Creating Hyper-Realistic 3D Camcorder Using Plasticity & Substance 3D

Introduction

I started doing 3D design in early 2019 and initially wanted to work in interior visualization. My mother is an architect, and there have always been creative people in my family. Additionally, I attended art school for over seven years, which significantly developed my artistic skills and sense of composition. I wanted to study to become an interior designer or an architect.

However, everything changed when I received a PlayStation 4 as a gift. Before that, I had no gaming experience, but the first games I played were Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us. They left such a strong impression on me that I felt like I had discovered an entirely new world. I was captivated by the depth of their universes, the attention to detail, and the way environments were crafted. That was the moment I realized I didn't just want to admire these worlds, I wanted to create them myself.

Games offered me much more creative freedom than interior visualization. They combined my love for architecture, design, and art, allowing me to craft immersive environments filled with history and atmosphere. By nature, I am someone who always seeks to understand how things work from the inside. If something fascinates me, I dive deep into learning every detail. Step by step, this curiosity led me to focus on creating visual content for games.

Later, I started working on game projects, including Level Zero: Extraction, as an Environment Artist. This experience allowed me to delve deeper into world-building and solidified my passion for this field. Now, more than six years since that pivotal gift, creating game worlds has become not just my profession but my greatest passion in life.

The Sony DSR-390 Digital Camcorder Project

I was looking for inspiration to create a prop that would include complex surfaces, a variety of materials, and an interesting assembly overall. I was choosing between a camcorder, an airplane wheel mechanism, and a jet engine. Visually, I feel like these objects are somewhat similar, and they could be great candidates for a detailed project.

Modeling

Most of the high-poly models were made in Plasticity. I found that for hard-surface objects, Plasticity is much quicker and more efficient for modeling. I used to employ Fusion 360 for similar models, but with the arrival of Plasticity, especially with the bridge support to Blender, this process became much smoother and faster for me. Overall, the combination of Blender and Plasticity is extremely effective and time-saving, especially for creating hard-surface models. The interfaces and buttons in these programs are very similar, so the overall pipeline for creating high-poly models becomes almost flawless.

But I didn't limit myself to one pipeline, and I did some details with subdivision because, for me, it's just a chill process.

Topology

The topology process is as follows: In Plasticity, I duplicate the high-poly model and remove all small bevels, leaving only the significant ones. Then, through the bridge, I export the model to Blender, where I adjust the geometry density. After achieving an acceptable result, I clean up the geometry by removing unnecessary edges, double vertices, and stretched areas. As for unwrapping, the process is like this: I assign seams in Blender, and then in RizomUV, I fix any problematic areas. After that, I pack the UV map in Blender with UVPackmaster 3, set the normal angle to 180 degrees, and add sharp edges to the UV island borders.

In general, the process of creating high-poly in Plasticity is the most fun, but as much fun as you have on high-poly details, you will suffer on low-poly and baking.

Texturing

Since this prop has multiple texture sets, I didn't texture everything in one project in Substance 3D Painter. Instead, I created separate projects for each texture set, where I set up baked texture maps. I textured each set simultaneously to ensure they looked cohesive and checked the results in Marmoset Toolbag, where the entire model was assembled into one project. For texturing, I used masks, grunges, stencils, and other standard tools in Substance 3D Painter, and all the text and labels were created in Photoshop.

A closer look at the printed text:

Substance 3D Painter viewport settings:

Rendering

I set up the lighting using an HDRI map called Brown Photostudio 02 from HDRI Heaven. I added a small light source to create shadows. For the background, I was choosing between a light and dark one, and I ultimately went with a light background since most of the model was dark in color, and I wanted to create contrast with the background. This decision ensured good readability of all the details.

Conclusion

I worked on the project in my free time without a strict schedule, so it's hard to say exactly how much time was spent. The most interesting part for me was studying the original shapes of the object from references, as well as the process of achieving the right forms during modeling, bringing the textures to realism, and assembling the final image.

As for learning materials, I can't recommend anything specific. I advise against blindly following tutorials and instead suggest exploring the programs and their features on your own, learning to feel them out in your own way. When following a tutorial, people often forget the method of personal discovery, as the tutorial creator essentially leads the viewers through their own pipeline, showing what works best for them. I believe it's important to find methods and tools that work for you personally because every individual is unique, and everyone has their own preferences. This approach might be more challenging, but it's much more rewarding, as it will allow you to develop your own vision and better understand yourself in your creative journey.

Thanks for the advice and support to my girlfriend Lily, and also thanks to 80 Level for providing the opportunity to talk about my work.

Kirill Charyshnikov, Environment Artist

Interview conducted by Amber Rutherford