How can i model structures for a game ?

Development Asset Creation
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Howdy !

I’ll be quick don’t worry. I’m new on UE and i would like to modelize some buildings and structures. However i don’t know which way is the best and how to do that. Is it better to use an external modelign software like Blender or it is possible to make it directly on the engine and how ? Do you have some advices ? (For more detail, i’m making a level on the moon so i don’t want to make a simple house that wouldn’t fit the environnement, i need to modeling something looking more like a real lunar base).

Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer me.

Kind,
Ascien

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Hi Ascien,

I’d take a look at the in-editor modeling tools first.

Let us know how it goes!

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Thank you for your answer. Do you have any advice that can help me understand the tools ? Any documentation ? I struggle to found one explaining me how the in-editor modeling tools work and how to use it exactly

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You’re welcome.

If you click the blue text in my post above, that will open the ‘getting started’ documentation. After you go through that, there are many youtube vids to increase your familiarity/knowledge.

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Some tips for blender and mostly what i used when i went to learn it, once you understand what the tools are in blender its just a matter of seeing if you can find the same tool in unreal and if it exists

You can pick up quite a few Unreal modeling tips Here

  1. Do beginners tutorials. I cannot stress this enough. Not only will this save you a great deal of time and frustration, but probably from rage quitting as well. Even if they don’t teach you the specific thing you want, after doing the beginners tutorials you will at least have a feel for the program, understand the basic navigation controls and have the vocabulary to ask the right questions. Make notes as you go, particularly of hot keys. This is the the monkey-see-monkey-do phase.

  2. Repeat the tutorial from memory. Makes notes on the bits that didn’t stick the first time that you have to look up. This is the challenge, how much can you remember?

  3. Now make something similar, but not the same. Similar in that you don’t need tools you haven’t learned yet, but not the same so you have to start making your own choices. Instead of a donut, make a cupcake or something. This is what forces you to not just get stuck with the tutorials.

  4. Move on to the next tutorial. Give each one your best shot, and move on. These are learning exercise, sketches, not finished masterpieces, don’t get stuck obsessing over it at this stage as repetition of the basics is key and you won’t get to do that by spending hours obsessing over one settings. Save that for later.

  5. Doodle. Spend a part of your allocated daily time with blender just messing about with what you know so far. Don’t think about “making a project” that brings all kinds of expectations with it you don’t need. Just doodle in 3D.

  6. Ask questions. No one minds helping those who are making an effort. Tell us what you are doing, what you expected to happen, what did happen, what you did to try and fix it. Post a screenshot and include the whole Blender window - a picture speaks a thousand words. (If you are tempted to whip out your mobile phone right now, STOP, go and look up how to do screen shots eh?)

  7. Don’t get discouraged. Your ability to see what looks goods will advance more quickly than your ability to actually do it. This should be expected. Also don’t compare yourself to others, the only measure of progress that counts is, do you know something today that you didn’t yesterday? Can you do something better today than you did yesterday?

Remember that these initial tutorials are about learning Blender and its tools and workflows, don’t get put off because you don’t want to make donuts, the subject matter is circumstantial.

Once you’re comfortable with the interface and the basic tools then use your end goal to direct what tutorials you do after. Most tutorials are not aimed at beginners and you will likely not have a clue what’s going on without some familiarity with the UI. I would personally recommend doing at least BlenderGurus Donut, Chair and Anvil tutorials before diving into more specific material. Other people will suggest other good sources but these are the ones I’ve done so can recommend.

Grant Abitt is also really good and has a new Blender 3.0 Beginners Guide. It won’t hurt you to do both.

This is also worth a listen - Blender Guru “How would I train you for a 3D art competition if there was only 4 weeks to do it?” https://youtu.be/Nj_l6YHMj-c

BlenderGuru’s 3.0 Classic Donut tutorial- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIoXOplUvAw

Grant Abitts 3.0 Beginners Guide- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnj2BL4chaQ

Josh Gambrell Beginners introduction to Hard Surface Modelling- https://youtu.be/1qVbGr_ie30

Grant Abitt The Complete Beginners Guide to Animation in Blender 2.8 https://youtu.be/zp6kCe5Kmf4

Grant Abitt Beginners Guide to Nodes https://youtu.be/moKFSMJwpmE

Blenderguru Beginner Blender Geometry Node Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO0eUnu0hO0

For all things to do with 3D printing with Blender https://www.youtube.com/c/MakerTales

The Blender Manual is the goto for detailed reference. Blender 4.1 Manual

For Further Study-

BlenderGuru’s Chair Tutorial- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf2esGA7vCc

BlenderGuru’s Anvil Tutorial- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjEaoINr3zgHJVJF3T3CFUAZ6z11jKg6a

Josh Gambrell NGONS vs QUADS- https://youtu.be/IsubUPuRlgU

Josh Gambrell UV Unwrapping Masterclass for Hard Surface Modelling https://youtu.be/HDURGTLNu2Q

BlenderGuru’s Photorealism Explained- https://youtu.be/R1-Ef54uTeU

BlenderGuru’s Lighting for Beginners https://youtu.be/Ys4793edotw

Erindale - Understanding Texture Coordinates https://youtu.be/8od3pGdiRG8

CG Matter Procedural nodes course- https://youtu.be/BqijDcTdfZ8

Reference videos-

Daniel Kraft - All 2.8 modifiers- https://youtu.be/8BQYAwDW6IE

Daniel Kraft - All 2.8 material nodes- https://youtu.be/cQ0qtcSymDI

Daniel Kraft - All 2.8 material nodes- https://youtu.be/gDXTMo31QSM

Daniel Kraft - 100 Blender tips https://youtu.be/_9dEqM3H31g

Daniel Kraft - 150 More Blender tips https://youtu.be/X0JqAF5cvGQ

Daniel Kraft - 200 More Blender tips https://youtu.be/fKH1XobKWnc

Josh Gambrell - The Simple 4-Step Process for Perfect UV Unwrapping https://youtu.be/Fr2SX1rZZM0

Cheers have fun learning :slight_smile:

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Wow ! Thank you SO much for all the resources and your explainations ! In fact i’ve already followed some of tutorial for BlenderGuru as the donut one ^^‘. I’ll check all the orthers. I’ll make me my evening’s read. Thank you again pal’

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Takes a bit to fully digest honestly… i still haven’t fully mastered blender… my brain is just so much better at programming and level design type stuff ( 3D space and math ) vs art
this is also super useful pretty sure i got it from one of the videos
Copy of Blender Shortcuts.pdf (88.8 KB)