Stylized Retro PC Made With Blender & Substance 3D

Introduction

My name is Vitoria Magalhães Pimenta and I'm a 3D Environment/Prop Artist. I've been professionally working with 3D since 2020, but video games and art have caught my eye since I was a kid. I've broken into the game industry thanks to my friends, who helped me by teaching PBR pipeline and how game artworks.

After that, I learned a lot by gaining experience with the projects that I worked on, which were Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker, Horizon Chase 2, Disney Dreamlight Valley, and Neko Neko Rampage (not released yet). Currently, I'm working with Lightfarm Studios, where I've worked on some Riot and Blizzard cinematics. Because of those experiences, I think I can say that I know at least a bit of PBR, handpainted, gradient map, and tileable texture techniques.

The BeepBoop Project

I started it to take a break from the current project that I was working on, and since I spent my last year working with animation (and that means no limit with polygons and UVs/UDIMs), I had the need to do something low-poly and with less UVs' set.

I've used the BeepBoop concept from Gareth Davies. I’ve used it as a main reference, but I also took a look at Borderlands, which is one of my favorite games. I wanted to try a 2D style to trick people into thinking something like, "Hm, I'm not sure if this is a concept or not". For the sides that the concept doesn't show, I had to improvise and test combinations that blend with the rest of the model or its context.

Modeling

I use Blender to model low poly/high poly and open the UVs. I usually unwrap my UVs based on smooth groups or where the mesh makes sharp angles so it doesn't bend the normal too much when baking. One trick that I've used was to create the outline for the cylindrical parts of the asset, like the cables and the mug, by duplicating the meshes, expanding, and flipping their normals. Since it doesn't make sense if I try to contour the lines at the texture because it would be "lost" when the model rotates, I needed a full outline wrapped around these meshes.

Texturing

I've started with a simple color; since it is an NPR/2D style, I didn't put too much time into setting channels like roughness and metallic (but I thought about doing a PBR texture for this asset, too). Then, I used ambient occlusion and curvature. For curvature, I've modified it a bit with a paint layer above the generator to break the procedural line and make it look a bit more natural/crafted. After that, I started doing the lines of the contour by following the shape of the mesh and erasing some of its area to make it look like a "lineless" drawing.

Lighting & Rendering

I've set it up on Marmoset Toolbag and used only one light source, one directional for the front face of the model. Usually, I try to match the light and colors by looking at the concept that I'm following; this was my first time using only one light source since, for most projects, I use three or a bit more if it's needed.

For this project, I've played a bit with Chromatic Aberration since it’s also shown in the concept, added a pinch of Barrel/Pincushion to make it look a bit more stylized, and added a bit of grain. I also applied a bit of color to it.

Conclusion

I think that the main key is to do what pleases you most, and the main advice is to start with small projects before going to a bigger one and don't be afraid to ask for help.

Vitoria Pimenta, 3D Environment Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine