Wireframing and Prototyping quality in Wellington, New Zealand?

Description

The Elite 3D Asset Production House for Characters, Environments, and Props

In the landscape of modern game development, 3D Art is the architecture of immersion. It is the tangible substance of the virtual worlds players inhabit. From the hyper-realistic, emotionally resonant hero character to the sprawling, foliage-rich environment they explore, and down to the smallest, mundanely perfect “prop” item on a table, 3D assets are the building blocks of player experience. The difference between a game that feels “real” and one that feels “fake” is measured in polygon counts, texture fidelity, and the artistry of its 3D modelers.

The creation of high-quality 3D art is a deeply technical and artistically demanding process. It is a fusion of digital sculpting, architectural theory, anatomical knowledge, and complex software mastery. The challenges are immense: maintaining a high-visual-fidelity bar while adhering to a strict “performance budget”; creating a diverse library of assets that are all stylistically cohesive; and managing a complex pipeline that runs from high-poly “sculpts” to game-ready, low-poly, animated models.

Our studio is a specialized production house dedicated to a single craft: the creation of world-class, game-ready 3D assets. We are not generalists. We are an army of sculptors, modelers, texturing artists, and technical pipeline experts. We exist to be your external 3D department, a partner built for scalability and excellence, ready to execute on your vision with precision. Our expertise covers the full spectrum of 3D production: hyper-detailed Character Modeling, vast and modular Environment Art, and high-volume Prop & Vehicle Production.

This document provides a comprehensive, granular overview of our 3D production services. We will delve into our meticulous, multi-stage pipelines, our mastery of the PBR (Physically-Based Rendering) workflow, our deep expertise in the industry-standard toolchain (ZBrush, Maya, Blender, Substance), and the flexible engagement models we use to seamlessly integrate with studios of all sizes. Whether you need a single “hero” character for your marketing or a dedicated team of 50 artists to build your entire AAA open world, we are your 3D production partner.

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Section 1: The 3D Production Philosophy: Art Meets Technical Science

 

Our core philosophy is that “great 3D art is where artistry and technical precision are indistinguishable.” A beautiful “sculpt” that cannot be optimized for the game engine is a failure. A perfectly optimized model with poor artistic execution is also a failure. Our studio is built on three pillars to ensure success.

1.1. The “Dual-Master” Pipeline: High-Poly to Low-Poly This is the fundamental workflow of all modern 3D asset creation, and we are its masters.

• Phase 1: High-Poly Sculpting: Our artists, akin to digital clay sculptors, create an ultra-high-resolution “sculpt” of the asset (in tools like ZBrush). This model can be millions of polygons. It is pure art, with no technical constraints. We focus 100% on perfect anatomy, cloth-folding, and minute details like pores, scratches, or wood grain.

• Phase 2: Retopology & Low-Poly: We then build a new, clean, and efficient “low-poly” mesh over top of the high-poly sculpt. This is the “game-ready” model. This is a highly technical skill, ensuring the polygon flow is perfect for animation (topology) and that the model meets the performance budget (polycount).

• Phase 3: UV Unwrapping: We “unfold” this low-poly model, laying it flat so we can apply a 2D texture, like a sewing pattern for a piece of clothing. A perfect UV layout is critical for texture fidelity and memory efficiency.

• Phase 4: “Baking” & Texturing: This is the magic. We “bake” the details from the millions-of-polygons high-poly sculpt onto the low-poly model using a “Normal Map.” This creates an illusion: the low-poly, game-ready model looks like the high-detail sculpt.

• Phase 5: PBR Texturing: We then paint the model in Substance Painter, using the Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) workflow. We create maps for Albedo (color), Metalness (is it metal?), and Roughness (is it shiny or matte?). This ensures the asset reacts realistically to your game engine’s lighting.

1.2. The Primacy of the Performance Budget: A game has a finite budget for “render time.” Every polygon and every texture pixel costs time.

• Our Process: We do not start work without a clear Technical Specification Sheet from you. This defines the “rules” for our artists.

  • Polycount Budget: E.g., “Player Characters: 50k tris,” “Props: 2k tris.”

  • Texture Resolution: E.g., “Characters: 4k texture set,” “Props: 1k texture set.”

  • Engine & Shader Requirements: Are you using Unreal, Unity, or a custom engine? Do you have a custom shader for skin or hair?

• Deliverable: Every asset we deliver is guaranteed to meet these technical budgets. We have a dedicated technical art and QA team that validates every single model before it is sent to you.

1.3. Art Style Consistency: The “Style Guide” In a large game, 20 different artists may create props for a single room. How do they all look like they belong?

• Our Solution: We work with you to create a “Visual Style Guide” or “Art Bible.” This document becomes our lodestar. It defines rules for:

  • Stylization: E.g., “All proportions are exaggerated by 15%.”

  • Texturing: E.g., “No pure blacks or whites. All edges must have ‘edge-wear’ highlights.”

  • Detail Density: “Avoid fine, noisy detail; focus on big, readable shapes.”

• Execution: Our Art Directors and Lead Artists use this guide to review every asset. This ensures that the 500th asset we build for you looks like it was made by the same hand as the first.

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Section 2: Core 3D Service Offerings (Exhaustive Breakdown)

 

Our production floor is divided into three highly-specialized divisions, each with its own expert leads and artists.

2.1. Division: 3D Character Modeling This is the most artistically demanding vertical. We create the living, breathing (or undead) cast of your game.

• Hero Characters & Creatures: This is our “AAA” service. We create the main characters, bosses, and key NPCs.

  • Process: We follow the full “High-Poly to Low-Poly” pipeline, starting from your 2D concept art. We have specialized “sub-teams” for:

    • Anatomy & Sculpting: Masters of ZBrush for organic forms.

    • Hard-Surface: Masters of 3ds Max/Maya for armor, weapons, and robotic parts.

    • Hair & Cloth: Specialists in hair card (Alpha) creation and cloth simulation (Marvelous Designer).

  • Deliverables: A fully “game-ready” asset: the optimized low-poly model (.FBX/.OBJ), a full PBR texture set (4k/8k), and the original high-poly sculpt file (.ZTL).

• NPC & Crowd Generation: For open-world games, you need hundreds of background NPCs. We are experts in creating modular “NPC systems.”

  • Process: We don’t create 100 unique characters. We create a “kit”: 10 torsos, 10 pairs of pants, 10 heads, 10 hairstyles.

  • Deliverable: We deliver the “parts,” and your engine can “frankenstein” them at runtime to create thousands of unique-looking NPCs, saving massive amounts of memory and production time.

2.2. Division: 3D Environment Art We build the “sets” for your game. This is a discipline of architecture, level design, and natural sciences.

• Modular Kits: This is the #1 building block of most game worlds.

  • What it is: Instead of building one giant “castle” model, we build the “Lego” pieces: one wall section, one floor-tile, one pillar, one window frame.

  • Process: Our artists design these kits to be perfectly “grid-snappable.” We ensure all pieces fit together seamlessly, with no gaps or “Z-fighting.”

  • Deliverables: A full “kit” of modular assets, allowing your level designers to rapidly build hundreds of unique buildings and interiors.

• Terrain & Landscape: We sculpt vast, realistic landscapes using engine-native tools (Unreal Landscape, Unity Terrain) or specialized software (Gaea, World Machine).

• Foliage & Vegetation: This is a highly specialized skill. We create optimized, performant trees, bushes, and grass.

  • Process: We create “atlases” (a single texture sheet with many leaves/branches) and build our trees using optimized “cards” (flat planes) to give the illusion of a dense forest without killing your frame rate.

2.3. Division: 3D Prop & Vehicle Production This is the “high-volume” work that makes a world feel lived-in.

• Props (Set Dressing): This is everything from a coffee cup to a computer terminal to a treasure chest.

  • Our Expertise: We are a “Prop Factory.” We can take a list of 1,000 needed props and deliver them on a predictable schedule.

  • Process: We categorize them by size (Small, Medium, Large) and complexity. A “Small” prop (a cup) might take 2 hours. A “Large” prop (a complex, animated machine) might take 3 days. This “T-shirt sizing” allows us to provide incredibly accurate “Fixed Price” quotes for large batches.

• Vehicles & Weapons: These are “hero” props—highly detailed and technically complex.

  • Process: We model these for function. A car will have separate, pivot-pointed wheels, doors, and a steering wheel. A gun will have a separate trigger, magazine, and bolt.

  • Deliverables: We deliver the “parent” model and all its component “child” parts, ready for your animators and engineers to rig and implement.

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Section 3: Toolchain and Technical Prowess (The “Pipeline”)

 

Our artists are only as good as their tools and pipelines. We have invested heavily in building a world-class, standardized, and efficient technical infrastructure.

• Core Modeling/Sculpting:

  • ZBrush: The industry standard for all high-poly organic sculpting (characters, creatures, rocks).

  • Autodesk Maya & 3ds Max: The workhorses. Used for low-poly modeling, retopology, UV unwrapping, and hard-surface modeling.

  • Blender: We have a dedicated Blender-native team, as it has become a powerhouse for all parts of the pipeline, and many clients prefer a Blender-based workflow.

