Have you ever been to “The Foundry” in New York? Yeah…me neither…but that didn’t stop me from choosing it as the reference for this 3D level design project!
I loved taking stock of a real environment, using photography and floorplans from the Foundry’s website. The overall look of the space stuck out to me when I came across it (more than likely on Pinterest). I don’t always go for all brick exteriors, but I loved the way brick is used in the actual space. The repeated elements such as the archways, metal framing, glass doors, window shapes and even the stairs gave me the perfect environment to recreate in a streamlined and efficient way.
This 3d level design project challenged me in many ways, as it was my first time working in Unreal Engine. I’d also never textured anything with Substance Painter (pre-Adobe) or re-created a large-scale environment from start to finish. Establishing the aforementioned repeated elements and building the environment from those pieces made the project feel way less daunting.
A view for the gods! The top view is one of my favorite parts of this project! A glass ceiling with a solid view of both floors, all the lights, and even the main entrance.
A cake felt like appropriate choice for the hero asset in an event space like this one. However, I didn’t want a distracting white cake, so opted for something more ambiguous. The biggest challenge, here, was giving the cake personality without blowing out the polycount. If I were to do it again, I’d definitely give it more flair with what I know now.
When I first started working on The Foundry, I knew I wanted candles, everywhere to help set the mood. My initial thought was that I’d have a bunch of little lights everywhere, but then I researched/learned about particle systems! The particle system I ended up creating for the flames, gave all of the candles life and movement. The candle particle system is one of the elements I’m most proud of, mainly because I’d always been a little intimidated by special effects. Now that I’ve dabbled a bit, I LOVE them!
