Cryptostraps

Task Description

The client required a visually striking collection of modular 3D guns aimed at attracting a younger audience, particularly fans of multiplayer first-person shooters (FPS). My responsibilities included modeling and texturing five base guns and over 30 unique attachments, creating modular animations, and optimizing the entire rendering pipeline. The assets needed to be flexible for different configurations while maintaining a "cool" aesthetic that would resonate with gamers.

Gallery

Thought Process

Due to the tight two-month timeline, my priority was efficiency. All attachments needed to be interchangeable across the base gun models. To streamline asset management, I used Blender for all stages of the workflow, eliminating time-consuming import/export steps. After discussing rendering options with the client, we chose Blender’s Eevee engine for real-time rendering, significantly cutting down on render times without sacrificing visual quality.

I created procedural materials instead of traditional textures, allowing me to avoid UV unwrapping and quickly make any necessary changes. For modular animations, I segmented the attachments by their position on the gun, ensuring animations would seamlessly adjust to different configurations.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was time management, as the project involved delivering over 100 detailed assets in less than two months. Creating interchangeable attachments for various base gun models required careful planning to ensure they worked across all combinations. Additionally, the rendering process had to be optimized for speed without losing visual fidelity, as the final output was a video animation, not real-time assets. Another hurdle was maintaining clean and organized files to enable batch rendering with a technical artist's automated workflow script.

Optimizations

To meet the project’s deadlines, I focused on several optimizations:
- Procedural Materials: By using procedural materials, I saved time on UV unwrapping and ensured flexibility for last-minute changes.
- Real-Time Rendering in Eevee: We reduced rendering time by 20x while still matching ray-traced quality.
- Modular Animations: Segmenting the attachments by position allowed me to create reusable, looping animations, reducing animation production time by 50%.
- Batch Rendering: I coordinated with a technical artist to set up an automated batch rendering process, keeping files clean and organized for maximum efficiency.

Tools Used

- Blender: 3D modeling, texturing, animations.
- Eevee: Real-time rendering, significantly reducing render times.
- Python: Rendering process automation, ensuring quick and accurate outputs across multiple assets.
- PureRef: Extensive real-world reference images to ensure the guns and attachments looked realistic.