Most of my career in the video games industry (I would say 90% of the 6 years) has been spent on making assets specifically for a post-apocalyptic world. And for the same world. Most of you who follow me on Artstation know that I primarily and solely work on the game Rust from Facepunch Studios. From the very early stages to now. But for those who are curious, no, I haven't got bored of working on the same project for years. The building of that world has been and still is amazing, I love it. I'm fortunate enough to work on the kind of art I love to make. For anyone who joins me in post-apocalyptic artistry, you know that there's a really nice amalgamation of creative exploration and exact representation. But whilst post-apocalyptic artwork allows for some artistic license there are some things to keep in mind, workflows that I live by and use daily that I think are worth sharing, not because they're new or amazing - assuredly they arent and there artists on here who I follow and admire who do this stuff much better than myself, but because over the years I've had numerous people asking for help and I've never really had one place to put this stuff in one place till now. None of these are practices or workflows are set in stone, meaning, this isn't the only way to do a particular thing. There are many ways. But one thing you will find in all of the points below is this one thing: balance. In any case, I hope this blog helps in some way!
So, let's begin - Here's a general outline of what's next:
- Readability.
- Grounded.
- Tape.
- Welds.
- Writing.
This, along with the second part are the two most important aspects of post-apocalyptic artwork (as well as for all artwork) for me and they go hand-in-hand. Readability doesn't have to do with so much the texture but the mesh itself. But just like a good book, you must be able to read it - you must be able to understand it. As the artist, you must be able to make the asset in a way that is visually readable. In this instance, you need to be able to see what you've modeled come through in the normal map you've generated otherwise it's pointless having one. I hate tight edges. Even when the object you're modeling has tight - sharp edges, they just don't look great in video games 90% of the time - at a distance, the sharpness makes the object look less organic/believable and just generally boxey as if you had no normal map information plugged in. This usually comes about in weapon assets and so it is better for the sake of readability so you don't lose details from a distance, so loosen up those edges!
When I'm constructing the geo in max I'm not only considering the first person view but also the 3rd person view, as the same model will be used (at much lower res) in the world and so I try to keep a good balance between sharp and loose edges. Too loose and it'll look like a poor attempt at modeling or the model has melted, too tight and you're being too hyper-realistic and it's going to get real boxey from a distance and lose normal detail. Try finding that middle ground. Though I use a real gun for an example, the same thought process is used through all my artwork - up close the notches on the dial look pretty decent and smooth and yet when you pull back they're still readable; nice and smooth from a distance. Not only that but the game that your particular asset is going into will most likely have some sort of camera sharpening filter applied, and so having the edges a bit loose helps with this sharpening effect so it doesn't look too crazy sharp. So loosen up those edges!
Can you tell which one has loose edges? The box on the right has tighter edge control, creating a sharper edge and whilst this might be great for hyper-realism, i don't think it works great in games. The normal information is lost at a distance and looks too much like a normal unmapped cube. It starts to lose the edge and we want to show that there is an edge. Below is an image of how the control loops are set up. Left is loose creating a smoother and loose edge and on the right in red are tight control loops that create a sharp edge. The left box's edges hold up for much longer when at a distance, which is great! Again, find that nice balance between the two. Too lose and it's a mess, too tight and it's too hyper-realistic and will lose that smooth edge detail further away.
Texture-wise, it's a similar thought process. If you have too much detail, it's going to become noisy and overwhelming. Too little and it's just going to be a bit odd unless the asset looks like that. I'm going to go into a bit more detail on this in the next point.
This, as I said earlier, was one of the most important aspects to P-A creation but this is my favorite part. Getting the asset "grounded" in the game world. This is when I feel most creative. It finds itself all throughout the entire course of asset creation. Post-apocalyptic assets are so fun to make because ordinary game assets, from weapons to environments become personal and relational. You can tell part of the game's narrative through the asset if done correctly. What makes an asset fit for a post-apocalyptic environment isn't the amount of rust that is on the weapon or asset (though that helps!) but how much personality it has. You don't want the entire narrative scrawled all over the side of a gun but what you want is to show subtle hints that someone is learning to craft a weapon, you want the player to feel like they themselves have actually made the gun - believably (to an extent).
Bring in elements, ordinary elements from the real-world to the asset that make an ordinarily average piece of environment artwork come to life. Take this toolbox below for example. It acts in-game as a lootable item in the world of Rust. I was able to take some artistic license (I was also told not to have FORD written on the front too!) and add a couple of bits that I felt would ground the asset into the game world by adding ordinary elements to the mesh for better effect.
The concept came from our amazing concept artist Paul Bradley, who I gain massive inspiration from. (I'm really nothing without a good concept!) I added the blue tape on top, which is common throughout a lot of Rusts assets - adding this I felt bound things together a bit better. I also added a post-it note on the front with a short shopping list. Why? Well, people use post-it notes and tape, right? That's the reason! Because I want the player to have a sense and feel that a person has used this particular thing before. It's been used. It has a history. So why not show a bit of that? This can and ought to be done in the texturing too.
If you put in too many of these details then it's going to look a bit crazy and overwhelmingly obvious. Subtlety is key. A little bit here, and a little bit there. One of my favorite assets I did for Rust that I feel displays this is the deployable Tier 1 Workbench that Paul concepted for me.
