Environment Art
Unreal Engine 5 + Blender
This project started unexpectedly when I was browsing through social media and found someone upload an AI Generated image of a cafe. This immediately struck my eye and I wanted to create something that encapsulated being in a cozy cafe making you feel safe and warm in an otherwise dark moody environment
I decided to stay more organized this project by creating a list of assets required along with the original reference using PureRef. This allowed me to understand what to prioritise better and never be lost on what to do next.
I then continued by modelling some assets that would serve as the main focal points of this scene. This included the coffee takeaway cup, the table and chairs, the buildings, the door, etc.
This was done in Blender and then textured in either Quixel Mixer or UE5 itself.
This was done in Blender and then textured in either Quixel Mixer or UE5 itself.
The neon signs were also made using a Japanese font, a solidify modifier and an emissive shader applied to the mesh.
I started the project in Unreal Engine 5 by creating a rough blockout of the scene using low poly objects and no materials. This helped me get a better understanding of the scene in general and helped me set the camera position. This made it easier to understand which objects in the scene are more important and which areas my focus should towards as the other objects would be less seen from the chosen perspective.
The biggest challenge by far was trying to get the lighting correct. There was always something that felt "off" and i wasn't satisfied with the result. I kept re-iterating and adding different spotlights and adjusting the volumetric fog settings until I felt like the scene spoke to the vision in my head.
I then proceeded to also add some free assets from Quixel Megascans to populate the scene and make it feel more realistic. I used decals to indicate signs of wear and tear, scattered some rocks using the foliage tool to make the road feel used and some props by the opposite shop to make it feel less like a ghost town.
I then proceeded to also add some free assets from Quixel Megascans to populate the scene and make it feel more realistic. I used decals to indicate signs of wear and tear, scattered some rocks using the foliage tool to make the road feel used and some props by the opposite shop to make it feel less like a ghost town.
Finally the image was imported in Photoshop and some colour grading was done to improve the final shot.
