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Number ONE game prop you should model as a beginner is a wooden crate.

Number TWO game prop you should model is a wooden barrel.

In this 4-part tutorial series you will get access to the complete process pipeline from beginning to end from modeling, UVing, texturing and exporting/importing a game ready asset into UE4.

Let's get to it...

Software Used

• Maya
• Substance Painter
• UE4

Table of Content 4-Parts:

• Modeling with Maya
• UVing with Maya
• Texturing with Substance Painter
• Exporting from Maya and Importing into UE4

Reference/Research

Every artist will tell you that modeling reference is essential to creating accurate objects.

Use images.google.com to search for the prop/asset you will be creating. Get as many images as needed. Use ArtStation for collecting style reference as well to see what has been done.

You also need to know a bit of context about your object, such as:

• What is the time frame of your environment? What year or time of history does this object live in?
• Is it damaged? Why? How was it damaged?
• What is the story behind your prop/asset?

In my book "Preproduction Blueprint" I go more in-depth about the entire preproduction process of an environment and level design.

Part 1: Modeling with Maya

Wooden Barrel is a cylindrical shape. So that is what I started with.

Initial size I used:

• Radius: 35
• Height: 100
• Subdivision Axis: 24

I introduced many additional edges into the geometry so I can reshape and change the silhouette curvature.

Additional edges were also inserted and then used for adding the metal rings around the wooden barrel.

I ended up beveling many corners of the wooden barrel for extra edge. This added to the triangle count but it makes the mesh look better because it avoids a hard 90 corner that many low-poly props have.

The hard edge can be improved through normal map bake from high-poly however I didn't want to create a high-poly mesh. I wanted to introduce this geometry with a bevel. I only used one segment for the bevel.

How do you decide if you need to add bevels or not?

You should always know what the outcome of your project/asset/prop will be.

• Do you need it low-poly? Do you have a target triangle count to hit?
• What is the target platform will you be using this prop/asset in? PC, mobile?

If you don't know this then you can't make a decision what to add or what to leave out.

I chose to go with a bit heavier triangle count. Low-poly was 1,504 before the addition of bevels. After I added additional detail, my triangle count jumped to 2,988

I also added a cork on the side of the barrel for additional detail along with some metal bolt straps:

After modeling is done, you are ready to UV.

Part 2: UVing in Maya

UVing is often a time consuming. But if you know few techniques and tricks then it can become a quick and enjoyable process.

In fact for this wooden barrel it was very quick.

• Cylindrical projection for the rounded part
• Planar projections for top and bottom
• Make cuts along edges where you want a texture seam
• Modify > Unfold

You simply select the faces to project then go to Create > Planar or Cylindrical:

Select edges where you want to make a cut then Modify > Unfold for any overlapping UVs. I use Modify > Unfold (Unfold3D) a lot. This one tool can help unwrapping objects a lot faster.

I kept the metal ring UVs separate from the wooden UVs to make it easier to texture. Anytime you have a separation of material/texture then you should also separate the UV shells.

Here is the final UV layout:

Part 3: Texturing with Substance Painter

Substance Painter is a time-saver. Texturing process used to be tedious and time-consuming if you had to create all textures and masking/blending yourself.

Now with Painter or Mixer you can speed this process up to just a few hours, depending on complexity of the mesh.

Smart Materials

Smart Materials give you a quick way to use something right away that contains many layers for you to adjust for your prop/asset.

I used 2 Smart Materials for the wooden planks, metal rings and 1 regular Material for the cork.

• Wooden Barrel: Wood Beech Veined
• Metal Rings: Steel Rust Surface
• Cork: Wood Rough

The key is changing Smart Materials to fit your object's needs. I went through all the layers from the Smart Material and changed color, added color variation, adjusted dirt, rust intensities etc. Go through it layer by layer.

You can enable/disable visibility of each layer to see what effect it produces.

Don't ever use Smart Materials as-is. They are good starting points but then you have to add your own unique additions to it. At the very least, change them with the layers provided.

Plank Detail

Since I didn't model individual planks on the wooden barrel, I had to do this within the texture.

I added wooden plank detail by:

• New Layer (Empty)
• Enable following Channels: Base Color, Height and Roughnes
• Choose darker color
• Change Height to -.5
• Roughness to .9 (not shiny)
• Use Dirt 1 brush or another brush to paint the planks

Additional Custom Dirt/Rust

I added more custom dirt and rust. This helps to introduce yoru own unique touch to the prop/asset.

For Wood Dirt I used a Generator:

• Add Fill Layer and choose color for dirt
• Add Black Mask
• Add Generator for the Mask
• I used Dripping Rust
• Adjust settings

For Steel Rings Rust I used a Smart Mask:

• Add Fill Layer and choose color
• Add Black Mask
• Add a Smart Mask to the Black Mask from the Shelf
• I used Edge Rust
• Adjust settings

Exporting Textures

You are now ready to export your textures from Substance Painter. Go to File > Export Textures.

Export with the following settings:

• Define output directory (where will the textures be saved)
• Output template: UE4 packed
• File type: png 8-bit
• Size: based on each texture set's size (which is 2k textures)
• Click Export

Packed texture means that you will have one texture that will contain 3 textured packed into each color channel. I like using an acronym ARM (RGB) to remember which channel belongs to which texture.

• R = Ambient Occlusion
• G = Roughness
• B = Metallic

Part 4: Export/Import into UE4

Go to File > Export Selection and export your meshes from Maya for UE4 with the following settings:

• Files of type: FBX export
• Geometry: Smooth Mesh and Smoothing Groups enabled

On UE4 Static Mesh import I enable the following settings:

• Generate Missing Collisions
• Generate Lightmap UVs (enable if you want UE4 to generate Lightmap UVs, disable if you have your own custom Lightmap UVs)
• Material Import Method: Do Not Create Material
• Do Not Import Textures

Important:  after importing textures into UE4, open up the Packed texture that contains Ambient Occlusion, Roughness and Metallic. Then disable sRGB.

Create a Material and connect the textures like so:

The best way to assign the Material is through the Static Mesh editor, so the Material is assigned to all instances of the mesh. Double-Click on the Static Mesh in the Content Browser and open up Static Mesh editor:

Or you can drag-drop the Material onto each Static Mesh placed in the level.

If you want to make your mesh have physics:

• Select the Static Mesh
• In Details Panel enable Simulate Physics (this will turn them to Movable meshes or dynamic)
• Change the MassinKG

Final mesh in UE4, ready to be used:

Maya Home Study Course Series

In Module 1 of "Maya Foundation Home Study Course" you'll learn how to get started with Maya. In Module 2 you will learn how to model. In Module 3 you will learn how to UV.

Get the Course»