SWARMFALL

3D Environment Artist / Indie Creative Director

Key contributions:

  • Built a full PvPvE multiplayer level from block out to a complete shipped game demo map

  • Created trim-sheet and tileable textures as well as used them to create a modular structures kit and assemble set-dressing pieces

  • Modeled, textured, and rigged engine-ready character, prop, and environmental hero assets.

  • Created versatile master materials utilizing vertex painting, runtime virtual textures, and PCG graphs

  • Taken on additional tasks as needed by the team; UI/UX design and graphics, SFX design and soundtrack composition, lighting work, video trailer editing, and simple Niagara VFX work

Software used:

Unreal Engine 5 - Zbrush - Substance Painter - Substance Designer - Maya - Blender 4 and 5 - Perforce P4V Source Control - Photoshop - After effects

Modular Top-Down Structures Kit

  • Modeled in Blender using two tileable textures and one trim-sheet with typology optimized for vertex painting

  • Consistent 512 PX/M Texel Density for best results from top-down camera

Versatile metal textures setup with optimized vertex painting master material

  • Modeled in Blender, baked and textured in Substance Painter

  • Created a PBR Master Material in Unreal Engine 5 utilizing Runtime Virtual Texture height-based layering, vertex paint blending using a grunge texture to create smooth blending at a low performance cost, opacity masking, emissive blending, custom modifiers, and toggles for everything to minimize shader complexity per material instance that may not use all features

Structures assembly using modular model kit and vertex painting

  • Designed and assembled buildings and structures using the model kit, combining and vertex painting set pieces to add grunge and create unlimited variety without any additional texture draw call expenses

  • Modeled hero assets using the same workflow, maintaining consistent look and adding no additional performance costs

Adapted PCG into workflow for optimized and natural looking foliage

  • Created a highly customizable procedural foliage generation graph using PCG. Generation works hand-in-hand with the Landscape Master Material

  • Optimized foliage Assets to work together with the system for best results

Landscape Master material

  • Worked with our technical artist to create an optimized layered Landscape master material using cell-bombing, layered normal maps, and layered to achieve optimized non-repetitive grungy terrain results

  • Combined the power of RVTs and PCG by incorporating the landscape’s RVT projection onto the PCG generated foliage in a greatly resolution reduced manner, making the procedural foliage automatically color-match itself to whatever landscape material it is on with extremely minimal performance cost

Light baking and optimization

  • Configured Unreal Engine 5 to utilize a static lighting setup and fine-tuned baking process to get optimal results

  • Maintained optimization throughout entire environment art and level creation process, from asset creation to set dressing, achieving a ~400 draw-call average and hitting project performance goals