Unit 3: Building Your Future in the Games Industry

Research

What I want to do

I want to focus primarily on 3D modelling using software like Blender/3D MAX however, with it being such as big area I am open for 2 other opportunities which are Unreal Engine or Texturing this is still very board but I’d like to focus on the Blueprint system that Unreal has compered to C++ but is still a need to know skill.

3D Modelling is the main area that I want to do however, it is still a very general idea. My main goal of 3D modelling is to create vehicles or characters. In order to get the best results I will need to understand the fundamentals of what I want to make. This knowledge can be good as it will allow more believable results this is because you can’t make a Humanoid character without understand anatomy otherwise your character might look out of preposition. It would look out of preposition because certain parts might not be in the right place.

I want to model characters because of 3D animes such as RWBY. Which is the art style which I want to get into when modelling 3D characters. I have always enjoyed anime ranging from different genres of it. I enjoy the anime art style as it allows in imperfections. You can also get characters to do inhuman movements that allow for better story telling such as fight scenes.

RWBY is made in 3D Max. This was for character model creation and giving it that anime look. Once the models are done they are bought in Autodesk Maya for animation. This is what gives it’s own unique look. There are also other anime which uses similar pipelines or some do a mix of both 3D and 2D which animes such as Gachiakuta has done for the anime for the trash beasts.

I want to model a verity of vehicles such as

Car production can help car companies showcase design concepts in a three dimensional view allowing people to understand the product and what the company wants to produce to get money from inverters. Car design teams, engineers, and marketing departments can unite around the same digital model, making feedback loops more efficient. 3D rendering can be used for both exterior and interior renderings to showcase the work. The benefit of car companies doing this is lower costs for prototyping. There are also marketing advantages such as being used for commercial uses.

Learning the development of how it was built will help when trying to model a realistic copy. This is because these ships often had ship plans which can be accessed online. This can be useful because you can recreate realistic naval battles or the ships that can go into museums as a historic replica. This can also be good for game development for games such as Naval Action. It can also be used for films.

Learning spaceship modelling will allow me to learn many different techniques as each will be different. This is because they come in different styles. I mostly want to work on realistic spaceships. This means I will need skills such as hard surfacing to allow realistic light bounces it also allows for imperfections allowing little bits of detail. This can also be used in movie production as it would be cheaper than trying to make a real life replica.

Free lancing

I want to do free lancing as I can have a environment that works around me as I can do it anywhere and can manage time more wisely. Being in a environment that works around me could help produce better quality models.

Be a solo developer is hard as you got stand out from other Free lancing and is hard to go into straight away and not a reliable source of income unless well known. But, despite this it would still be the dream job as I can use the software I want to use and can work remotely. A way of working around this is by having a strong portfolio which contains your best models and a way of selling yourself.

Rockstar

Rockstar has a few main branches in UK. Spread throughout the UK however, I’d need to find a place and fend for myself. Each branch in the UK has a different purpose which focuses on different games which they work on. They also do have overseas branches.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game which is heavily developed in Leeds however, they do touch on GTA. As a supportive development for Rockstar North which mostly works on the GTA games. Currently they are not looking for 3D modelers however, if a opportunity comes up it would be worth doing however, there would be pros and cons to both.

Pros	Cons
Working at Rockstar is that it has a very good reputation within the market and well known for making popular games.	Fending for myself this would mean that I would need to find a place to live and live by myself.
A fair paid wage. Being around £38k a year

Software used

Autodesk 3ds	Modelling, rigging and animation for character, vehicle and environment asset creation
Substance Painter	Procedural texturing, material and texture painting.
Adobe Photoshop	Texture work, concept art and UI elements.
SpeedTree	Vegetation modelling and procedural trees/foliage for open worlds
FMOD	audio middleware for interactive audio and music
ZBrush	High‑resolution sculpting for models and detail maps.
RAGE	Game engine

Sumo – Nottingham

Sumo has a few main branches in UK however, the branch in Nottingham is the one I want to focus on this is because know people within the local area which can help support me at this location compered to Rockstar.

Software used

There is no confirmation of what software that Sumo uses however, there are facts about the type of games they have worked on and based on that we can make a estimate of which software they have used.

Games that produced (Nottingham)

Hogwarts legacy: Sumo was a Co-Developer within the game and not much information is known on what they produced to the game other than they assisted. Hogwarts legacy was created in Unreal Engine 4. They also featured in GDC (Game Developer Confidence) which gave a overview of their workflow on the game. However, Sumo didn’t do the talk themselves in the GDC.

Forza Horizon 5: In partnership with Playground Games helped by creating the Vehicle Handling this is because James Conway gave a overview of a behind the scenes look. The hook of the article is “From spending his entire student loan on a car on the first day at Uni, to becoming Sumo’s vehicle handling expert, James Conway is the man with a car plan.” This used ForzaTech engine which is their own built in pipeline.

