Liam Tart
@LiamTart
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Working on next @subnautica! Previously worked on Subnautica, Subnautica: Below Zero, Alien Isolation and Black Mesa.
West Midlands, England
Joined April 2009
I finished my Shire project and uploaded screenshots and video to Artstation. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I could have spent more time adding more foliage, but I felt I was going to start getting diminishing returns. Hope you enjoy the video!
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How do you think they did this translucent plastic sheeting in Silent Hill 2? You can see what's behind it, right? You can see the blue wooden trim?. Nope! It's fake. The wall behind is painted into the base color at a lower opacity, to simulate translucent plastic sheeting.
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We're working on a sequel to Subnautica! It's using Unreal Engine 5 and you can play with friends. It's been really interesting to have been on this project since it's inception and see it evolve. Hope you all enjoy when it's released into Early Access next year.
🚨 Warning: Oxygen Low 🚨. The first teaser trailer for Subnautica 2 just dropped! Check it out now and wishlist the game on Steam, Epic, or Xbox ➡️ #Subnautica #Subnautica2
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Us game artists used to use this software called Xnormal all the time to bake texture maps for models. It looks like something straight out of Deus Ex, or a Winamp skin lol.
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Sneak peek at the next biome for you to explore in @subnautica: Below Zero - Deep Twistybridges! Very WIP right now but hoping to release in the next Early Access update.
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Using Blender 20-30 minutes every day and I'm gonna share any cool things I find. I wanna embrace it in a positive way rather than moan about it not being 3ds Max. This feature is pretty cool - Connect Vertex Path. Connect vertices even if there is another edge in the way!
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Found some old screenshots of really early @Subnautica Below Zero development and tried to find their location now. Always good to look back and see how far things have come!
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We did a playtest of @Subnautica: Below Zero the other day; it's really starting to come together! This part of the world in particular is so gorgeous. I love the way the bridges link up both sides of this deep underwater canyon. Level design work courtesy of Michael Schouten!
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Working on the new intro area for the new @Subnautica Below Zero story. Really loving the atmospheric work that's been done on the game recently. Feels very 'cold' :) . As always, this is a team effort from lots of different people. But it's shaping up!
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Works really well in SH2 because the lighting is so dark. I remember my lead on Alien Isolation came up with this idea for wrapping some of the desks/consoles in plastic. Worked really well. I can't find any screenshots unfortunately. Sometimes you don't need fancy shaders :D
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I took this screenshot! Expect many more graphical improvements by the time of release. We have a lot more we want to add. We're trying to keep the unique art style of SN1/BZ but utilise UE5 for much higher fidelity. I think you'll all be impressed by the final product!.
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You'll seen be able to have a damn fine (portable!) cup of coffee in @Subnautica Below Zero, with this new Alterra-branded coffee thermos! Keep yourself warm on those freezing cold expeditions :)
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As an artist, where do you even get started making your own small game? I've had ideas running around my head for years - I want to make a small project. Something manageable. Something art driven and atmospheric. But it's overwhelming thinking about where to start.
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Honestly, it fills me with dread when someone asks for a quick call/huddle. Knocks me out of my flow completely, and it's never a quick call when you're all remote. It drains me in the same way as when people would come to your desk in an office. Introvert problems :p.
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Work in progress 'snow fluting' material for @Subnautica: Below Zero. Using Substance Designer only. This was good fun to make! Using custom SVGs to generate the shapes, then a distance node. and a little blurring/edge wearing. Everything else in shot is very WIP!
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Rendered out a few new @Subnautica: Below Zero materials in Marmoset with displacement/AO/sub surface scattering etc. Will look slightly different ingame, but here's what's coming up in the next patch! Expect huge glacial cliffs! Generated in @Allegorithmic's Substance Designer.
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Messing with Nanite in @UnrealEngine 5 for my Scifi Bunkroom remaster. Trying to push geometry detail as much as possible and getting a really tactile material feel up-close. Explicit tangents in UE 5.3 is a game changer for Nanite hard surface work btw - try it out!
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Btw I'm pretty sure I'm right on this. But curious if anybody else has any more info. I just notice here as indicated by the red arrows that the panel lines for the tiles 'underneath' bump up where the creases form.
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We are looking for a senior hard surface artist to come and work with us on the next @Subnautica game! Come and make awesome vehicles, tools and bases! Send me a DM if you're interested. Yes, I can confirm we will have hard surfaces in the next Subnautica game. Hi YouTube! 😅.
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Got some toasty hot springs going into @Subnautica : Below Zero soon! These won't be in the first patch, but will probably be in the next mini patch. This whole area is being updated soon after release, but here's a sneaky pic of the springs themselves! Keep yourself warm :)
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After playing the Quake re-release last week, I was really inspired to start an 'old school' looking scene in @UnrealEngine 5, utilizing small, unfiltered textures, but with modern lighting. Here's a WIP shot! Would love to play a System Shock 2 esque game in this style.
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Some base signposting coming to @Subnautica Below Zero soon! Bases should be a lot more identifiable by their symbols here on these exterior signs, on the nameplates indoors, and by large decals on the sides of the bases too.
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Working on this game was a career highlight. The lighting/VFX work was so incredible!.
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I used to think I was a bad artist because I didn't have a particular area I specialized in. Jack of all trades, master of none. However, I've recently come to realise that this is ok, and in fact makes me a great generalist. Game dev teams need both types of artist to succeed.
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9 years ago vs today. Fun to take an old scene and do a re-imagining of it. Really makes me realise how much game dev has changed in the past decade since I first started out. This first version looks like something from HL2!
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Throwing this out there - does anybody want to work on our exciting new scifi IP, or the next game in the @Subnautica universe at @UnknownWorlds? Looking for environment artists and material artists. Send me a DM if you're interested! Fully remote, great pay/comp etc.
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Can't wait to show everybody what we're working on for the @Subnautica expansion. I think you'll like what we're cooking up. I've been a lot more involved in the art side of things which has been so much fun! Here's a few teaser-ific little screenshots.
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We are making some really exciting new environments in the next @Subnautica game. Can't wait to show you all how it's looking. Big upgrade from SN1. Expect much higher fidelity in the environment whilst still retaining that clean SN feel. Lumen in UE5 makes SN look incredible!.
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I was getting a bit fed up of the skybox looking very 'gamey' so decided to try out Truesky for UE4 today. Really makes a difference. Decided to go for daytime lighting too. It's so tempting to go with sunset because you tend to get nicer colours. But it feels like a cop out.
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Making more military vehicle objectives for .@WarpipsGame! Love making these chunky little models. 128x128 texture size.
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I made a custom shader for @Substance3D Designer that allows you to remove texture filtering (it sets texture filtering to 'nearest'). Great for retro games where you wanna see individual pixels!. It's nothing too complex, but I wanted to share it here in case anybody needs it.
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@anastasiaopara That's incredible haha! . Out of interest, who's making the art for this game? It looks really lovely!.
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I made a few lighting adjustments to my Shire scene to try and get a bit more of a 'sunny day in the English countryside' kinda vibe to it. Stronger sunlight and harsher shadows. Every time I load this up I get so inspired - I'll try and get it finished and released this year!
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Experimenting with in-editor Nanite displacement instead of POM in @UnrealEngine. Here I took a fairly flat plane, shaped it into this cobblestone road, then displaced using a height map using the modelling tools in Unreal. Fairly placeholder texture - I'm just experimenting!
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I just reuploaded my City 17 UE4 scene. Should work in the latest version of Unreal, but I did notice some lighting issues. Loved working on this. Environment - City 17 Stairwell and Attic Scene (UE4) via @artstationhq.
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Made some final renders in Marmoset of this Retro Scifi Video phone. Fun project, looking forward to finishing more assets for the Bunkroom 2.0! Really enjoying making things again.
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I worked on these first 3 scenes 8 years ago. Wtf. My Shire scene was 2 years ago! Time is flying by. It's scary. I really need to work on some new things soon. We'll have tons of stuff to show from the next @Subnautica game though. Can't say when, but it's gonna be awesome.
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One thing I always wonder about WFH-only in the games industry, is how it affects juniors/graduates just joining the industry. I can only go from my own experience, but working in a studio with 10+ other juniors at Frontier was really important for me socially and professionally.
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Top secret leak from that next big underwater game people are hoping to see more of. 👀. Here's a mesh I'm making, with all modifiers turned off in Blender. Radial Array, subdivision etc, all disabled. Can you guess what it is? :)
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Been working on Subnautica Below Zero for a long time now! Feels good to have it out of early access and into a full release. Well done to all of the team, and I'm excited to see what comes next 👀.
Subnautica: Below Zero is out now on Steam, Epic, and Discord storefronts worldwide! Console release continues to roll out at midnight local time. Check out our blog post and get ready to Brave the Cold ▶️
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Everyone on Twitter posting all this cool nextgen artwork. Whilst here I am making 16x16 pixel art textures! Making this stuff for a fun game I'm making in my spare time with some colleagues. There's a demo on Steam if you wanna try it :)
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Spent a bit of time making trees and wheat fields for the vista for this Shire scene. Still got a lot more detail I'd like to add in the background. Hoping to get it done by Christmas though, and finally wrap up a project for once! It's been really fun jumping back into UE4.
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Couple more before/after shots from early development. These before shots were a little further along, but there's still a big difference!
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I'm using this Substance Designer shader to help make various low res (128x128) textures for a learning project of mine in Unreal. It's fun to have such hard constraints on texel density. 32px/m I believe is the current texel density I'm using. Subnautica 2 uses ~768px/m :P
I made a custom shader for @Substance3D Designer that allows you to remove texture filtering (it sets texture filtering to 'nearest'). Great for retro games where you wanna see individual pixels!. It's nothing too complex, but I wanted to share it here in case anybody needs it.
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Someone linked this picture of Ellie from The Last of Us 2 (unfortunately I've lost the original link to the tweet). The amount of detail here is crazy. So many subtle details that make it feel really believable. The hair is the only thing that makes it look a bit fake.
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I've been making tweaks to @Subnautica's camera settings. We have this cool post processing mode you can enable called 'Filmic' which is more contrasty but was too dark before. My tweaks use filmic but bump up the exposure and eye adaption settings. Looks way more vibrant now.
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This is the game that got me into game dev. It was a real learning experience remaking parts of this game when I worked on Black Mesa. The company I work for was born out of modding this game too! Very thankful for this game and this dev team. ❤️.
Half-Life turns 25 this weekend, and we're pushing a big update to bring back some of that 1998 feeling with restored original launch day content, brand new multiplayer maps, a look behind the scenes with the original development team, and more:
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It's crazy how different env art is now from when I first started out 12+ years ago. This old portfolio prop of mine used a 1024x1024, and that was too high res for the time. Now I'm throwing down 4k landscape materials. Where will things be in 10 more years?! . I feel old.
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We made a cute little game set in a British coastal town for a game jam last year. You play the town's Postman/woman and have to deliver mail to people and help them with their woes! The idea is that the entire town is simulated, like in Shenmue. Everyone has their own schedules.
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A friend just linked this to me on Artstation. Carbon copy of my scene. Imagine if I was a composer and just took somebody's composition and just changed a few notes here and there and claimed it as my own. At least he credits me. His scene is first, then mine after that.
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Added a new area to the Deeplilypads Precursor cache on @Subnautica Below Zero. It has a different feel to the rest of Deep Lilypads. You can check it out on Steam later on tonight!
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@lenaicterrier That's correct! Check out some of the other replies to my original post - they have shown some of the actual textures used!.
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I'm considering moving away from 3ds Max for personal work, and looking into using Blender @blender_org . However, I have 10+ years in 3ds Max so I have a lot of muscle memory with it. What are the advantages to working in Blender, coming from Max? @Leukbaars what do you think?.
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Ron Cobb's Alien/Aliens concept art work was absolutely incredible. I remember constantly referring to these when working on Alien Isolation. It's an environment artist's dream to have concept this detailed to work from! Timeless stuff.
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Look at these gorgeous realtime clouds in UE5. It's incredible that 10 years ago we were painting clouds into skyboxes, and now we're at the point where clouds have actual volume in the game world. I'm so excited about the future of game art!.
assembling a real-time volumetric cloudscape in #UE5 using VDBs crafted in #EmberGen. Props to @LambertTibo for his plugin
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Felt inspired to go back to an old project of mine, the Scifi Bunk Room from almost 10 years ago now. It was my first side project after working on Alien Isolation. Thought it'd be fun to re-imagine some of those assets in Unreal 5 whilst learning some Blender stuff. #UE5
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No old English (well, Middle Earth) countryside scene would be complete without an old stone wall! Made this today, a small, modular wall set. Nice to wall off each Hobbit's estate, in conjunction with a wooden fence set I need to make next!
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Another pass on my semi-stylised cobblestone @Substance3D Designer material. More size variation and additional detail to the stones, as well as packing some smaller stones in between so less grout is visible. Shameless hashtags inc. #SubstanceDesigner #gameart #gamedev
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Made some texture tweaks in @Subnautica Below Zero to make the ice cliffs feel a little more. icy, rather than rocky. Before is old textures, after is with increased shadow rendering distance and a texture pass. Hope we can increase shadow distance by default!
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Here's a genuine question for creatives in the games industry. How do you maintain your passion and creative drive for so long in a sustainable way throughout your career without burning out? . Couple of thoughts in a 🧵.
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Blocking out more stuff for @Subnautica. Sometimes something simple like making a nice, usable modular set for level designers is really fun to work on!
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Been working on my UE4 project a bit more. The past few days I've been baking an old weapon model of mine into a sprite to test out normal mapping and lighting. Ran into tons of weird problems with Paper2D in UE4 but I'm happy with how it's looking! Also made a door blueprint!
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Thinking of turning this into a Dark Souls inspired environment. Crumbling castle ruins, giant stone bridges etc, fading off into the fog. For now it's just fun making shapes with these rocks!
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I've been listening to The Fellowship of the Ring and it reminded me that I've always wanted to make a scene inspired by The Shire. I feel so nostalgic whenever I read those first few chapters! Here's a WIP that I've been messing around with for a while now. Loads left to do!
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It's never too late to expand your skills! Last night I bought @thiagoklafke's Spanish Town tutorial after feeling a bit rusty with my env art skills! It's fantastic and goes into so much detail. You can feel his passion for creation. Highly recommended.
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Does anyone have a copy of my Scifi Bunk Room scene from 8-9 years ago? I've unfortunately lost the backup copies. It was up on the Epic Launcher for free, and it had 1000s of downloads, so it must be out there somewhere! #unreal #UnrealEngine
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I'm playtesting @subnautica: Below Zero right now, and I'm really impressed with how atmospheric the starting zones are feeling. As artists we spend so much of our time looking at work in progress art and crappy blockouts, but when you see it all come together, it's so exciting!.
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Also, bonus shot of our first surface area lol. Super realistic Penguins!
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Raytracing is such a giant leap forward for game rendering. This is the same scene, simply with raytracing GI/reflections/AO enabled and then disabled. Everything just feels so much more consistent and grounded, without having to bake lighting. It's a very exciting change!
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Im gonna try and attempt to post more of this environment as I'm working on it in my spare time. Vinyl floor material WIP and some assorted props. Still learning Blender so gave myself a prop to make each night. Going for a bit of that chunky, Alien kinda scifi aesthetic.
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We're hiring for a new environment art position at Unknown Worlds! This role will require extensive Zbrush experience, and a knowledge of Substance Designer/Painter is a plus. It's for our unannounced new project. Apply here:
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Blowing the cobwebs off a bit with some Substance Designer work this weekend. Going for something slightly stylised and simple. Not 100% pleased with the result but don't want to spend much more time on these. Inspired by some tiles I saw in Greece a few weeks ago.
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Alterra's new telescopic Ice Ladder in @Subnautica : Below Zero. Got a little ice lake you want to get down to? Secure this little baby into the ground and climb away! Just make sure the ice is stable. Don't wanna go falling in any ice lakes now do ya?
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Actually, nvm, that filter shows the files but they dont import when you are in the wrong file type importer. Throws up an error.
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@Flayra @Subnautica Been doing a huge balance pass on all the hard surface assets in SN. Lots more reflections to compliment the amazing new post processing that went in last week. More improvements to come!
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Decided to try and make a functioning LED clock display today!. You can set the time just in the editor, but when you hit play it will use your current system time. Can also set it to minutes/seconds for debug. It was pretty fun figuring out how to make this work in Blueprint.
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@mac_shirk Amazing. Pyramid Head is the iconic character of SH2 - they need this amount of detail for close-ups and cinematics. Really adds a lot. These people need to stop being so afraid of extra geometry. Technology has really moved on a long way.
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any LD/world artist friends fancy a job working on the Subnautica expansion? We have a huge world to build and need more hands! email me at liam.tart@gmail.com. You'd be sculpting voxel terrain, applying materials, detailing with props and perhaps doing some lighting work too.
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Programming feels like such a difficult thing to properly get into - I've tried so many times. The closest I've ever gotten is with Blueprint, I feel like I was getting a good grip on that. Maybe it's worth picking that up again in UE5?.
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Rock sculpting/material tests, and messing around with atmospherics in UE4.
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Unbelievable. This guy is such a bigot. Glad to see him suspended from Twitter. It was very telling who stuck by this guy when he was making racist posts a while back.
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Couple of nights work trying out raytracing in @UnrealEngine. Pretty cool, but runs at like 2 fps on my 1080 TI! Best thing about it seems to be better reflections, not really noticing much visual improvement in terms of actual lighting. Can't wait to mess around with this more!
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Ok, it's time to make this happen. I'm gonna learn Blender. Gonna keep replying to this thread to show progress and ask questions/moan about things that are different to 3ds max :D.
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Our new game, @Moonbreaker, was on the cover of PC Gamer this month! I remember reading this magazine loads as a kid. Proud moment!
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Found this old concept showing the breakdown of assets in Shallow Twistybridges. This was some really nice concept art, and I think we did a pretty good job replicating this ingame.
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For some reason I stopped working on this Lord of the Rings Shire scene but playing AC: Valhalla inspired me to pick it up again this weekend. Looking forward to making tons of foliage for this to really fill it out. Nice to be back in UE4!
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Unknown Worlds has had a re-brand! We have a brand new website too. There's a new hard surface role up there to fill in for me taking adoption leave later this year. We're also looking for an experienced lighting artist who is (hopefully) knowledgeable about underwater lighting.
We've had a bit of a refresh! Check out our new logo and website🔥. 🔗:
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I just realised I am now a fulltime Blender user! A few months ago the thought of never using 3ds Max again was a terrifying thought, and I really didn't like Blender. I'm really glad I've spent the time to fully immerse myself in it. I'd really recommend sticking with it. #b3d.
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We're cookin' up some good stuff at UW! Next year is going to be exciting. Keep an eye out for more Subnautica updates!.
Your recent excitement for the next game in the Subnautica universe has been infectious 😏. While we're not quite ready to surface more info, keep watching this space. We'll share more about our Early Access plans in 2024! 🚀.
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@GoldsourceGold Something about these old Counter-Strike maps just felt so lived in and 'real', even considering their blocky look. Maybe it's because your mind kinda fills in the blanks. I miss those days of videogame development!.
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