Dário Pinto - 3D Environment Art 2024 reel

Olá!

I am Dário Pinto, a graduate 3D Environment Artist from the sunny shores of Portugal.

Overall, this past year has been a period of growth and discovery for me. I've focused on learning the fundamentals of lighting, composition, lookdev and further developing my artistic sensibility. I've explored level design as well, which was an area I was previously hesitant about.

Here's my portfolio :)

I'll be walking you through the process behind these two environment pieces I created. Hope you like them.

Stranezze in Riva al Lago - "Oddities by the Lake"

This project was driven by my deep appreciation for artworks that capture the simple beauty of rural, everyday life. Inspired by the romantic, picturesque mood found in the paintings of Carl Gustav Rodde, while infusing the artwork with my own unique artistic interpretation. 

Made in Unreal Engine 5.3.

This Mediterranean scene depicts a set of houses situated near a lake, alongside a temple. The houses symbolize the poverty prevalent at that time, as their architectural features prioritize simplicity and utilitarian function rather than taking advantage on the surrounding view and scenery. They also serve as dwellings for the agricultural laborers and their families, further emphasizing practicality in their design.

The most exciting aspect of this project was the transformation of a two-dimensional painting into an immersive three-dimensional environment that I could explore and walk around.

Process Breakdown, from blockout to finished piece.

A mood board of Carl Gustav Rodde, Carl Millner and other artist's paintings that focus on rural romantic paintings.

I researched other references I could use to design the surroundings, such as the dramatic "When She Loved me" from Pixar's Toy Story 2 and other Carl Millner paintings.

Shader Complexity overview. This scene was made with the combination of Nanite displacement and tillable textures. Modular pieces use masked Layered Materials to add details to edges, grunge or other imperfections. Deferred decals and Vertex Painting was also used in some cases. The foliage used in the scene is from Megascans.

Modular Kit breakdown. Depending on the use-case scenario, some models are sculpted and baked, while others use Nanite Displacement such as the roof and trims.

Lighting Overview, in this project I am using Lumen from Unreal Engine 5.3.

Once a rebel, always a rebel.

"Once a Rebel, Always a Rebel" is a 3D, playable narrative experience that immerses the player in the midst of a covert revolution operation deep within a forest.

At the heart of this clandestine conflict lies a nuclear power station, inaccessible to the general public and suspected of polluting the nearby river. As our character progresses through the forest, he stumbles upon clues of an ongoing rebel operation aimed at deactivating the plant. He will eventually uncover more evidence of the rebels' activities - supply caches, encrypted radio transmissions, and finally, the operation's hidden command center, nestled within the maintenance tunnels of an old railway line.

The level design and environmental storytelling create a sense of trespassing into a dangerous, off-limits area. Details such as surveillance equipment and abandoned supplies, build an underlying tension to the player traversing through the map.

Made in Unreal Engine 5.3.

In the outdoors section I explored distinct atmospheric conditions, featuring a sunset version and a rainy interpretation.

For this project, my focus was developing my art sensibility by working on composition, level design, and set dressing to create a story driven environment. The 3D models using in the scene were sourced from Unreal Marketplace asset packs, the main being Bunker; City Subway Dakogon; Safe House; Scots Pine Real Biomes and Megascans. These allowed me to quickly build out the core components of the forest setting and railway maintenance area.

Discarded interior room iteration.

I reconsidered this "cyberpunk" approach and instead remade the area into the spaces shown in the images above, moving in a more apocaylptic path.

Main Frame process breakdown.

This was it for my 2024 art reel.  I hope you enjoyed viewing this reel and that it provided you with a compelling overview of my artistic progression and development throughout 2024.