what other artists are doing and how they create certain things. Seeing how an artist interprets their references and translates them into 3D is incredibly insightful. You can learn a lot from their techniques, and even from their weaknesses.

Reading articles, examining breakdowns, and analyzing other people's work is incredibly valuable. Honestly, it's a little embarrassing how much time I spend crouched on the floors of AAA games looking at random assets and textures, or crashing my third-person camera into walls just to admire the insane amount of work put into them. Preparing yourself by setting clear goals, creating a schedule, and visualizing how much time you want to dedicate to the project is key. Trust the process!

Teenager's Bedroom

Alright, into the meat of the subject now! I got this incredible piece of advice from my mentor, who introduced me to the idea of creating a vertical slice. He explained it as fully finishing one section of your scene while leaving the rest at the blockout stage.

I know it sounds a bit crazy, finishing the modeling, UVs, texturing, and lighting for just one part of the scene, but it really works. I did this for the middle-ground hero prop area of my scene, completing everything for that section right from the start.

This method helps in two big ways. First, it sets a quality benchmark for the rest of the scene, allowing you to match the visual standard of your finished slice as you move forward. Second, it helps you progress in smaller, more manageable steps instead of feeling overwhelmed by the full scope of the project. Seeing one part of the scene already close to finished is a huge morale boost.

Scale and realism are tough things to get right. When modeling, I like to import image planes into my viewport so I can overlay them and check for mistakes. I also keep PureRef open with real-life measurements that I've either taken myself or looked up online. It's so easy to trust your eye when modeling and end up with the scale completely off.

You also need to make sure props feel consistent in scale with one another. Sometimes it's worth making certain objects slightly larger than they would be in real life. It might feel a bit strange, but it can really help improve the overall readability of the room.

The same rule applies when texturing in Substance 3D Designer: always check measurements and references. One of the advantages of Teenager's Bedroom being set in a realistic art style is that I can get up from my desk and examine surfaces in my own room. For example, I can see how plaster walls feel or how hardwood floors look under good lighting.

Making Organic Meshes

In the Teenager's Bedroom, there are a lot of organic surfaces that are nearly impossible to hard-surface model, like the recliner, pillows, sheets, blankets, clothes, and rugs. I can't stress enough how important simulations are for creating these objects. Marvelous Designer is my preferred software for simulations.

For the couch, I first created rounded rectangles in Maya, then brought them into Marvelous Designer to generate a mesh around them. I adjusted the fabric and experimented with the inflate settings until I achieved the desired look, creating both a high-triangulated mesh and a low-quad mesh in the same software saves you so much time and effort compared to other destructive workflows, like sculpting or remeshing with Quad Draw.

Props

For every other asset, I stick to the standard low-to-high workflow, baking from Maya to Substance 3D Painter. For hero props like my two guitars and amplifier, I like to push the poly count a bit more. Polycount is pretty affordable in engines nowadays with Nanite, so it's fine to go higher as long as it serves a purpose. You just need to make sure your assets don't feel low-poly if you're aiming for a realistic look.

A good way to check this is by looking at your edges in the intended camera angles. If they appear smooth and the polygons aren't noticeable, you're good to go and don't need to add any more geometry.

You also need to be mindful of repetition. Each asset should be used as many times as possible without breaking the illusion that it's just a duplicate, like the same book or piece of paper. Video games do this all the time, reusing the same bench, trash can, and so on.

It's often better to create a trimsheet for those assets rather than making hundreds of unique textures. This approach is also better for optimization, since unique meshes with their own texture sets take up unnecessary space. Managing repetition and clutter is crucial for maintaining storytelling in your scenes.

Unreal Engine Shader

There's a lot of cool stuff in Unreal Engine that often gets overlooked in tutorials, but it's still crucial to learn for projects like this one. Obviously, vertex painting and decals are great, but everyone talks about those. I want to focus on World Align materials.

For my modular wall pieces, I used World Align projection. It helps prevent many of the common issues that come with modularity. It reduces texel density problems and eliminates the need for UV unwrapping in Maya. Which is a big time saver for me. It also made iterating on the walls much simpler over time.

I also use the fuzz shading nodes a lot in this project. The fuzzy shading effect helps improve the readability of clothing with very small fabric patterns. It creates a subtle white halo on the material based on the camera's angle, giving the illusion of micro-details within the mesh. I applied this technique to the velvet inside my guitar case, the towel draped over the recliner, and some of the clothing on the floor.

For the curtains, I used subsurface nodes with texture masking. I also added a subtle wind effect to create the illusion of sunlight passing through the mesh and to give the environment a sense of life with gentle movement. All of these effects are included in the same material master, which is the correct approach for optimizing the scene and streamlining the workflow of this project.

Camera Angles and Composition

I started by focusing on the main shot. I wanted to spend most of my time on the elements visible in the main camera angle, since that's what most people will remember from my project. I like to prioritize my work based on screen space.

For example, if my walls take up 45% of the screen, I start by modeling and texturing them before moving on to smaller objects, like a soccer ball, which only occupies about 5% of the screen in the main shot and isn’t even visible in others.

For composition, I experimented with aspect ratios. While 16:9 is standard for games, I chose 2.39:1 for this project to better fit the scene and enhance its cinematic feel. I used the golden ratio in the main shot to guide the eye toward the guitar, and applied the rule of thirds for the following shots.

Color grading is the shortest step in the process, but it has a crucial impact on the final look.

I used DaVinci Resolve to color grade my .exr renders from Unreal. William Faucher has a great video on the process, which I highly recommend checking out. Color grading is often skipped, but it really shouldn't be. It's that final 10 percent that truly brings the whole look together.

Conclusion

I've been working in 3D for over four years, and I have been focusing on environments in Unreal Engine for the past two. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I still have to discover. Environment Art can be very challenging, and while I'm happy with how Teenager's Bedroom turned out, it definitely wasn't without its hardships.

I also want to highlight the importance of surrounding yourself with like-minded artists and incredible mentors. I feel very privileged to have been guided by talented artists like Tomer Meltser, Aleksandar Danilovac, and Giacomo Bonnano. 

Whether you're just starting your journey in 3D or are a seasoned veteran, you can always connect with me on LinkedIn or via email.

I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this article, and 80 Level for the opportunity to share my work with you all! Also, make sure to go check out the full 4K screenshots on my ArtStation.

Willyam Antoine Tremblay, 3D Environment Artist

Interview conducted by Amber Rutherford