The role and responsibilities

A 3D Modeller is give a brief or a type of concept can do a verity of tasks digitally build and sculpt many different things. This creates assets which are then passed to other sectors such as animation for character rigging or a non-movable object for the layout artists. 3D modellers have to work with different department very often to ensure models are made in a suitable way to be manipulated such as for example if they was modelling a 3D character they got make sure that the geometry is good enough to deform with rigs with good edge flow.

Skills which a 3D modeller needs is good communication skills weather that is free lancing or working at a company you need to make sure you know the client or other departments want in order for the model to be used. They also need to follow the brief exactly as explained or reference materials. They also need to be creative so they can Interpret abstract ideas into the creation no matter the art style. They also need to know how to UV map and how the subdivisions can effect this.

Other skills they will need is to understand colour theory and texturing how they can come together to create a singular model. They also need to know how the proportion, depth, scale, and physical space. Carrying knowledge this is because things such as anatomy for humanoids.

Software for industry

There are many types of software which can be used from different price ranges. Software such as Blender is free and open source however, software like Autodesk 3ds or 3D Max cost money as you need a license to use them.

Blender: Is free and open source. This is good for beginner 3D modellers as there is plenty of help out on YouTube and the Blender community. However, if you have the licence to 3D Max and Autodesk 3ds are the more preferred ones within the industry. But, Blender is a good way to start your 3D modelling career.

ZBrush:Is a paid software but also offers a alternative called ZBrush Core Mini for new people who don’t have the money to pay for a licence for the software. It is mostly aimed at sculpting and described as Elementary Sculpting for Early Education before the paid licence. It also does texturing and painting.

Substance Painter: tools you need to texture which requires a paid license in order to use it.

Industry expectations and workflows

3D modeless have a particular workflow they need to do which is clean topology normally usually quads are acceptable. They also ned to do a UV layouts, understanding of PBR. They expect to have a portfolio to showcase work you did. Ways of doing this is to have an art station account or to build your own little website to show people the work which you have done.

Entry routes

To begin with 3D modelling you can start out independent to start building your portfolio which can also help monitor progress within your journey to 3D modelling.

In regards to the education path University is a strong way to get into the industry this is because it can build a strong portfolio. Universities also have a strong connection within the industry which can make it easier to find places which are hiring. They will also be using the industry standard software with some licensed software as well as most companies use them in their pipelines.

Some studios look for Junior artist to do the grunt work. As most Juniors will be doing a bit of everything as they grow they can focus more and more on their career some will also need to do University on the side.

Examples of professional work

Plan

Outcome

The outcome is to of the intended practical is that I can showcase my skill with Blender, substance painter and Unreal Engine. This is because I am passionate about modelling however, I need to assure that the model is game ready. In order to do that I’ve decided to use the 3 industry standard software.

Requirement of Outcome

I will be creating a singular 18th century vessel which I hope to also use substance painter in order to texture the model allowing it to look good. I will also be importing it into Unreal Engine 5.6.1. This means that there are certain aspects of each which I will have to work around.

To import the model from blender to substance painter I will need to do FBX format with properly unwrapped UVs and clean geometry so no overlapping geometry however, when modelling I need to make sure that I can have a good flow this is because Unreal Engine 5 prefers quads as when importing it tried to triangulate the mesh. However, some tris and N-Gons are fine just not the entire mesh.

The file management and organisation

The outcome links to my chosen career role because I can present that I can make a game ready model. Which clients/companies can use. This shows that I can manage a workload and work with different types of software which is industry standard.

Time Management

Week 1: This is the week which I started to do my research on what I would like to do in the future. I also realised this week that the path I want to go down is 3D modelling. I then started to write my research to get a greater understanding of what it means to be a 3D modeller.

Week 2: I started looking into different 18th century ships which would allow me to see the different parts of the ship in more detail and plan how I want to model it. After deciding which ship to do I then started to make it. I inserted it into blender and managed and started modelling which you can find in the production section. As well as I finished my research and plan.

Week 3: This is the week I started to create the ship. I managed to do the hull and keel which allowed me to get the structure of the ship. It looked very good at this point however, lacked detail on these parts. But then I got side-tracked and tried to do the masts however, after having a solid start I later scrapped this idea.

Week 4: This is the week I had a realisation about some feedback I got when trying to do a complete ship. This made me shift my focus and started refining the hull instead of trying to create a complete ship. So I decided to add more details to the hull and keel instead of making a fully made ship.

Week 5: I started doing the refined version of it as there was still little parts of information missing therefore, I doubled check my work and assured that I met the deadline.

Target audience

My original target audience was to present a game ready ship that was textured and could be imported via a game engine however, I realised in week 4 is that it was a lot to chew off with the time management and having other units to do on the side.

