I created everything for this high poly in ZBrush. This method also offers a quick way to see how a decimated sculpt is reading in Unreal with just a few mouse clicks. From this point, I've found that I don't need to work in Modo until I'm finalizing my low poly. I do this to easily keep everything uniform across all software in my workflow. I then used the Bridge plugin to transport it into Modo at the correct scale and then used the GoZ kit in Modo to send my model into ZBrush. To begin, I created a new first-person level in UE4 and as I typically do when first modeling an asset, blocked it out in engine. This informed my approach of how I wanted to model this. More details on the last part later, but I watched an informative tutorial about this before I started modeling, so I did know that the later post-processing effects would benefit from having details added to the surface normals.

I wanted to use a single 4K texture map and I most likely needed a type of shader for the comic ink effects on the outlines of the model. Looking at other pre-production pieces from the game did clue me in on some good approaches for this project.īefore I started I knew I wanted to use Unreal 4 and get close to the same scale as the original game model. I did try to find the original concept drawings to see what Paul had worked from but came up empty. I also browsed through Gearbox Art Blast to get an idea of what styles of inky lines and distressed splatters made their way into the title. I loaded up Pureref and dumped a load of images of the prop into it. A good place to start was image searching 'Porta Prison' for screenshots. The original masterfully made Porta Potty by Paul Presley really stuck out during the Porta Prison side mission. Kill cake with two birds and eat them as they say.įor references, I didn't do anything that fancy. Trying to approximate the look of Borderlands 3 while adding my own signature touches seemed like a worthy challenge. Hand-painted game art can be incredible and I've been neglecting my pen and ink abilities these last few years. I've been trying to apply this philosophy to how I approach personal 3D studies. I have a print design background and I've always kept my art skills sharp by working on projects with varied styles.

Borderlands without cel shading