The Ace Bar

The Ace Bar project was the final project for my SCAD animation course. It was much less an animation course and much more of a 3D modeling course, but we selected a concept art image and recreated it in our engine of choice. It needed to have a few animations in the scene, but I decided to take it a step further and create a cinematic of the bar coming to life.

We were given a wide array of concept art pieces to work with. I selected The Ace Bar because I thought it looked complex and I wanted to challenge myself as an environment artist. Originally, I wanted to experiment with a hi to lo baking process and

We were given a wide array of concept art pieces to work with. I selected The Ace Bar because I thought it looked complex and I wanted to challenge myself as an environment artist. Originally, I wanted to experiment with a hi to lo baking process and use primarily low poly models. In the end I could only find the time to use the high poly models.

Here's the scene in UE5 in unlit mode.

Here's the scene in UE5 in unlit mode.

Simple lighting.

Simple lighting.

Wireframe of props. Earlier I mentioned a hi level toplogy but you could probably tell from the pipes and the signage that I ended up creating mostly average level poly count props. I'm used to game ready asset topology so that's what I usually defau

Wireframe of props. Earlier I mentioned a hi level toplogy but you could probably tell from the pipes and the signage that I ended up creating mostly average level poly count props. I'm used to game ready asset topology so that's what I usually default to when I'm working hard.

Here's the final render with the post process and LUT added.

Here's the final render with the post process and LUT added.

Scene from the cinematic. I was playing around with DOF and different camera effects while creating the cinematic. This is my favourite shot from the cinematic.

Scene from the cinematic. I was playing around with DOF and different camera effects while creating the cinematic. This is my favourite shot from the cinematic.

Pan R to L to show off some of the moving props.

Pan R to L to show off some of the moving props.

Unfinished backgrounds like the paintings, building corners, and the materials on the drumset.

Unfinished backgrounds like the paintings, building corners, and the materials on the drumset.

The largest and most important piece was the sign. There's damage on the right and pipes and gears all over the place. Overall, the project was really decent practice. If I had another shot at making this, I think I would certainly have improved in m

The largest and most important piece was the sign. There's damage on the right and pipes and gears all over the place. Overall, the project was really decent practice. If I had another shot at making this, I think I would certainly have improved in my art direction thanks to what I failed at in this.