#modularassets

Anton Popov

artist

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Modular Asset Modelling - Post 3

Introduction

This blog documents the modelling stage of Development Project 2, where the planned modular components were translated into individual 3D assets. The focus of this phase was to create clean, reusable building parts that could later be combined to form complete structures.

At this stage, the priority was accuracy, consistency, and reusability, rather than final detail or texturing.

Asset Modelling Approach

Each modular element was modelled as a separate asset, allowing it to be reused multiple times across the building. The modelling approach focused on keeping the geometry simple while clearly defining architectural forms.

The main goals during modelling were:

Clean silhouettes

Consistent proportions across assets

Minimal but effective geometry

Reusability across multiple building variations

This ensured that all assets could work together as part of a single modular system.

Primary Modular Assets

The primary assets created include:

Plain wall sections

Window wall modules

Door or entrance sections

These assets form the core structure of the building facade and were designed to repeat vertically and horizontally without visual issues.

Structural & Secondary Assets

In addition to primary facade elements, supporting assets were created to handle structure and variation:

Corner modules to define building edges

Base and top sections to ground the structure

Secondary elements such as balconies and fire escape components

These assets add depth and realism while remaining modular and reusable.

Pivot Placement & Consistency

Correct pivot placement was considered during modelling to ensure assets could be positioned easily later. Pivots were placed logically based on how each asset would connect to others, such as:

Bottom edges for wall segments

Inner corners for corner modules

Attachment points for secondary elements

Consistent pivot logic helps speed up environment construction and reduces alignment issues.

Preparing Assets for Reuse

Before moving to assembly, each asset was checked for:

Consistent scale

Clean topology

Correct orientation

Matching proportions with other modules

This preparation ensures that the assets can be reused efficiently and combined in different configurations without requiring rework.

Conclusion

(KNB221 CG-Toolkit)

If you were to go back to the start of this assessment to do it again, what would you do differently to complete the task?" 

Due to lack of consideration, I did not consider the sizes of the assets initially, so it has taken me much times to resize the assets and assembling. The sizes are very important for modular assets to make each other assembled seamlessly for re-use.

So if re-do this modular assets again, I will start with the sizes at the very beginning. Plan before modelling, and calculate the sizes of the main assets to make sure they are proportional to each other, which are good for scaling and flexible dimensions. 

Also, as will also make a beveled version especially for baking the texture, as in real-life everything will have bevel edges, so using high-poly version for baking texture and then use for low-poly models can improve on the appearances as well as the real-time rendering efficiency. 

Further more, I think it will be efficient if assembling from bottom to top, which enables initial snapping to the ground without moving the whole assets afterwards, which the mouse-clicking is just too messy. In my case I just assembled randomly which has caused much extra work such as keeping snapping downwards to the ground after many assets have been assembled.

(KNB221-CG Toolkit)

During last week, I have shown the break down version of the modular assets to the tutor and it is suggested to adjust each of the asset to be proportional to each other for better dimensions for assembling.

So I have adjusted the assets with regular and realistic dimensions such as the window has the dimensions of 200cm x 130cm x 20cm.

Except for the dimensions, I have also added frames to the windows.

I have also started with the unwrapping process, and started the texturing process in Substance Painter.

I was planned earlier to add more details to the assets such as smoothing or bevel effect to make better shape, however I feel the low-poly version works fine with the textures. And I have searched on the internet for some modular assets examples. some of them still looks good without smoothing effect.

Also, for modular assets creation, I think it is necessary to consider about polygon count problem. Even though Unreal Engine 4 is powerful enough to run millions of polygon count, however, in order to maximize the flexibility and customization of the assets, in terms of complexity and quantity, it is better to keep the polygon count as less as possible while ensuring the appearance still  looks fine. 

So I have chose to use the current version of the assets for texturing.

One thins needs to be mention is that the textures I have created previously for the wall are not seamless (I forgot to capture the screenshot) which is not good for modular assets. I think it is necessary to make sure the textures are seamless when assembling together, such as the bricks of the wall, hence it is important to seam the uv maps during the unwrapping process. 

And this is the improved version of the textures which are seamless after assembling together.

So far I am still working on the unwrapping and texturing process, while I have imported the completed assets into Unreal Engine 4 for assembling.

For this week, I will try to complete all the texturing and import them into Unreal engine 4 for assembling according to the concept art image

Assessment 2 - Milestone 2A 

(KNB221 CG Toolkit)

This is my progress of the Modular assets so far. I have roughly created all the almost all necessary assets in the concept art and assemble them together according to the reference image. 

However as I mentioned above, this is only the rough version of the model, in order to improve on the realistic appearance of the model, I would add bevel and smoothing effects to the modular assets to make it look better. 

Moreover, as for the plants in the reference image, in the following weeks I would create an improved version of it with variations to maximize the flexibility and re-usability as well as the quality of the modular assets.

And this is the rough breakdown of the assets, excluding of simple cubes and planes with various dimensions.

There will be definitely more individual assets after adding the texture to it, even though the shapes are simple and same, but the textures will not be the same such as making same 4-sided planes for walls and ceilings, but the textures will be different, even though the dimensions can be adjusted and adaptive.

Moreover, after adding more details to the shapes of the assets, some of the shapes will not be able to be shared between similar assets, so there will be increasing number of assets after adding details in terms of textures and shapes.

With some of the modular assets I have roughly assembled them into different kinds of buildings, the car-park(left) and a house with a yard (right).