Working on a Brazil-Themed 3D Panorama in Unreal Engine

Introduction

My name is Marcos Frazão, I'm Brazilian, born and raised here. I started studying 3D around 2012, but it wasn't until late 2016 that I really began working professionally. My academic background is actually in Advertising and Publicity – I have a bachelor's degree in the field and used to work as a junior art director in creative departments. So I already had some knowledge of visual communication and graphic design.

My first contact with Unreal Engine was back in 2015, when I saw a demo called Unreal Paris – a stunning ArchViz apartment. That experience blew my mind! The idea of interacting with realistic scenes felt revolutionary. I immediately tried to create a similar scene and pitched the idea to real estate developers in my city… but the initiative completely flopped. No one wanted to invest in it at the time, and that was disappointing, but I didn't give up.

Eventually, a friend introduced me to ZOAN, a company in Finland, and I started working on various immersive experiences – from desktop to mobile to VR. That's where I really began learning how the industry works. I later collaborated with other studios in Finland as well, and today I work with Virtual Planet, where we focus on creating 360° VR ground-view experiences.

In terms of games, I contributed to an upcoming indie project called 171, a GTA-inspired open-world game by Betagames Group. I worked on modeling and level design for the project.

Becoming an Artist

I've been interested in art since I was a kid – I come from a family of artists. My grandmother used to paint, so I grew up surrounded by creativity. My first artistic connection with games happened in the early 2000s, when Grand Theft Auto III was released on PC. I teamed up with a friend to localize the game for our native language. While digging into the game files, I also started modifying textures – that was my very first experience creating digital content.

The biggest barrier for me back then was access to training. But I was lucky to have a friend – an art director – who helped guide me, and he had a big influence on the path I ended up taking.

My learning process was a bit unconventional. I didn't focus on mastering just one tool – instead, I took various modeling workshops that helped me develop core artistic concepts. I always believed that software is just a tool – what really matters is your understanding of form, space, and design.

Among the tools I tried, Blender quickly became my favorite, and it's still my main tool today. At the time, it wasn't considered an industry standard, but it allowed me to get the job done efficiently and with quality.

As for learning resources, some affordable courses are definitely worth it, but honestly, YouTube has always been my go-to. Short, focused, high-quality videos have helped me a lot. I'm genuinely grateful to all the content creators out there – your work makes a real difference!

Even though I've always loved characters, I realized early on that I had a stronger connection with creating environments. That's how I started growing as a 3D Artist – by building full scenes, pushing my modeling skills, and watching it all come together into a complete picture.

That moment when you see everything you imagined coming to life – it still feels magical to me today, especially when working inside Unreal Engine.

My inspiration comes from all forms of art. I always try to create scenes that resonate with me emotionally. I believe every environment needs a sense of storytelling – otherwise, it can quickly feel generic or disconnected. Telling a story through space is what gives a scene its power.

Preparing a 3D Scene for Emperia's Art-To-Experience Contest

This project is actually based on a personal passion project I’ve been developing since 2022 – a Brazilian City Kitbash. The idea came to me during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, when I built a stylized Brazilian street scene in Unreal Engine – with painted asphalt, colorful decorations, and the energy of a real neighborhood celebrating the tournament. The response from the Brazilian community was overwhelming. Many people asked me to turn it into a commercial asset pack.

At the time, I had just lost my job, and we were still dealing with the global challenges that started back in 2019. I decided to take a leap and fully commit to developing it as a product. But the scope quickly became massive – I realized that if I tried to release it all at once, it would never be finished… and it wouldn't be affordable for most users either.

That's when I decided to split the kit into volumes that complement each other. The largest one is called Neighborhoods, which represents a typical suburban area, very much like 60-70% of the real streets in Brazilian cities. The demo showcases local businesses, daily life, and authentic visual cues. The feedback has been amazing – people would say, "This looks exactly like my neighborhood!". I also saw the opportunity to start working on my small art solo store on the Unreal Engine Marketplace, since there were close to no Brazilian and Latin American stylized assets packs, since every single pack there was focused on European, Asian, and North American cultures.

Technically speaking, I begin every project with a strong planning phase. I gather references, organize them into groups, and then begin modeling and sculpting. Once the assets are ready, I move into texturing and material work. For Unreal Engine projects, I always block out the full scene using placeholders, then gradually replace them with final assets. I also create an asset showcase map before I start the environment layout – it helps me stay organized and test everything easily. My main tools are Adobe Suite, Blender, and Unreal Engine.

As for Emperia, I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to submit the project in time. I was very close to the deadline, and my PC couldn't render the panorama frames required for the experience. Luckily, a friend stepped in and helped me render everything, and from there, everything flowed smoothly!

The process of adapting my project to work with Emperia's Creator Tools plug-in was super simple and easy. Since I already had an updated demo ready, all I had to do was make a few adjustments on my end, which were:

1. Adapting the scene for static renderings, which included removing particles, shader animation, blueprints, using a sky without cloud animation (for this, I used a well-known sky asset pack that I always use in my projects), and using materials without wind properties on all vegetation on the map.
2. I removed the third-person mode from the map, as it was a playable demo with a character walking around the map, and I removed some aspects from the demo map blueprint.
3. I left the map as a single selection, because in the adapted demo, it was not possible to select between day and night, so I chose to do the experiment on the day map.

Then, the process was very simple and automated. I positioned the points of interest for navigation, prepared the scene according to the suggestions in their official documentation, needed Emperia's support to answer a few questions, and it was so quick that I was able to make the adjustments in time to send the experience. I was only concerned that when it came time to generate the panoramas, my computer couldn't start creating the images. I had a lot of crashes due to the intensive use of the video card's memory. Since the renders were done in 8K, it's good to know that you need a card with as much VRAM as possible. That's when my friend helped me by rendering the frames on his PC.

Finally, I checked the generated frames for any stitching errors, and then it was ready to be sent.

Thoughts on the Digital Art Industry

The industry is going through a very tough moment for artists. We've seen waves of layoffs affecting not only freelancers and independents but also studios that are losing incredible talent. It's painful on all sides. For those looking for work, the competition is more intense than ever. For those who were employed and suddenly lost their jobs, it's a tough transition, especially in these unstable times.

I'm part of that wave too – I've been through it myself. And to everyone going through similar challenges, I want to say: don't give up on doing what you love. Difficult moments force us to be creative and to adapt. Even when the odds are against you, things will eventually fall back into place if you stay consistent and passionate.

As a Brazilian artist, I face additional challenges. We don't have many studios here offering competitive opportunities like those abroad. But working with international clients has still allowed me to grow professionally. In the end, it's all about building experience. The journey you go through shapes your voice and gives you the tools to express your art more powerfully.

Conclusion

One thing that's worked incredibly well for me is staying connected to passion. That's the core of it. The road will never be easy – everyone has their own story, their own struggles. But when you reach that place where you're truly doing something that sets your soul on fire, everything changes.

When your hobby becomes your profession, and your profession becomes your joy, the process becomes more important than the outcome. It doesn't matter how complex or far away your vision is – staying committed to the process is what brings the magic.

That's when creation flows. That's when the ideas leave the paper and take real shape. And when that happens, you can go incredibly far.

Marcos Frazao, 3D Environment and Prop Artist

Interview conducted by Theodore McKenzie