Desert Kit Bash

Well, I finally got this one to a place where I'm comfortable calling it finished. The final Unreal 4 Setup has 3 different levels. In beginning this project I intended for the lovebug to be going on a little road trip. It features 3 stops. The first is the gas station, fueling up for the long trek across the desert.

Next the little lovebug gets their picture taken next to the famous Ocean Side billboard, which is a little worse for wear.

Finally, the last stop is infront of a big T-rex Skeleton that seems to be popping out of the rocks.

I had a lot of fun building this modular kit and learned a lot along the way. It was fun to watch it transform as I added foliage, updated textures and even models. All and all I felt like it came together how I pictured it in my head and I was happy about that. I intend to do more of a breakdown and get some images of the models wireframes. For now I'll show you some images of the process so you can see how it took form and transformed into this finished pieces you see above.

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The car was the very first thing I modeled for the kit. It was where the whole idea started. The concept was by Faye Hsu, I contacted her and got her permission to use the concept. The idea of the desert kinda built around this car and it going on a roadtrip.

From there I started to build out the environment and get things into Unreal 4. I was trying to set my color palette as well as try to see how this car was going to fit into the world.

The Gas Station was the first section that I built. It felt like a fun place that the car could visit. At this point I was debating on only one scene vs. having the car visit a few different places. I was gathering reference for textures and colors. I was taking a long look at Pixar's Cars for reference as well as Pinterest and other great places. I then began building more environment pieces and getting some great feedback from peers on how to improve what I had.

Here's an early WIP shot, i was trying to build out a big desert world for the car to explore. I was also trying to see how the pieces worked together. I tried to build a few hero assets to make it unique from other desert scenes I had found in my reference searches. I was also referencing the game Go! Gigantic! as they had an awesome desert level. As I was building out the world I was happy with the colors and how it was coming together but I definitely had more to do.

I was starting to get that dangerous feeling like this one was close to being done. I was starting to think about camera angles and framing the beauty shots for my portfolio. As I began sending out images and talking to friends and peers about it, they pointed out some big flaws I did not see myself. Staring at a project for so long can be bad, as you start to miss things that are obvious to others. For example, the rocks were really really not good, and the foliage needed some help too.

A lot of the textures needed an extra pass as well. I decided I needed to get serious about the project and get it to its full potential. I have heard several times, the last 10% of a project is the most important. Giving it that extra boost of effort at the end can really set your project apart.

I was getting really tired of working on this one, but I knew that I was wasting its potential if I stopped now. It needed more work, and I decided to add more hero assets to make it feel more unique. After a couple more months of off and on again work on it, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I ended up adding 3 new plants, redoing the grass, redoing the Cactus. Adding a billboard and t-rex skeleton, adding some dirt particles. Most importantly, I did another pass on the rocks and did them right this time. I took them into zbrush and sculpted them up. I took a lot of inspiration from the Cars ride at California Adventures, they have beautiful scenery and rocks.

This project reaffirmed with me how important it is to see a project through to the end. To give every asset the love and attention it deserves. I was getting really burned out on it but I'm happy that I pushed through on it and gave it that extra 10% it needed.