I don't think I had to change or add anything major - it's pretty darn exact to the concept. I believe the only noticeable differences I made are on the small red toolbox which has stickers placed on it, specifically the makeshift AK47 I did years ago. A small difference but it added a more relatable and identifiable touch to the model. I did this because I remembered my dad's toolbox from my childhood, handing him tools from it to him as he was fixing his motorcycle, I remember seeing stickers all over his red Snap-On toolbox. Which leads me to advise you to use your memories of such things in these ways. It's believable because you've already experienced them in real life. If it fits and looks good, keep it. If it's too out of place, get rid of it. There's no point adding detail if it's random. It has to fit the world it's in.
When it comes to wear and tear, I don't just put scratches in any old place as if it's been procedurally generated. Wear and tear on assets has been done, usually, through human intervention. So I usually imagine myself using the asset, how would I use it? Consider the asset above. The light parts of the wood, on the work surface, where something has been worked, I imagine if I stood there where would the most wear be? Where would my hands be enough of the time for it be rougher or smoother etc? I'm learning about this aspect of material creation as I type this blog post out, I have to give a big shout out to Donnie Oliver for giving me an illuminating helping hand with this, thanks, dude! I have much to improve on. And as Donnie said to me, subtlety is key. Too much and it's just going to look a right mess. Too little and it's going to look too new. Find a good balance between the two.
Grounding the asset into the world is massively important. It helps to bring the game into an awesome unity that makes the game feel believable and have this togetherness, if done correctly you can help tell part of the narrative through your assets. One of the best games I've seen this done is in The Division. Oh my, the artwork in that game is just dreamy! Congrats on those who made that game!
Tape. Yes, tape. How can you have post-apocalyptic art without a least a slither of tape? I've included this because a few people of the years have asked me how I do it. It's actually really simple. But I bet there's a myriad of better ways to do it. Here's mine.
The most common method I use is a simple edge extrusion. I create a plane, with some control edges, I apply a small shell modifier and then a turbosmooth modifier (i usually export with the turbosmooth applied but you can delete it afterwards and then subdivide in zbrush) and start edge modeling, often following the shape of the base model and adjusting the shell settings as I see fit. It may be a bit more time consuming than other methods but I find it easier to control how I want the tape to look and the thickness of it. If I want the end of the tape to curl back, for instance, this method is great for that.
A crude gif to show you what it looks like but you get the gist of the process. This is how most of all the tape is done on the assets that I create. After I create the base in max, I take the tape into ZBrush and sculpt the finer details; the larger wrinkles and folds, i then export the finished sculpt for the bake and retopology, and then decimate the mesh and bring it back into max so i can see what it looks like as a whole (i wont re-export the decimated mesh from max - it's purely a visual aid).
Just like the tape, what is PA art without welds? Again, I've been asked a few times over the years how I do my welding. And once again, it's fairly simple but I reckon there are better ways to do it. Here's my way.
If I feel I can't get away with just simply zbrushing the welds straight onto the mesh (dynamesh the mesh, then start sculpting them) then I create a spline that follows the path where the welds would go. Convert that spline to a cylinder, tessellate it a bit so the faces are more square than rectangular and then inset and collapse the end caps so it's ready for zbrush'ing and then do just that.
This creates a good base for the weldings to begin sculpting detail on. The next stage in zbrush is primitive, but i've found it effective. You essentially sculpt the exposed side of this base mesh roughly flat and then start sculpting on this new plane. I typically use the clay brush with a solid circle alpha for the weldings.
After this, I usually combine the welds with a particular part of the mesh ready for retopology and baking. Occasionally I'll have them as a separate sub-mesh so I can duplicate the welds and place them around if I think it's worth doing.
Some of you who are familiar with my art you'll notice that I write or draw on the assets a lot. This is essentially an extension to the above section called 'Grounded'. But I thought I'd like to specify this part separately. It's a useful tool to portray the narrative and world the asset lives in.
You'll notice in the above assets pictured that there are arrows and markings around the joints and on other parts or even writing directing the facing position of the asset. This isn't for the player. I decided that I liked doing this because I imagined that, well if I was constructing something like the mailbox, that I would mark where I want to make a cut, or a weld or to place a joint. So I put them on the asset too! This is to sell the idea that this particular asset has some form of history in the game, it's not brand-spanking new; a robot didn't put it together. A person did. You see this kind of thing a lot, especially on guns. You see it all the time on magazine clips with numbers written on the side. Do you know why it's there? I didn't until I researched why and apparently it's so that if you're having issues with a particular magazine you can pull it out of circulation. Now that's a good reason to number your mags! See how well it grounds the asset into reality? As long as what you're writing or drawing on your magazine makes sense and looks okay, do it.
I particularly had fun with the raft seat pictured above on the right. It brought back a lot of memories from school, digging my biro into the wooden school desk or those super uncomfortable orange chairs, which I replicated above. Little things like this brings an extra familiarity to the asset that people can, in some sense, bond with because of their own experiences. As I said before, draw from your own experiences and memories when texturing and modeling. It really helps to ground and sell what you're making. And as always, find that balance between, too little and too much. If it works keep it. If it doesn't? Get rid.
And that's it, I suppose. I really hope this is helpful. It's probably not but if it is let me know! I love hearing all the feedback from everyone on here, you're all really encouraging to me and the messages I receive blow me away every time I post! I don't consider myself an expert so take everything I've suggested with a pinch of salt. By that I mean there's probably better techniques out there. I'd love to improve my pipeline, so if you know of any better techniques and processes, please do let me know! I'm feeling pretty rough at the time of writing this so if there's something that doesn't quite make sense or that i've missed, drop me a message and I can further explain if I'm able to. Thanks, everyone!
Update: Since publishing the blog, i've made some amendments for the sake of clarity and added an extra section! Thank you all so much for all your kinds messages!
God bless, Tom.
