Carl Nelson - 3D Vehicles & Environments

Street Triple Environment

I've grown fond of creating both vehicles, and environments and want to create a portfolio that combines both of these. This project is my first attempt at merging both worlds, and is  inspired by the 2023/2024 Triumph Street Triple. I split this project into two sections; I modeled and textured the motorcycle during my fall semester Advanced Seminar class at Champlain College, and created the environment in my free time during the spring semester. Huge thanks to Jack Tenda or mentoring me throughout this project.

Street Triple

This model has 275k Triangles. I used three 4k Texture sets, and one 2k texture set. A huge part of this project was setting up my model inside of sketchfab for initial renders, and portfolio presentation.

I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could achieve a realistic clear coat material for this model(something I have struggled with on past projects). After a bit of trial and error I found it easiest to place all my uv's that would recieve any sort of clear coat onto a single texture set. This allowed me to simply apply/enable clear coat for an entire texture set, and didnt require any sort of mask.

I used a SubD workflow for this project, and spent a lot of time switching in and out of the smooth preview inside of Maya. I started with larger, blobbier forms, and slowly refined shapes over time. This is easily my favorite part of 3D as it's such a satisfying experience to look back on.

Poterie Rotonde

This was a 10 week project which I worked on as part of my Game Environments course at Champlain College during the fall semester. It was my first outdoor environment, inspired by Poterie Rotonde in Simiane-la-Rotonde, France. This project aimed to show off my ability to create modular environments, and set dress an outdoor scene.

I spent a lot of time set dressing the scene with a combination of my own assets, and foliage from Megascans. I wanted to model and texture as many assets in the scene as possible, while still completing the environment in a reasonable amount of time.

This project was also a great introduction into Vertex Painting, and learning different methods to blend multiple materials together. I ended up using Vertex Painting for the stone tiles on the floor of the scene, and opted to use a combination of vertex painting and decals for the buildings.

El Pequeño Bar

This was a 6 week project also completed during my Game Environments course inspired by a popular bar in Montreal called “El Pequeño”. I 3D modeled and textured all props in the scene, and used Megascans for the foliage. This project was a great introduction to Substance Designer, and creating my own procedural materials inside of UE5.

I revisited this scene over my winter break with the help of Jack Tenda; adding more decals, and adjusting the lighting. While the space was initially captivating; the overall composition was dull due to the lack of a focal point in the scene. Jack did an amazing job helping me adjust the composition, and change the lighting in a way that complemented the rest of the scene.

BMW Z3

30k triangles, two 4096x4096 textures.

This was a project I worked on over the 2023 summer; which took me around two months to complete, and was inspired by my favorite car, the BMW Z3.

My objectives for this piece included mastering the use of blueprints and reference images for vehicle modeling, refining my understanding of hard surface and SubD workflows, enhancing my topology skills, familiarizing myself with UDIMS, and leveraging Anchor Points in Substance Painter.

I modeled a low poly mesh in SubD preview in order to efficiently build out the body of the car. Here you can see some of the progress I made throughout the blockout phase, as well as my finished model before subdividing.

This Mesh served as the foundation for both the high-poly and low-poly models. To generate my high-poly mesh, I subdivided this base mesh. As for the low-poly version, I adapted the same mesh by eliminating unnecessary geometry and refining the model to align with the high-poly.

I textured everything in Substance Painter. I chose to use two 4k texture sets as I needed a higher resolution than a single 4k texture, but didnt need the full space of an 8k texture. One texture set is dedicated to large windows and body panels, while the other is used by the wheels and miscellaneous items. I saved space by stacking the UV's of the wheels and tires, and other duplicate items such as mirrors and headlights.

I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a z3 with some of the money I have saved up while in school. It was a tremendous help for reference, and helped me solve many of the initial problems I had when approaching this model.

I'm incredibly grateful to the Champlain College Game Art community for providing valuable critique and feedback throughout this project.

I drew significant inspiration from the work of Karol Miklas, especially their approach to rendering vehicles and props.

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Thank's for looking at my submission!

If you'd like to see more of my work, here is my artstation.