Space Hulk 3D Printed Terrain: Part 2 Blockout

In the second part, I refine my idea bit further and create a blockout.



The first part of doing any type of 3d modeling for me is a blockout. A blockout (or blockin or graybox) is used in the video game industry to determine if a level is playable and fun. Basic shapes (cubes, cylinders, etc.) are used to create a level so game designers can “play it� to get a sense of the space without artists spending a ton of time creating detailed props that won’t be used. This way changes can be made quickly before the final design is locked in. Once the final design is locked in, finished assets are created along with lighting to finish off the level and make it look like it will appear once the final game ships. I’ve only touched on the environment art pipeline briefly. 80 Level has an excellent article on The Stages of Environment Art in Gamedev if you want to learn more.

I’ve modeled a few miniatures in 3d for production before, and one of the hardest things to get used to is that what you are looking at on the screen is not representative of how the final miniature will look. Take for example these drone miniatures I sculpted for Megacon Games. And yes, I never cleaned up the mold lines I’m a bad person. Some of the details just don’t read at such a small size. Now that I ‘ll have a 3d printer any day now I’ll be able to avoid a lot of that, but it is worth keeping in mind when sculpting for print at small sizes.