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Starting new projects scene is tedious and repetitive.

I hate it.

Not the implementation of the new idea but the project and scene file setups.

These include starting a folder structure, setting up scene grid and scene scale, setting up the default map lighting, creating and importing the standard mesh files to use and test with and much more.

I don't want to do this every time completely from scratch. Nor do I want to look for previously used project files to modify to my current project.

So instead, I have a set of template and files that has everything I need to start a new project and new scenes with - ready to go.

Because you need to go from idea to prototyping in the shortest amount of time.

Having these ahead of time immensely helps to begin prototyping ideas with almost no setup.

Creating these template files will help you do this.

You will also constantly be adding new files, new templates and updating existing ones to make your work easier to start.

Currently I have 11 different base file templates ready to be used.

Video Tutorial

1. Maya Scene

Base Maya scene contains correct grid size and human scale reference placed into Display Layers ready to go.

2. Unreal Engine Human Scale Reference FBXs

I like using Unreal Engines human reference for scale. It helps me to create my environments/levels to correct dimensions and proportion.

I exported this model from UE5 and have them as FBX files to use in Maya, Substance Painter or in whatever else I need.

If you want to have this yourself to use as FBX files, see this tutorial.

3. Standard Modular Environment Assets (FBX)

These are a set of simple, standard FBX modular assets.

They are set to standard dimensions for walls, floors, ceiling, windows, doors and stairs.

All can be imported into any game engine and used to blockout your environments with as place holders.

4. Standard Modular Environment Assets (UE5)

These are same standard modular environment assets (FBX) but imported into UE5. They have clean, off-white material applied to the Static Meshes and all meshes have blocking volumes.

With these I can start UE5 environment scenes and begin prototyping using the modular assets as place holders.

5. UV Grid Textures

These grid textures are used for UVing in Maya. Instead of using the default checker pattern, I use this UV grid texture instead.

It helps to UV the meshes with a lot more precision. It shows me which parts of the mesh need to be UVed, if the UVs are stretching, if the UVs are flipped and judge correct texel density. Something that's a lot more difficult to tell when using default UV checker pattern.

You can grab all these to use for free on WoLD Patreon.

6. Tiling Planes for Floor and Walls (FBX)

These are tiling planes that are 3x3 quads with each quad UV overlapping on top of each other to show texture repetition. This is extremely useful to see how your tiling textures will repeat and if you have texture seams that need to be fixed.

These are FBX files that can be imported into Maya, Substance Painter, UE5 or any other game engine or software you need.

7. Substance Painter Scenes with Tiling Planes

I have 2 Substance Painter scenes that have these FBX tiling planes being used. First scene has the floor and second scene has the wall.

These Painter scenes are ready to go with FBX tiling planes imported. Each scene also contains UE5 human reference to help me judge texture scale and density.

8. UE5 Default Lighting Map (Lumen)

This is UE5 default map scene with standard Lumen lighting.

It one includes Directional Light, Sky Light, Sky Atmosphere, Height Fog, Player Start and Post Process Volume to control Auto-Exposure.

Some of these actors are already being used if you create Basic Map by going to File > New in Unreal Engine. But few properties for some of these actors have been adjusted to make lighting more accurate and Post Process Volume has been inserted to control Auto-Exposure.

9. UE5 HDRI Lighting Map

This UE5 map file contains setup to light environments using only HDRI.

This is a type of lighting that uses only a Sky Light and HDR image to light the scene with.

Extremely powerful and realistic method of lighting environments.

You can learn how to use HDR images to light your environments in UE5 with in this tutorial course.

10. UE5 Master Materials

For environment scenes and props you'll be constantly setting up UE5 materials that have the same standard expression setups. Some of these include texture tiling, offset, rotation, Normal Map intensity, Roughness controls, Albedo color adjustments and much more.

So instead of constantly having to create these from scratch, I have a set of base materials that I can use to start with and then modify if needed.

You can learn how to create your own UE5 Master Materials in this tutorial course.

11. UE5 Default LUT

This is a single PNG image that contains Color Grading information to be used in UE5. You simply make color adjustments to a screenshot you've taken from UE5 with this LUT image inside the Photoshop document. THen save this LUT image with color ajdustments and use it in UE5 to color correct your scene.

You can learn how to make adjustments, save this LUT and then use it in UE5 in this following tutorial.

Past, Present and Future

Back in the day I also had map template files setup and ready to use for L4D2 maps, UDK, Crysis and more.

These are just a few you could start with.

There are many more files and templates you can create so you have them ready to go when needed.

So spend a bit of time creating, collecting and setting these up. Place them into a folder to always have it handy and ready.

Use it when needed to start new projects and test your ideas quickly.

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