Work in Progress - Scifi PBR Media

I like that you are designing it for a specific environment. What are the characteristics of a sci-fi reactor? A nuclear reactor is the closest thing we can base this on.

It's tall and cylindrical. What would the surrounding environment look like? It would probably have lots of pipes and wires, and platforms to reach each vertical level. There would be some kind of cooling system, and maybe a battery system to store electrical energy. Since there is probably a lot of vertical space, you might think about what texture should go on top of your texture above? What should be below it? Can they be mixed and matched to make interesting patterns? Will the floor the rest on have any curved walkways? Are there pipes and supports coming out of the wall?

When the textures guide and suggest the level geometry, that is when the level design magic starts.

9 hours ago, Josh said:

I like that you are designing it for a specific environment. What are the characteristics of a sci-fi reactor? A nuclear reactor is the closest thing we can base this on.

 

When the textures guide and suggest the level geometry, that is when the level design magic starts.

Yes that is actually a lot like how I envision this particular texture to be used, maybe in some sort of core room where the player has to go in and destroy some critical equipment or machinery. I keep thinking of some top-secret technology that is used as well.

Pipes and wires will all be modular assets that I will work on eventually as well. Super easy to model and I will probably start on those first after the corridor pieces I plan on creating using a trim sheet workflow (commonly used by a lot of studios these days and has been around forever).

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Since there is probably a lot of vertical space, you might think about what texture should go on top of your texture above? What should be below it? Can they be mixed and matched to make interesting patterns? Will the floor the rest on have any curved walkways? Are there pipes and supports coming out of the wall?

Believe me that due to the sheer amount of materials that I modeled and baked out, this probably will not be an issue haha. There are so many different types of floor and ceiling textures that it is sometimes hard to even comprehend. I made so many that I forgot what a few even look like!

In terms of level design though, most of the more complex shapes I intend to carry accross using modular assets or purpose built pieces that will create more interesting corridor or room shapes beyond just square rooms or grid-like spaces. Buttresses, trusses, consoles, large vents and animated fans all come to mind:

Below is one of the concept arts which I grabbed from the internet somewhere a long time ago which might give an idea of the setting and different types of assets I am trying to create. No idea who the original artist was but I guess if they see it here then I will give them their credit!