Mastering Modular & Procedural Techniques For Old West Town In UE5

Introduction

Hi, my name is Jefferson Bacquey, and I'm a Senior Environment Artist from France, currently living in the USA and working as a contractor while looking for new opportunities.

Since my last personal project, the Hogwarts Library, and my previous articles on ArtStation, I wanted to push my skills further and challenge myself with something new. My goal was to refine my expertise in composition, lighting, modular workflows, and technical pipelines while also staying up to date with industry trends. To do so, I decided to work in a Western environment using Unreal Engine 5.

The Western Kit

This project wasn't just about creating beauty shots: I wanted to refine my technical and modular workflow. I chose a Western town because it naturally aligns with modular design.

A typical Western building is often just a "glorified facade", making it the perfect subject for a flexible, reusable kit. Additionally, I developed an advanced Shader Graph to procedurally manage the building’s paint, allowing for more variety without increasing texture usage. With a clear technical goal in mind, I began production.

Modularity & Tech – Part 1

Before creating an endless number of modular pieces, I prioritized building the shader system first. Since all assets needed to work with the paint shader, I started with just two simple kit pieces:

• A 3x3 wall;
• A 3x3 wall with a basic window.

This allowed me to quickly test and refine the shader before expanding the kit further.

The Power of Shader Graph

I wanted the paint application to be procedurally generated, creating variation while keeping the texture count low.

The system runs on 278 instructions and works as follows:

• Each kit piece has two UV sets: One for the normal trim texture (applied traditionally), one managed by Virtual Textures (a UDIM-like system);
• The paint layer sits on top of the base texture and is optimized to use only 100 pixels per kit piece, making the entire project's paint system fit within a single 1024x1024 texture;
• The Virtual UDIM automatically loads/unloads the paint when needed, making it highly memory-efficient.

This workflow significantly reduced texture usage while maintaining high-quality visual variety.

Modularity & Tech – Part 2

Once the shader was fully functional and bug-free, I had a solid production workflow in place. From there, I expanded the kit with as many pieces as needed while keeping everything optimized.

I also developed additional lightweight shaders for:

• Procedural edge damage;
• Dirt and debris accumulation.

Each shader remained under 150 instructions, keeping performance in check.

Organization

To stay efficient, I used two test houses throughout the process. I continuously built with existing kit pieces, adding new ones only when necessary. This approach prevented redundancy and ensured every piece had value.

• The kit follows a 1.5m / 3m metric, allowing pieces to be easily swapped without seams;
• Both paint and wood textures use world placement, ensuring a seamless look across different buildings;
• I carefully tracked every kit piece, avoiding unnecessary assets except for unique structures like the church;
• I also created a simplified bank kit, adding more variety to my final breakdown and presentation.

Materials & Textures

I used Substance 3D Designer and Painter to create all base materials while keeping the scene as optimized as possible.

• All wood elements share a single trim sheet;
• All secondary elements (e.g., metal) use a second trim sheet;
• The entire scene runs on only 3 texture sets, ensuring performance efficiency.

Lessons Learned

This project taught me a lot. It took me four months to complete, working only in my free time, and I learned more than I expected.

• Technical Art – Developing advanced shaders and improving my procedural workflow;
• Kit Building – Optimizing modularity while maintaining artistic quality;
• Lighting & Composition – Refining my ability to create immersive environments;
• Terrain Workflows – Expanding my expertise beyond modular assets.

When I started, I was at a frustrating point in my career, feeling like I wasn't learning or growing. This project reignited my passion and pushed me beyond my own expectations.
I loved (almost) every second of it!

If you have questions or opportunities, feel free to reach out, I'm always happy to discuss!

Jefferson Bacquey, Senior Environment Artist