How to Turn the Concept of a Coffin into a Stylized and Detailed 3D Prop

Introduction

Hi! I'm Willamis Rodrigues, a Brazilian Environment and Prop Artist specialized in stylized environments. I began my journey in 3D in 2022, driven by a strong passion for games and visual storytelling. Since then, I've been consistently improving my skills through online courses and production work. This dedication has allowed me to contribute to projects such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, Yars Rising, Wardens Rising, and Valorant cinematics, collaborating with studios like Synodic Arc, Lightfarm, Big Moxi Games, and Gaya Simulations, among others.

My work focuses on creating stylized environments with strong shape language, clear silhouettes, and storytelling-driven details, always balancing visual quality with production efficiency. You can find more of my work on ArtStation, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Coffin of Silent Oaths

The Silent Oath's Coffin was meant to be a hero prop that could be used in-game, but also be a narrative focal point. The main challenge was creating an asset that could balance narrative storytelling with in-game functionality. I pulled inspiration ranging from V Rising to Wayfinder, concentrating on clean silhouettes and high color contrast for readability.

It was designed to be a mysterious, narrative-driven piece of equipment, something that felt like it told a story even before the player got their hands on it. I went for a dark fantasy theme heavily influenced by Tuomas Korpi's concept work, trying to get the right balance between functionality, mood, and looks.

Modeling Process

Blockout

I began the blockout in Autodesk Maya, focusing on primary forms and overall proportions. At this stage, the focus was entirely on composition and silhouette readability rather than detail. The asset was just the base coffin, to begin with. But it had no strong focal point, no story. So I added a second, more distressed coffin, indicating that something was trapped inside it.

The stake is added to that, as a major storytelling device and as an anchor for the viewer's eyes. In this process, a key goal during this stage was to maintain strong shape balance and visual hierarchy, ensuring the asset remained readable even from a distance. before moving into the next stage of detailed work.

High-Poly & Detail Approach

Before starting the high-poly, I used a stylized wood and metal material guide by Oleksandr Bohdan to help define how the materials should behave. The high-poly was created using a combination of subdivision modeling and sculpting. Hard surface elements were built in Maya using bevels and support edges, while organic damage and surface imperfections were refined through sculpting.

I also paid close attention to edge treatment, avoiding perfectly sharp edges and introducing subtle variations to improve how the surfaces react to light. To keep the workflow efficient and consistent, I reused elements such as chain links across the asset. Additionally, I drew inspiration from learning resources such as the Vsquad School content, which helped reinforce my approach to stylized material definition and detail treatment.

Topology

For retopology, I isolated sections of the high-poly and rebuilt them using Quad Draw in Maya, ensuring a clean and optimized mesh. Even though the prop is static, I maintained proper edge flow to ensure clean shading and accurate baking. I minimized geometry in flat areas and concentrated density in key regions such as edges and curves.

The asset was split into two material sets, allowing better control over texture resolution. UVs were carefully packed to maximize space and maintain consistent texel density, with reused UVs in repeating elements like chains.

Bake

For the baking stage, I start by organizing my meshes with a clear naming convention, using suffixes like _low for low-poly and _high for high-poly. This helps ensure a clean and efficient baking process, especially when working with multiple mesh parts. Inside Autodesk Maya, I also assign specific materials to certain elements, for example, screws, to create ID masks that can be used later during texturing.

For baking, I use Marmoset Toolbag to transfer the high-poly details onto the low-poly mesh. This includes maps such as Normal, Ambient Occlusion, and Curvature, along with other maps essential for the texturing process. From a technical standpoint, I carefully adjust cage settings and ray distances to avoid projection errors and ensure clean results.

I also check for common issues like skewing, artifacts, and shading inconsistencies, making corrections when necessary to maintain the bakes. This stage is crucial, as it directly impacts the quality and readability of the final textures.

Texturing

Reference for texturing:

For texturing, I followed a PBR workflow while pushing stylization through manual adjustments. I approached materials in layers, starting with wood and then metal, constantly evaluating contrast and visual balance. To avoid a procedural look, I relied heavily on hand-painted details to break procedural uniformity and reinforce stylized surface variation, refining edge wear, adding color variation, and breaking uniformity. Roughness variation played a key role in defining how surfaces reacted to light. The main inspiration came from Wayfinder, particularly in its use of color and stylized material definition.

Lighting & Presentation

For presentation, I used a classic three-point lighting setup in Marmoset Toolbag. A strong key light defined the primary shapes, while a softer fill light preserved shadow detail. A rim light was used to enhance the silhouette and separate the asset from the background.

Light intensity and color temperature were carefully adjusted to reinforce the mood and highlight key areas. Special thanks to Rodrigo Gonçalves for valuable feedback that helped refine the final result.

Unreal Engine

Work with Master Material and Material Instance:

I typically work with more complex, function-driven materials depending on the project requirements. For this asset, however, I opted to build a simpler master material focused on efficiency and control over key parameters such as Normal Intensity, Roughness, and overall material response. This approach allowed for faster iteration while maintaining enough flexibility to fine-tune the final look directly inside the Unreal Engine.

For the VFX, I used the Unreal Engine asset pack as a base and integrated it into the model using Blueprints. This setup enabled better control over timing, placement, and interaction, while keeping the workflow modular and easy to adjust.

Conclusion

This project was a valuable opportunity to refine my approach to stylized storytelling through props. It reinforced the importance of strong silhouettes during blockout and how small narrative elements can significantly enhance the final result. Moving forward, I plan to explore more complex storytelling setups and integrate props into larger environment scenes.

Willamis Rodrigues, 3D Environment & Prop Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine