Blender to Unreal Engine 5 - 3D Props - Medieval Market

1. Introduction

This is the introduction to the course detailing what the course is all about, but more importantly, what exciting things you are going to be learning and building.

1. Introduction to the Course and Blender

This lesson is a short introduction to the course layout. For the beginners out there, this video will also act as a short video going through the very basics of Blender.

1. It's All in the Referencing

In this lesson, we will be looking at referencing and why we should be using references before starting to 3D model. For a long time, we would jump right in and just start creating 3D assets. We used to think to ourselves, why not do what, after all, was the most interesting part first. Hence, we now know that referencing is the most important aspect of being an artist before beginning any 3D model.

2. Starting the Grey Box

Along with referencing comes the grey box stage. While you could avoid it-but at your own peril-it is strongly suggested to stick through. For those of you who want to be level designers or build worlds, you will certainly be interested in this lesson.

3. Working with Mirrors

This lesson is our first introduction to the world of Blender modifiers. This one is one of the simpler ones, but you will get to learn the basics of the preliminary setup before bringing in modifiers.

1. Blenders Cloth Simulator

This is the main event of our 'Blender to Unreal Engine 3D Props Medieval Market Stall' course. It is so early in the building that you perhaps were not expecting it. It is a good idea to tackle the cloth simulator now because it will give us a more realistic feel.

2. Creating the Market Tassels

Creating cloth in Blender is not really that hard, but creating the iconic medieval tassels is another level. The process needs a certain depth and knowledge of 3D modeling, which you will learn all about in this lesson.

3. Turning Our Cloth into Mesh

Finally, with the 'Blender to Unreal Engine 3D Props Medieval Market Stall' cloth simulation done and looking great, we now need to make it usable. After all, things you simulate in Blender can only be used-you guessed it-within Blender itself.

1. Seams and Sharps Introduction

This is a short introduction to the importance of seams and sharps. Through this lesson, you will find out what their purpose is. For those of you out there who are accustomed to my courses, you have probably seen this before and may need to move on or use it as a quick recall.

2. Materials and Texture Maps

We cannot have an AAA 3D game asset model without textures. But before we think about throwing textures on any model, it is a good idea to understand what textures are, and what exactly is an occlusion map.

1. Let There Be Light

This lesson will see you take a bit of downtime to check out our 'Blender to Unreal Engine 3D Props Medieval Market Stall' model with the help of some basic lighting. We go into lighting in a bit more depth later on, but for now, learning about HDRIs shall suffice.

2. Creating Wooden Planks

As with most medieval models, we are going to need some wood. Medieval architects really loved their carpenters. Now, onto us, through this lesson, you will find out how exactly to take cubes and turn them into wood that looks realistic.

1. The Bevel Modifier

Nothing in life is straightforward and nothing in real life has perfectly straight sides. Even a razor has a minute bevel. Getting to the point, in this lesson, you will be learning about the Blender bevel modifier.

2. Creating the Crates

With all this fruit lying around, we will certainly need our medieval market stall fruit crates to look realistic. We will show you very fast techniques for creating crates in this lesson. Trust me, it will be the go-to technique for the future.

1. Understand Normals

We hear a lot of talk about normals and why they are important. But what exactly are they and why do we use them? In this lesson, you will learn how to see them as well as how to fix them. This is one of the major checks before exporting any 3D game asset model.

1. Packing Islands

On the face of it, clicking the unwrap button looks easy for UV mapping. It is only when you get under the hood that you realize just how complex UVs can become. We will show you a few techniques to make the process much easier.

1. Working with Curves

We used to create chains with the torus shape, but since then, we have changed the technique. This new technique involves working with curves and, on the face of it, it seems more complex but oh boy, there is so much more freedom to create doing it this way.

2. Finishing the Meat Hooks

With our newfound skills, we will easily be tacking small details like the meat hooks of our medieval market stall game asset. This lesson is a chance to home in on getting really good with curves in Blender.

