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Modeling
Method
Reference
Before starting a composition compile reference images and make a basic sketch of the final composition in terms of disposition and arrangement.
Boxing shapes
Start by boxing out the different elements with very rough primitive shapes until the entire composition is boxed out.
Pay attention to the scale of items and their proportions in regard to other elements.
Take every element piece by piece into several level of details : rough, medium, fine. Cycle the entire scene through a level of detail before moving on to the next.
Modifiers
Make good use of the Mirror Modifier and Solidify Modifiers to speed up workflow on basic shapes and apply them only to break the symmetry and add finer details (destructive modeling).
Randomness
Moving vertices around a little randomly and rotating/scaling loop-cuts helps to give character really fast.
Tips
Beams are useful elements on buildings to join parts together and hide overlaps.
Loop cuts CTRL + R are a fast way to add topology but don't add too much to stay in low poly.
Proportional editing O helps a lot to move/rotate parts of meshes together.
Duplicate elements SHIFT + D and detach P (to create primitives that will become roofs, windows, doors, etc.)
Useful Techniques
Extrude along a path
Use CTRL + RIGHT CLICK to extrude along a path given by your clicks. This is very handy for extruding along crude curves created on the fly (handles, etc.)
Plane and knife tool
Sometimes its simpler to use a plane then knife your shape roughly through it making use of mirror modifiers for symmetry and to create thickness
Use the knife again to break down N-gons into quads
Stone Walls
 | Block out a large, medium and small stone shape. Apply scale. |
| Add a Bevel modifier. | |
| Add a bit of variations with loop-cuts and randomness. | |
| Fill in one row. | |
Duplicate the row upwards once with SHIFT + D. |
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Repeat as many times as necessary with SHIFT + R to fill in the height of the wall. |
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| Randomize each row manually by shifting blocks around. | |
| Add randomness in object or edit mode. | |
| Polish manually to avoid ugly joints. |
Additional tips
- Go into side view and flatten each sides after adding the randomness. They often tend to stick out too much which doesn't look very good in flat shading.
- Having the stones slightly overlap each other helps to avoid light sources leaking through the wall.
Floor/Ceiling Planks
 | Create a basic plank. |
| Add 2 loop cuts for some variation. | |
| Duplicate along X or Y to cover the zone. Add a little variation. | |
| (Optional) Bring variations in length on the end visible to the camera (some sticking in, some sticking out). | |
| Bevel a few vertices to add notches . | |
| Randomize a bit & rectify where needed. |
Additional tips
- Add dents by beveling a vertex and joining the two unconnected center vertices
Pipes
 | Start with a cylinder. |
CTRL+RIGHT CLICK with a face selected to extrude to click point. |
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ALT+EExtrude along normals certain face loops to create joints. |
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| Bevel a few vertices/edges to add notches. | |
| Randomize & rectify. |
Fast Plants
 | Start with a plane. |
| Loop cut several times across and once down the middle and rearrange create a leaf. | |
| Set origin to bottom. | |
SHIFT+D to duplicate and immediately R + Z + 45 to rotate the duplicate at a 45° angle. |
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SHIFT+R x6 to repeat. |
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| Randomize & rectify. | |
| Shade auto smooth and colorize. |
Parenting
Use CTRL + P to parent a selection to the active object (opens the parenting menu).
It's handy to parent a selection of meshes composing an object to an empty to be able to move the empty to place and move the object easily afterwards.
When placing such empties, be wary of the origin point of the empty as snapping to faces afterward will use that empty's origin.