• Texturing (The PBR Workflow):

  • Substance 3D Painter: Our primary tool for all PBR texturing. Our artists are masters of its non-destructive, layer-based workflow, smart materials, and generative tools.

  • Substance 3D Designer: We use this to create procedural materials—e.g., a “brick” or “wood” material that can be infinitely tiled and customized, rather than being a static texture.

• Specialized Tools:

  • Marvelous Designer: For creating realistic, simulated cloth (capes, jackets, banners).

  • Gaea / World Machine: For procedural generation of large-scale terrains.

  • SpeedTree: The industry standard for creating and optimizing foliage.

• Review & Integration:

  • Marmoset Toolbag: We deliver all our assets with a “Marmoset Scene” file. This allows you to view the asset in a real-time, neutral-lighting environment, and see exactly how it will look in-engine, before you import it. This is a key part of our review process.

  • ShotGrid: We use ShotGrid to manage the entire production. A “Character” asset moves from “Sculpting” -> “Sculpt Review” -> “Retopology” -> “Texture Review,” with clear notes and feedback at each stage.

  • Perforce & Git LFS: We are experts at integrating directly with your source control. We can “check in” our final, approved assets directly into your game’s repository, following your naming conventions and file structures perfectly.

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Section 4: Pricing and Engagement Models

 

We structure our pricing to be transparent, predictable, and scalable, matching the high-volume, asset-based nature of 3D production.

Model 1: Fixed Price (Per-Asset) This is the most popular model for 3D art. It provides perfect cost control.

• How it Works: We provide a “Price Matrix” or a “Per-Asset” quote. You approve the price before work begins. The price is locked, regardless of how many hours we spend, as long as the scope doesn’t change.

• Best For:

  • Props: We “T-shirt size” them. E.g., Small Prop ($50), Medium Prop ($150), Large Prop ($400). You order “100 Medium Props,” and the invoice is a simple $15,000.

  • Characters: We “tier” them. E.g., Tier 1 (Background NPC): $1,500. Tier 2 (Standard Character): $4,000. Tier 3 (Hero Character, complex armor, full polish): $9,000.

  • Environments: “One (1) 20-piece modular building kit”: $12,000.

• Benefit: Zero risk. Perfect budget planning. You know exactly what you will get and exactly what it will cost.

Model 2: Dedicated Team (Retainer) This is the “Scalability” model. You are not buying assets; you are hiring a full-time, managed 3D production team.

• How it Works: You pay a fixed, flat monthly fee (e.g., $30,000 / month) for a dedicated, managed “pod” of artists who work only on your project.

• Example “Environment Pod”: For $30,000/month, you might get: 1 Senior Environment Artist, 2 Mid-Level Modelers, and 1 Junior Texturing Artist, plus a part-time Producer/Art Lead.

• Best For:

  • AAA Co-Development: You are building an open-world game and need to create 5,000 props, 20 modular kits, and 100 characters over 2 years. This is the only cost-effective way to do it.

  • LiveOps Games: Your GaaS title needs a constant stream of new 3D assets (e.t., skins, weapons, furniture) every month. This model provides a predictable “content-pipe” at a fixed monthly cost.

• Benefit: This is the most cost-effective model for large-scale production, offering a 20-30% discount over “per-asset” pricing. The team builds deep project knowledge and integrates directly with your leads.

Model 3: Time & Materials (T&M) This is our “Consulting” model, ideal for ill-defined or iterative tasks.

• How it Works: You pay a simple, pre-agreed hourly rate for our most senior artists.

• Best For:

  • R&D / Prototyping: You’re not sure what the style should be. You need a Senior Artist to spend 40 hours “kit-bashing” and testing different 3D styles.

  • Technical Art Consulting: You need our Technical Art Director to spend 20 hours analyzing your engine and creating the “Technical Specification Sheet” and “Style Guide” for you.

  • “Fix-it” Jobs: You have existing assets from another vendor that are broken. You need us to spend “as long as it takes” to fix the topology and textures.

 

Conclusion: Your Scalable 3D Art Department

 

The creation of a 3D world is a monumental undertaking. It requires a massive, coordinated team of highly specialized, technical artists. To attempt to build this team in-house for every project is slow, expensive, and inflexible.

Our studio is the solution. We are your “on-demand” 3D art department. We provide the scalability, technical expertise, and production-line efficiency of a massive internal team, but with the flexibility of an external partner. We are built to execute, to integrate seamlessly, and to deliver thousands of assets, all of which meet your exacting quality and performance standards.

We invite you to schedule a consultation. Let us review your GDD, your concept art, and your technical budgets. We will build a custom production plan that shows you exactly how we can build your world, on time and on budget.