Concept

Production

Making the body of the ship

Next I added a mirror modifier and set the object to the keel this is because it will allow perfect symmetry for the hull. After apply it and delete half the ribs and read the mirror modifier and set it up the same this is because we want the ribs on our editing side all editable. After that select all the ribs and bridge edge loops together. This is so we can join the ribs together and now we can see the start of the hull forming. You would also add the mirror again so what ever we change on one part will be changed again.

Next extruding the end of the hull to the bow and adding tweaks to it to make sure you don’t brake the hull shape. By following the ship plan in the top view. When you extrude you can knife the bow to get rid of vertices. The bow of the ship was to make it easier for the ship to cut through the water. The bow was also one of the weaker parts to the ship as well as the stern.

Now by repeating the above process to the stern the ship hull is completed without the decorations. I will be adding that further down the line. Now the topology is alright however, we can do better with less gemortry being used.

First extrude every outer edge of the ship this will look strange at first however, it will make the topology easier later one for texturing and importing a optimised clean model inside of Unreal Engine. We now extruded all parts of the ship this is because we are now going to be shrink-wrapping it. This is because it will allow for better topology and easier workflow.

We add a plane and start to trace the hull shape by doing this we allow ourself to add less geometry but still able to get the hull shape. This shows how we have optimised are model and made it easier to work with in the future this means if I had to hand down the model I could. We added a shrink wrap modifier and made the target the original hull and made sure that it is above the mirror modifier as modifiers are arranged from first applied down. I then added the solidify modifier which gave it thickness. This modifier caused issues however, will be fixed near the end of the hull making.

We now add cubes where the cannon port will be placed and by adding the cubes then using a bool will subtract the unwanted geometry allow us to have cannon ports.

Making the stern is important I pulled in the loose vertices towards the keel allowing them to merge. I did the same for near the top however, tried to give it the stern shape. I also used the bool from the cubes to add cannon ports to stern.

For the deck we created a plan and extruded it following the deck line on the ship plan just beneath the cannon ports. Then we added a solidify modifier and a bool and cut of the remaining plane. However, I did need to do some tidy up because it wasn’t perfect.

As you can see there are issues within the hull and will need to be fixed this fix is pretty easy because we just need to add some new geometry. Due to this geometry issue the stern is also incorrect as most sterns was was flat.

Now we added some more cuts this has made our geometry cleaner as there is no issues with clipping or overlapping faces.

We have no finished the entire body of the ship and can move into adding masts and decoration.

Reflection

When working on my unit 1 the teacher taught me that modelling a entire ship is completely possible however, models are often made in sections for example cannons, sails ectara therefore, I decided to take that feedback to heart and created the hull of the ship which is the main body and structure. Which I only truly understood the mission week 4 due to this it only gave me a few days to make the hull more detailed. As I also had to shuffle between work experience and unit 7.

This project significantly changed how I look at modelling and how time = quality and time can be taken away from distractions such as other units or hanging out with friends and how you need to balance time. At the beginning I wanted to do 3D modelling as it is like playing the hand of god and building things with your own hand. However, through my research I realised that there is a lot more in modelling than I thought and having a specialised area is a strong pursuit as there are different art styles and objects that can be made.

When making this project I tried to do a mid poly ship that looked historically acuate however, I think I should have done a low poly styled ship this is because low poly is quicker and could have helped me manage my time better with my other units to. I also realised how research and planning is important and how it is one of my weaker areas. Having a solid plan and research could of helped me better manage my time and created a better model with a greater understanding on how the functionality of a ship works and to think more like a carpenter and engineer to make it more acuate.

During my research I learned how much responsibly the modeller have in game design, movies and more. I also learned the entry routes and realised how a strong portfolio is important. Ways of doing this is by freelancing and apprenticeships but even then you will need some personal projects to back up that you know the industry software such as blender.

If I were to improve this ship further I would add more detail which is a common theme amongst feedback as I often overlook it. I also think I should have started with a smaller project as I realised the time crunch.

I find modelling interesting and that I want to continue doing it however, my experience isn’t there yet as I am still learning and understanding different things such as if you was to model a ship you need to think like a old carpenter that made wooden ships and how they’d function. For this project I understood a lot more than my work experience however, there is still major room for improvement. Such as time management and adding details which are both invisible and visible to the human eye as small details matter.

Overall, this ship only increased my interest in modelling as a whole however, it shown me where I lack the most and how important small things matter and that people do pay attention to it. This was feedback I got across the board from online and in person.

References

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Royal Museums Greenwich prints. (2026). Lines plan of vessels ‘Surly’ (1806) and ‘Cheerful’ (1806). [online] Available at: https://prints.rmg.co.uk/products/lines-plan-of-vessels-surly-1806-and-cheerful-1806-j2160 [Accessed 9 Jan. 2026].

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