Keegan Nilsson | Prop and Environment Work 23-24

Quick Intro:

-Vow of The Disciple Raid Sword-

This Project is a sword I made based off of the "Vow of the Disciple" raid weapons from the game Destiny 2. I had a few goals for this project but first and foremost I wanted to showcase my ability to work off of an existing style. This weapon is meant to fit and feel similar to the ones already within the game. This required a lot of reference,  most of which I got in-game.  This allowed me to study the shape language of the weapons and get a feel for the textures I was going to need to create. After definitely not getting distracted and playing too much of the game I got back to work. 

The other main goal for this project was to get some simple VFX for the sword up and running in Unreal. This allowed me to get out of my discipline a little bit while also getting it in engine. I ran into some issues with the animations getting into unreal since I chose initially not to use a rig. I did that because the animation was really simple and was just rotating around the pivot of the mesh. Since it wasn't working I went back and created a simple rig that fixed everything. Hurray for spinning rectangles.

Specifications:
9.5k Tris
1 x 4096 Texture

Workflow:
Photoshop - initial sketching / concepting 
Maya - Blockout > Mid-poly > High and low > UVs > Rigging and animation            
Zbrush - Zremesh > Tertiary details on High
Substance Painter - Baking > Texturing > Final Renders
Unreal Engine - Final render + Animation

Ue5 Render

Breakdown

Reference

-Sci-Fi Interior Environment-

This project was all about tuning in my hard-surface modeling and dipping my toes into environment art. Due to that, I left it untextured, which allowed me to focus more on the skills I was trying to grow at the time. I was using unreal engine which was new for me so I got to learn the joys of modularity and real-time lighting. I initially ran into a lot of issues with lumen and high-res screenshots giving me terrible shadows and noise but after a lot of tweaking and bumping my light samples, I honed it in.

Also, I wasn't working directly off of one reference for this project so there was a lot of iteration while modeling. On one hand, this ate up a ton of my time but on another it kind of allowed me to explore hard surface modeling a bit more and kind of figure out for myself what looks good and what doesn't.

Workflow:
Maya - Blockout >  High-poly 
Unreal Engine - Scene Building > Final Renders

Reference

-Gargoyle Statue-

For this project, I sculpted a gargoyle statue. The main goal for this project was to create a gargoyle that could snap you in half if it wanted. To do this required one simple recipe: big muscles + badass pose. Besides that being super cool it gave me the opportunity to practice and learn a ton of anatomy. For that I used a ton of human reference along with some other full-body gargoyle references.

I sculpted the whole thing (Besidess from the head) In pose. In hindsight, I would have sculpted in symmetry and then posed afterward but I suppose I got more practice anyway.

The only other goal for this project was to work on my realistic texturing. It was only one stone material so I could afford to sink a lot of time into it, and I think it paid off.

Specifications:
10.7k Tris
1 x 4096 Texture

Workflow:
Zbrush- Blockout > High-poly
Maya - Retopology > UVs
Substance Painter - Baking > Texturing > Final Renders
Unreal Engine - Final render video

UE5 Render

Breakdown

Reference

-Mask Maker's Caravan-

This project is a caravan inspired by medieval fantasy architecture and traditional Romani vardo wagons. I wanted it to feel dark and mysterious while having really interesting architecture. The main goal for this project was to explore vehicle modeling which was a new area for me. I had to focus a lot on function, how do certain parts work and interact with each other and how do you best portray that. As mentioned earlier I relied a lot on references of traditional Romani vardo wagons, especially when modeling the axles, wheels, and cratch.

I wanted to get creative with the design of the masks so there were a lot of iterations to make them feel more weird and mystical. A challenge I faced was getting the narrative to read easily, I filled out the main cabinet with sketches, brushes,  a work-in-progress mask. and some other things. If I could go back I'd probably add some more stuff, maybe some tools or paints but I think it reads fine enough.

Specifications:
33.3k Tris
1 x 4096 Texture

Workflow:
Maya - Blockout > Mid-poly > High and Low > UVs
Substance Painter - Baking > Texturing > Final Renders

Breakdown

Reference

-Cursed Pirate Door Knocker-

Last but not least, for this project I made a pirate-themed door knocker. I Intended for it to feel cursed or possessed. This was my first full project in ZBrush so it was definitely a challenge, ZBrush is a beast to learn let time tell you.

Besides from getting comfortable in ZBrush, the main goals for this project were to practice skull anatomy and my material work. Sculpting the skull took a lot of reference and iteration but since it was metal I didn't have to worry too much about the smaller details. A challenge I faced in texturing was getting the 1 material to look interesting enough and not feel too monochromatic. I spent a lot of time on the weathering and damage which played a big part. But also, I used a lot of subtle color variation to separate individual pieces from each other like the skull, compass, and hat.

Specifications:
8k Tris
1 x 4096 Texture

Workflow:
Zbrush- Blockout > High-poly
Maya - Retopology > UVs
Substance Painter - Baking > Texturing > Final Renders

Breakdown

Reference

Alright, that's all folks. Thanks for reading, and if you want to see the rest of my work check out my socials below.

Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/keegannilsson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keegan-nilsson-9412851b4/