Abandoned Observatory

This scene was my final project for the diploma at SAE Institute and the first environment I created in Unreal Engine.

I used a modular approach with trimsheets and tiling textures and learned new workflows such as texture blending using vertex paint and setting up material shaders. The project was made with 3ds Max, Substance Painter and Designer, ZBrush and Unreal Engine 5.

All assets and textures were made by myself, except the foliage and some decals which are from Quixel.

The video provides a 360-degree view of the environment and contains two different lighting conditions. It also includes detail lighting and unlit mode.

Lighting only  -  Unlit  -  Lit

Wireframe

Since I used vertex painting and a trim sheet in the scene, some assets received beveled edges or more subdivisions that do not contribute to the shape.

Modular Kit and Assets

Materials

For the floor, moss and concrete materials (2K), I used Substance Designer.

Since many assets in the scene are made of wood, I decided to use a trim sheet to maintain a consistent appearance but at the same time be able to use different parts of the texture. The wall modules were split in two material IDs to use tileable textures but also the trim sheet material.

The trim sheet and assets were textured in Substance Painter. The telescope and some other large objects are using unique textures while smaller assets like the books are using a texture atlas.

In Unreal Engine I created several material shaders such as master materials for tileables (including UV controls), decals or glass.

For assets using texture blending, like the walls and the floor, I created a master material using vertex paint, so that it can be used to break up modular and tileable parts of the scene.

The master materials include several static switches and parameters to adjust in the instances.

And finally ...

... my blockout, reference sheet and some design analysis:

The environment is inspired by abandoned and overgrown places in The Last of Us, so I made some in-game screenshots. Other images serve as further references for lighting, textures or vegetation.

Thanks a lot for taking a look at my project!

Here you can find my Artstation and LinkedIn Profile.