Institute of Cosmic Imaging
ENVIRONMENT
Personal · 2024
Environments · Modelling, Texturing
Spanning several months’ work, I researched, modelled, textured and lighted all aspects of this 3D environment.
Unreal Engine, Cinema 4D, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter and Substance Sampler were used throughout. I challenged myself to refine both hard surface modelling and texturing techniques, and to generate all elements of the work myself.
Scroll down to view all of the work, or use the Contents section below to skip to a chapter.
Institute of Cosmic Imaging · The Observatory
Housed within an antiquated Observatory, The Institute of Cosmic Imaging was established as an archive and research facility centred around the study of imaging techniques of the cosmos.
For millennia, we have searched space and grasped to find methods of illustrating its immensity. A small slice of this history is found here at the Institute — dusty models of solar systems, makeshift studies of exoplanet landscapes, slide projectors containing grainy images of comets and telescopes of all shapes litter the Observatory and pile up around work surfaces.
CONTENTS
The Orrery
OBJECT FOCUS
Object Focus · The Orrery
As light pours through the Observatory’s windows, an intricate mechanism is revealed. This Orrery, restored after decades of use, is a prime example of the lengths to which our ancestors went to visualise cosmic structures and distances.
The cogs of the Orrery turn to simulate the orbits of the planets around the sun. This vision becomes more detailed as we get closer towards Earth, with its detailed (albeit worn) surface painting and various gears to measure days, months and years.
The Orrery · Details
The Orrery · Animation Overview
The Orrery · Textures & Planet Maps
Focusing on the intricacies of this object, it was essential to create beautiful, painterly surface textures for the planets. I wanted The Orrery to appear as though it had been used for a millennia, with a succession of owners painting and repainting its surfaces as they saw fit — a layered history.
In Substance Painter, I used real planet surface maps to drive textures. Between layers of wear and tear, Jupiter’s surface map provides grooves and bumps for layers of paint to build up around. Earth’s height map allows gold mountain peaks to poke out above patches of old green paint.
Lab
AREA FOCUS
Area Focus · Lab
Encircling the central Victorian telescope, the Lab is a reconfigurable, multifunctional work and research space used for studies, workshops and lectures. I wanted the space to appear frozen in time, with various stations, focal points and interesting compositions of oddities and antiquities.
Butting up against the telescope is a makeshift seminar space — chairs and stools brought out from the shadows to study a set of old Earth slides from the Institute’s archives — the RGB light beams of the slide projector visible in the dusty air. In another area, a towering modern telescope has been stationed next to a table stacked high with folders, books and cosmic relics.
Lab · Details
The Telescope
OBJECT FOCUS
Object Focus · The Telescope
The crowning centrepiece of the Observatory is of course its behemoth Telescope — a beautifully decorative feat of cosmic engineering. Designed to work in tandem with the space’s rotating roof, various weights and counterweights allow the lenses to be pointed towards almost anywhere in the heavens.
Situated under the Telescope’s looming eyepiece is its original viewing chair. Now fully restored, it can be elevated and lowered, and is the subject of study for many of the Institute’s researchers.
The Telescope · Details
The Telescope · Animation Overview
Planets & Paraphernalia
WORLDBUILDING
Worldbuilding · Planets & Paraphernalia
It was important to me in the making of this fictional Institute to not only consider the large scales of the environment’s grand architecture and atmosphere, but also the elements on the smaller scale — details and features that build up the fabric of this imagined world and situate it within a wider context.
Various paraphernalia, such as books, miniature models and scrawled notes and post-its scatter the scene and contribute towards a feeling that all these objects and artifacts are interlinked. There are systems of organisation at play here and knowledge and poetry embedded within the walls of this space.
Planets & Paraphernalia · Details
Planets & Paraphernalia · Bookshelf
I designed a selection of hardback book spines to be strewn over tabletops and nestled within bookshelves. These books help tie together the space and bring a sort of fictional playfulness to the aging Observatory.
I researched fonts and layouts of old books, using Photoshop to create text elements and then I embossed them on the book covers within Substance Painter.
Research & Development
PROCESS FOCUS
Research & Development · The Observatory
Research was an important element in the creative process for the Institute of Cosmic Imaging. My investigations branched off into multiple channels — theoretical reading and contexts, and finding source material both for the overall space and atmosphere of the environment, as well as smaller details and individual objects.
Contextually, I was interested in the nature of the museum, archives and what they signify — The Museum, Its Meaning and Mission illuminated some of this thinking. Individual examples of archival projects such as this and these experimental Victorian Moon model images deepened my research.
In this section you will also find insights into the development of the work, including blockouts and texture breakdowns.
Research · Tone, Mood + The Telescope
Previous visits to Greenwich Observatory and finding images online of the Great Melbourne Telescope initially piqued my interest in creating this sort of environment. I came to realise there were many, many examples of these enormous antique telescopes — each detailed and ornamental in their own unique ways. I compiled these images as reference points for the Telescope.
In terms of overall mood and structure, I was particularly interested in images of old Victorian spaces that had been converted into something new — the layering of past and future. Old operating theatres that had been turned into lecture halls were a reference point — I experimented with many different hues of pinks inspired by these early on.
Development · Blockouts + Structure
These images document my progress about one third of the way into the building of the Institute of Cosmic Imaging.
Blocking out compositions, focal points and clusters of objects at this stage was very important.
Research · Object References
Pulling imagery from antique auction sites and museum archives, I explored unique objects and artifacts to use as source material, subsequently basing the fictional objects of the Institute off of them.
In some instances I stayed faithful to the source material, but I mostly played around with isolating, deconstructing and playfully recombining elements of objects to create fictional versions that otherwise would not exist.
Development · Texturing
Above is a selection of Substance Painter texturing breakdowns of various models from the Observatory. In one example, I place down my custom dial designed in Photoshop for the Orrery that measures both months and astronomical periods — using it as a raised surface to generate layers of dirt and wear around.
Wood textures were a focal point for this project. Starting with procedural wood grain as a base, I experimented with layers of coloured varnish, scratches, and using generators like Dirt and Metal Edge Wear as masks to erode away at the wood in various patterns to add unique character to each of the objects.
Turntables
OBJECT INDEX
Turntables
In total, I modelled and textured over 80 models for the Institute of Cosmic Imaging. Below is a labelled index of some of these individual objects.
