Breakdown: 3D Gun Made of LEGO Blocks Created with Plasticity

Introduction 

My name is Huang Yulong, and this is my second time sharing my workflow on 80 Level. The last time I shared, I was still in university, but now I’ve started working. I’m particularly interested in creating realistic textures and materials, which naturally led me to weapon art. This is my first year of work, and I previously interned at NVIDIA. Currently, I’m responsible for weapon assets and some commercialization content for an FPS project.
The inspiration for this gun initially came from some pictures I saw online of hardcore gamers creating weapons with LEGO bricks.

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I thought it would be interesting to create this in 3D and perhaps even build a scene with UI that could blur the line between game and reality. Those who are familiar with my work know that most of my previous pieces have been of older items. Although the obvious color changes and wear marks are quite striking and help in storytelling, this doesn’t apply to modern firearms. Modern guns are well-maintained, so they don’t show as much wear. This time, since the gun is based on LEGO bricks, only light wear marks were necessary.

For the material, I looked at old plastic toys for reference, but not too old, as the overall look should feel relatively new. For the model, I used real Glock images as a reference to refine the distinct features of the Glock, making the final model more recognizable.

Modeling

I used Plasticity to complete 90% of the model. It’s a popular surface modeling software, and once I imported the reference images, I was able to start building the model.

I redesigned a simple sight, as the one in the reference image made the overall proportions of the model look off. Since there were no animation requirements, I didn’t model the internals, but I made sure the external structure aligned and had proper connections.

You can notice that I didn’t bevel some small corners. This was due to the limitations of the surface modeling software and my skill level. Some structures weren’t as smooth as I’d like, so I planned to fix them in ZBrush and also use a polishing process to create small bevels.

I imported the model into ZBrush, grouped it by angle, applied edge folding to the polygon groups, and then added subdivision. After DynaMeshing, I used polishing and edge sharpening processes to complete the small bevels.

Next, I used Boolean operations to create the remaining structures and adjusted everything for neatness.

For the Glock features, considering this is a LEGO-based design, I imagined the LEGO bricks would slightly melt due to high heat, and the marks could be made by pressing them together. Therefore, I made the model a bit softer in places to contrast with the original high-poly look.

Low Poly UV Unwrapping

Since this was a personal project, I focused more on the effect rather than creating a fully optimized low-poly model. I directly reduced the high-poly model from ZBrush to get the low-poly version. For models I hadn’t processed, I retained the original topology from Plasticity. Then, I imported the model into RizomUV for UV unwrapping, using the UDIM workflow and minimizing the unseen parts to maintain consistent quality in visible areas.

Texturing

In Substance 3D Painter, I baked the AO, curvature, and other maps. Since the polycount was high enough, normal maps were unnecessary. Be sure to avoid baking AO onto detachable parts that shouldn’t have it.

I added a LUT color grading file, and we worked in the ACES color space both in Substance 3D Painter and in Marmoset Toolbag to achieve the most accurate color matching.

For materials, I took blue plastic as an example. First, I focused on the base plastic feel and texture, then added roughness variations and adjusted the colors to distinguish different parts. At this stage, it was still modeled as a new LEGO brick, but in the next steps, I adjusted it to look more worn by adding scratches from daily use, with no particular features, and also added burnt yellow at melted areas and white for structural highlights, along with some black for soot marks.

You can see the difference in texture between a brand-new LEGO gun and one that has seen some use.

For the stickers, I referenced some common sticker structures.

We could follow this idea, but since our LEGO gun is quite new, I kept the sticker to a minimum, just slightly peeling it off.

Pose Creation

I created all the hand poses in Maya using a hand scan resource I purchased from Eugene Petrov. The author had retopologized, rigged, and added controllers to the model, making it very convenient to use. However, this resource has been removed from ArtStation, and it is no longer available.

Rendering

We used a real-world environment as a light source, so I chose an HDR from the street scene in Marmoset Toolbag without adding any additional lighting. Since both the textures and rendering were done in ACES color space, and the HDR was in linear color space, I adjusted the brightness of the HDR and the camera exposure to achieve the correct look.

Anyone familiar with photography knows that areas with strong light contrast tend to distort the image. To enhance the photorealistic effect, I adjusted post-processing parameters and added chromatic aberration, noise, lens flare, and vignetting.

For close-up shots, I used depth of field to emphasize the main subject.

Similarly, by switching HDRs and tweaking settings, I got several different renders. In Photoshop, I added UI elements to give it a more FPS-like feel. Rendering is just a finishing touch – what’s most important is the quality of the model and textures. Good rendering can raise the upper limits, but quality assets ensure the minimum standard.

Conclusion

Due to work commitments, I spent a total of two weeks of my spare time completing this project. Since the model and textures were relatively simple, the biggest challenge was achieving realistic rendering, which is also the step I enjoyed the most. I believe the key to creating weapon props is finding good references and ensuring the reasonableness of the design. This requires continuous refinement and attention to detail to achieve the best result.

I’ve shared some of the production process videos on Bilibili. If you’re interested, feel free to follow me here.

Yulong Huang, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Amber Rutherford