1. Changing Materials Using Gamma

Sometimes, materials just do not look right. Sometimes, we cannot exactly go and alter all the textures. This is why it is always a good idea to know how to change the materials of the fly and that is what we will be looking at in this lesson.

1. Finishing the Bread Table Build

Taking a lot of the skills we have learned to build our medieval market stall, we finally complete the bread table. Now, we are going to guess that at this point, you probably found it a breeze to build. It is also the last model involving wood materials, which means we are moving to the fruit. Exciting stuff!

2. Starting Out Fruit and Vegetables

Creating 3D fruit assets in Blender is not actually that hard. The problems lie in creating hundreds of them in a scene at one time. There is a very fine balance between polygons and optimization and just because we can does not mean we should. Join this lesson to find out how to make great fruit that costs less from a 3D modeler point of view.

3. Problems with UVs

As with all things, in 3D modeling, we have to put our seams somewhere. This can be troublesome especially when we are working with a kind of trim sheet. In this lesson, you will learn to hone your skills for optimization.

1. Setting Up Our Particle System

Well, we finally made it to my favorite part of the course-the particle system. You probably think that the particle system is only used for things such as fire and rain. Well, we will use this lesson to show you just how versatile it can be.

2. Creating the Vegetables

This lesson really packs a lot into it, and it means that in both ways. It is okay creating the fruit, but making it look realistically packed in crates can be tedious but hey, someone has to pack them, right?

3. Problems with Onions

There will always be that one issue when it looks as though we are smooth-sailing in 3D modeling. Learn to expect this a lot when you are modeling something. It is better to learn how to overcome issues so, actually, it is all good for the learning process.

1. Creating the Bread Grey Box

What medieval market stall would be complete without some bread? We all have to eat, after all. In this lesson, we will take a look at Blender's remeshing software and just how good it is.

2. Texturing the Bread

So, we have created our bread and it looks great. The only trouble is it all looks the same. In this lesson, we will take another dive into Blender's UV editor and how we can change UVs using a very small sample texture. Such work is very important if you are creating anything for mobile games.

3. Creating the Meat Grey Box

With the bread built and textured, it is finally onto the last part of the market stall build-the meat. The task here is can it look real and what is a low number of polygons we can use to achieve this. You should at this point be well up to the task.

1. Finishing the Market Stall Model

This is the final lesson in which we are creating anything in 3D, and it has been a journey. We now shift our focus to the floor. The only reason we are building a floor is for that awe-striking portfolio look. If you intend to use this just as a prop or asset, then you can skip the floor altogether.

2. Model Final Checks

Whenever you finish a model or scene, it is very important that you go through the checklist, which we will show you in this lesson. This will make sure everything exports and works as smoothly as possible regardless of the software you intend to use going forward with your medieval market stall model.

1. Rendering Setup in Blender Cycles

Although this course is not focused on rendering out in Blender, we have still decided to devote at least one lesson to rendering in Blender's Cycles. This is a short and straight-to-the-point way of rendering out your model in Blender in an extremely efficient way.

1. Unreal Engine Gradient Setup

This is another short tutorial like you have previously done with Blender basics and seams. This time, it is devoted to creating a sky sphere for Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) and setting up a decent background for high-resolution screenshots within it.

1. Creating Our First Unreal Engine Material

This lesson is a short walkthrough about creating materials in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). You will learn how to import textures and turn them into something useable. Oh, did we forget that we also show you a way to alter your material maps? This is an excellent piece of knowledge to have going forward with UE5.

2. Complete Unreal Engine Setup

In this lesson, we will finish the Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) setup. You should now have your market stall game ready, complete with all textures and backdrop. By this point, you will have a good basic understanding of the workings of UE5 as well.

1. Final Lesson Portfolio Render

This is the final lesson. What better way to end our 'Blender to Unreal Engine 3D Props Medieval Market Stall' course than with excellent portfolio renders, completely done in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5)! This render should be up there with anything else you are going to find on social media. Thanks, everyone, and happy modeling.