Imagining Game Boy Advance With Joy-Cons In Substance 3D & Arnold

Introduction

Hi, 80 Level! My name is Tanya, and I'm a self-taught 3D Artist. Video games have been a significant part of my life since childhood: some of my earliest memories involve staying up all night playing computer games with my dad. Those moments inspired my dream of working in game development, and I'm now taking steps toward making that dream a reality.

A couple of years ago, I started learning 3D art. While it has been both exciting and rewarding, my progress was initially hindered by a lack of structure in how I approached new knowledge. Thankfully, at a certain point, I was introduced to an experienced mentor who helped me make sense of the overwhelming amount of information and taught me how to organize it effectively. With his guidance, I created a clear learning plan with well-defined milestones, which I’m now following.

The Game Boy Joy-Con Project

I was scrolling through my ArtStation feed, looking for inspiration for my new project, when I came across a concept by IWSE Zhang. I decided to recreate it in 3D not only because of its design but also because of the challenges it presented: working with transparent materials is always a bit of a challenge, so it was a great opportunity to practice this skill further. Additionally, I used this project to improve my hard-surface modeling and rendering skills, especially with complex material setups.

In the first stage, I gathered references of the basic shapes of the Game Boy Advance, Joy-Cons, and internal components. The references I collected not only helped me understand the shape but also the physical properties of the materials. The main challenge was the casing material, so I focused on finding examples of transparent and grainy materials, both from real-life objects and 3D renders. Based on these references, I chose Arnold for rendering, as it provides greater control over these types of materials.

Modeling

The modeling process began with setting up the camera position and FOV based on the reference image to ensure I followed the concept as closely as possible. I started with a blockout and gradually moved toward a high-poly model. I strive to keep my mesh as clean as possible to avoid shading issues, which is why I use floaters whenever possible.

The next step was creating the low-poly model. I always try to reuse the existing high-poly mesh when I can. By removing unnecessary edges from the high-poly model, I was able to create a good-quality low-poly model fast.

UV Unwrapping

I love using UVPackmaster 3 when I need an optimized UV layout. It's an incredible tool that packs UVs perfectly. My favorite feature is the Advanced Heuristic Search, it continues packing the UVs until you manually stop it. Usually, you stop the process when the packing density stops increasing or only improves minimally. For this project, I reached a packing density of approximately 95%.

Texturing

Texturing is the most exciting part for me. Each material has its own set of properties that are crucial to consider when creating textures. For example, the appearance of transparent plastic directly depends on its thickness. It was also important to consider the object's history: how long it had been in use and how often it was cleaned. These details give the model its unique character and personality.

When texturing the Roughness map, I focused on adding plenty of contrasting details to emphasize greasy fingerprints on the buttons, worn matte surfaces on the Joy-Con's edges, scratches from careless storage, and dirt in hard-to-reach areas. For the stickers, I used Anchor Points to add height only to the stickered areas rather than the entire surface.

I spent a lot of time experimenting with different noise types to achieve realistic irregularities in the transparent plastic. The most effective combination was Dirt 3 and Fractal Sum Base in the Height channel. When texturing the motherboard, I focused on how it would appear through the transparent casing. The challenge was to add enough detail to make it visually interesting without drawing too much attention away from the main focus of the model.

Material Settings In Arnold

Achieving the desired look of transparent plastic was challenging. The transparent part of the model was a separate mesh with its own aiStandardSurface material. I used a Glass material as a base. Since the Game Boy features stickers and a flashlight, I baked a transparency map in Substance 3D Painter and applied it to the Transmission channel to separate the transparent and opaque parts.

However, this process wasn't straightforward. Adding the opacity map to the opacity parameter caused me to lose control over the material’s transparency via the Transmission parameter in the material settings. After some trial and error, I found the optimal settings for the desired result.

Rendering

My goal was to create dramatic lighting that would enhance the realism and depth of the textures. Using aiAreaLights, I placed a backlight in front of the camera and arranged the remaining lights around it. By carefully adjusting the lighting and experimenting with shadows, I achieved the final result.

Compositing

Rendering is always a creative process: the final touch that can elevate the outcome. I enjoy placing my works on a contrasting background to draw the viewer's attention directly to the model.

I'm not a fan of completely flat backgrounds, so I like to incorporate various elements such as smoke, sparks, lens flares, vignettes, and gradients. I also applied some directional blur to the card to make the shot feel more dynamic. The glow from the emission map was barely noticeable, so I added an additional glow in Photoshop. As a final touch, I included a subtle lens flare, which added a special atmosphere to the scene.

Conclusion

Reflecting on the entire process of creating this model, I'm satisfied with my experiment with transparent materials. There are always challenges in 3D modeling, but what matters most is how you approach them. By viewing obstacles as opportunities to grow, you'll inevitably achieve the results you aim for. I hope my experience will be helpful to others on their journey to becoming 3D artists!

I'd like to express my sincere thanks to the 80 Level team, especially Gloria Levine, for the opportunity to share my experience! Feel free to reach out to me on ArtStation or LinkedIn.

Tatyana Grebenschikova, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine