iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 23/03/2025

isometric TF2 using camortho

090

Reposted by Ben Adman

Ian McQue @ianmcque.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Mileships wip snip

Digital painting, a flying ship junkyard

101634188

Reposted by Ben Adman

DC @dctechart.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

My #PCG Level Building tools are now up! Check them out on #Fab: www.fab.com/sellers/DC%2... or #ArtStation: www.artstation.com/undertow/store #UE5 #techart #leveldesign #gamedev #UnrealEngine5

0104

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 15/03/2025

Photo texturing with the happy science building in tribeca

3D model textured with a photo of the happy science building in tribeca

020

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 14/03/2025

Big inspiration from Playdead's Inside. What a game

010

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 14/03/2025

More vent sketches in blender from a scrapped direction

110

Reposted by Ben Adman

passivestar @passivestar.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

half life 2 was so ahead of its time that it's kind of a struggle to make it look bad 21 years later back then generational leaps happened every 3-4 years and not 20 🥲

1530416

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

Yep, there’s a few preset graybox materials

110

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

That about covers it. Very happy with the result, but that level of fidelity is exhausting. Everything becomes a can of worms. My biggest takeaway is that Scythe + procedural tools are a really effective combo for making levels with a lot of creative freedom and room to iterate.

160

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

Finally, here's the fab assets I used. The rest are megascan assets. www.fab.com/listings/394... www.fab.com/listings/515... www.fab.com/listings/9bd...

161

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The background buildings are put together from modular megascan assets and packed into PLIs.

140

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

To add detail and hide texture repetition I used a lot of decals. I was surprised how many decals are used in some of the Quixel UE5 environments, obviously decals are an essential component but they really go crazy with them.

150

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

For the lighting, I made some basic light BPs with static mesh + spotlights. I also made heavy use of emissive planes to fill in areas.

150

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The HDAs I made are pretty basic spline tools. Pipe tool, stiff cable tool, soft cable tool. The soft cables are really basic. I tried a version that physically drapes cables, only to return to manually drawn splines because it’s simpler to art direct and bezier curves convey weight easily.

130

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The shell was a challenge to model, because it has such a strange structure which is what makes the facade compelling. Initially I made a simpler version, but then I realized the specific forms are what drew me to the building. The “medieval bauhaus” look is pretty unique.

150

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The first pass in Unreal was pretty mid. The whole thing was stuck on 90 degree angles and frankly uninspired. I made the mistake of pushing it into set dressing and lighting early before realizing it was a fundamentally bad layout. So afterwards I downloaded Scythe and redid all the level geo.

140

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

I did some initial blender sketches while developing the overall feeling and direction, particularly the "normal building hiding portal to underworld" theme

140

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The building is part of a ventilation system for the Holland Tunnel, the world's first mechanically ventilated tunnel. The first two chief engineers on the project actually died during the project's construction. I'm guessing it's haunted.

130

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The real building was constructed in 1927 and designed by the architect Erling Owre, a Norwegian architect combining Romanesque and Gothic elements with Bauhaus and Constructivist ideas. The result is a spooky, minimalist castle. Ref from the Library of Congress entry: www.loc.gov/item/ny1516/

150

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

The main tools I used are Unreal Engine 5.5, Scythe (@kronok.bsky.social), Houdini HDAs, and Megascan/Fab assets. Here's the graybox vs final using Scythe to block out the level.

2203

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

My latest project, Grayworld I is a level design/environment art study of the Holland Tunnel land ventilation building, turned into a segment of a game level in UE5. Walkthrough and breakdown below.

Holland Tunnel Land Ventilation Building: exterior

Holland Tunnel Land Ventilation Building: interior

Holland Tunnel Land Ventilation Building: upper vent

Holland Tunnel Land Ventilation Building: lower vent

517625

Ben Adman @benadman.com · 13/03/2025

Time to start posting

000