Prop Modelling – Adam Bell

When I’d finished my character model/textures and animations, I decided to help enrich the scene by creating an additional small asset pack.

I wanted to make sure all these assets followed the style guide well. Having textured Mark 15 with the knife alpha brush, I have developed a key understanding of colour/mark-making in context of our game and that helped when it came to making these assets fit in (and pop in a way that’s not jarring).

Useful video on asset pack modelling and the Maya/Substance workflow:

I wanted to use the in-universe AutoCorp logo I designed to make everything feel branded and consistent in context of narrative and environmental storytelling. I exported these as alphas for Substance and increased the height. I learned this from Semester 1’s UE Cinematic project.

See my entire asset pack in scene in Maya (as well as all textures) here.

Also, check them out on SketchFab.

The Assets

AutoCorp Chests

The first was a chest. I created a bevelled shape inspired by a sci-fi chest, and used boolean operations to cut out screens. I then enabled and used emissive textures for this part in Substance Painter. This created a more dynamic form and also applied well to our genre.

Mark 14

This was an idea Josh and I had discussed at the very start, that we would see an earlier version of Mark 15 in the background, perhaps being worked on. I reused and reassembled the parts I made for that character, altering their positioning and shapes slightly to make it feel like an older version, a work in progress.

I took inspiration from unpainted cars and iPhones for the texture, where I used a limestone-coloured metal that had an increased roughness and reduced metallic, as well as a ‘brushed’ look in areas.

TV & Desktop Computer

Being a science lab, it wouldn’t make sense not to have a computer or TV displaying info. I modelled and textured these accordingly. I made sure to use the same shapes and design language as Mark 15, specifically that ball-jointed ‘toyetic’ look.

For the TV, I made the pipes run backwards rather than simply going downward. This helped with centre of gravity, and my friend Caity had agreed. Our producer Josh had suggested making a red-screen version that emits a danger sign for when things go wrong, so I created an alternate version in Substance. I am not sure if the level designers implemented this, but it was a cool idea nonetheless. I used an emissive texture for the screen.

Pencil Holder and Sketches/Schematics

Being the HQ of a mad scientist, there has to be some note-taking going on, right? I modelled this pot of pencils and also textured some sheets of paper with Mark 15 schematics. This just adds to the world-building and enables a sense of discovery and intrigue for the player. It keeps things interesting.