Chapter 1: Speed Blockouts & Overpaints

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Speed Blockouts & Overpaints — 2D/3D Hybrid Methods for Props

Speed matters when the brief is fuzzy and time is short. 2D/3D hybrid methods—fast blockouts, scans, kitbashing, and disciplined overpaints—let prop teams turn ambiguity into clear options quickly without sacrificing plausibility or handoff quality. This article provides a pragmatic approach for both concept and production artists, focusing on Blockouts, scans, kitbashing, and photobash ethics, and tying them to the pipeline from Ideation → Iteration → Finals → Handoff.

1) Why Hybrid?

Pure 2D excels at exploration but struggles with parallax, thickness, and rigging reality. Pure 3D nails mechanics but can slow ideation. Hybrid methods give you the best of both: rapid structure checks in 3D and expressive decisions in 2D. The goal is speed with truth—blockouts you can believe in, and paintovers that don’t lie about thickness, clearances, or sockets.

2) Speed Blockout: What “Good Enough” Means

A speed blockout is a truthy proxy, not a sculpt. It contains: (1) correct overall scale in real units, (2) believable wall thickness targets, (3) primary pivots and sliders, (4) socket placeholders, and (5) simplified collision volumes. It omits: micro‑fillets, ornamental engraving, high‑frequency veneers, and render fluff. If animation and modeling can answer “does it fit, fold, clear, and read?” from the blockout, it’s good enough.

3) Minimal Toolset That Covers 90% of Cases

You can speed‑blockout in almost any DCC. What matters is muscle memory.

  • Primitives & transforms: boxes, cylinders, spheres, torus; non‑uniform scale, align, snap.
  • Booleans & bevels: to carve slots, gaskets, and quick chamfers that survive LOD.
  • Symmetry & instancing: mirror parts and use linked duplicates for repeat hardware.
  • Grid & modules: work in module units (e.g., 5 mm) so sockets and rails can be measured.
  • Crease/weight: for hard edges without dense topology when previewing.

4) Rapid 3D → 2D Loop

  1. Rough blockout in real scale with datums and sockets. 2) Set a simple three‑point light rig and flat materials (body/frame/signal). 3) Output value‑friendly renders (AO, albedo, normal, depth). 4) Overpaint in 2D to explore ornament, materials, and micro‑mechanics. 5) Push changes back to blockout where they affect structure or motion. Repeat until the far/mid/close reads hold.

5) Camera Discipline for Reliable Paintovers

Lock the camera so paint aligns with reality later. Use orthographic for orthos, perspective for beauty and gameplay angles. Record FOV, focal length, and camera height on the sheet. When overpainting, avoid inventing forms that contradict the lens—elongation and foreshortening should match the render. If you must cheat, mark it as a 2D cheat and note whether 3D must absorb it or not.

6) Lighting for Legible Overpaints

Speed lighting should be boring and truthful: a key, a fill, and a rim at modest intensities. Keep roughness mid‑range to show planes without specular blowouts. Value trumps hue at this stage—export a grayscale render and overpaint value first; color comes later. When exploring multiple options, keep lighting constant to avoid taste bias.

7) Blockout Checkpoints (Concept ↔ Production)

  • Scale: real units, with a scale bar and overall dims visible.
  • Thickness: target ranges per material (metal 2–3 mm, poly shell 2–4 mm, glass 3–6 mm).
  • Pivots & travel: empties named PIV_* with angle/range notes; sliders with measure nodes.
  • Sockets: placeholders with consistent naming and facing; reserve volumes for attachments.
  • Clearances: explicit gaps where parts move; note gaskets and seals as simple torus/loops.

8) Kitbashing for Acceleration

Kitbash to test archetypes fast, but treat it as structure, not a texture dump. Build a small, clean kit: rails, grips, latches, knobs, fasteners, cable guides, greeble panels. Keep kit parts true scale and with pivots in sensible places. When you kitbash, prioritize silhouette and load paths: move mass where forces travel, not where noise looks cool. After a promising kitbash, simplify—collapse tiny features that won’t survive LOD.

9) Scans: Photogrammetry & LiDAR as Reality Boosters

Phone photogrammetry or LiDAR is perfect for reference‑driven props (tools, relics, fabrics). The aim isn’t hero geo but truthful proportion and surface suggestion.

  • Capture: diffuse light, 50–100 photos around the object; cover occlusions; include scale markers.
  • Solve & clean: decimate to a friendly polycount; fill holes where they affect silhouette; keep big dents and wear that carry story.
  • Align & scale: place scan at world datum; match real measurements.
  • Use: snap primitives to the scan for a structural proxy; bake normals for overpaint guides; discard nonessential noise.

10) Overpaint: What to Add and What to Leave Alone

Add only what the camera can read: panel breaks on flats, latch handles on access faces, gasket lips where pressure lives, and surface story in protected zones. Leave out micro‑engraving that would vanish at mid‑distance or fight rigging. Use layer groups for shape, material, signal, and grime so production can audit which strokes imply geometry changes versus shader changes.

11) Photobash Ethics & Practical Rules

  • Licensing: Use images you own, are licensed for, or that carry permissible terms (e.g., CC‑BY with attribution). Keep a sources layer with links and license notes.
  • Transformative use: Your bash must materially transform the source—new design, new context, new arrangement—not just collage.
  • No marks you can’t ship: Avoid trademarks, serials, or branded silhouettes unless explicitly licensed.
  • Respect privacy & safety: No identifiable people/addresses in textures. No dangerous misinformation (e.g., fake safety labels) if players could act on them.
  • Document: Keep a “Photobash Sources” note in the package; it protects you and the studio.

12) Hybrid Ideation: A/B/C at Speed

Run A/B/C with ~30% deltas using the hybrid loop. For A, push stability (thicker body, fewer mechanisms). For B, baseline ergonomics. For C, elongated axis and negative space. Block out each, render consistent passes, overpaint clear affordances, and compare under identical lighting. Promote 1–2 branches into structure.

13) Value‑First Paint Process

Paint in grayscale on top of the AO/albedo render. Lock a value map (body vs. frame vs. signal). Only when value holds do you introduce color and material micro‑cues (anisotropy streaks, SSS hints, dust). This protects readability and prevents late‑stage color choices from disguising proportion errors.

14) Overpaint to Model: What Must Go Back to 3D

Any stroke that implies geometry—new seam, latch, hinge line, or socket—must be mirrored in 3D. Use numbered callouts on the paintover and update the blockout immediately. Reserve purely cosmetic strokes (scratches, decals) for materials unless they alter the silhouette or access path.

15) Export Passes That Make Paint Fast

From your DCC, export: Beauty (flat), AO, Normal (tangent), Curvature or Cavity, Depth (Z), and ID masks (body/frame/signal/glass). These layers accelerate paint decisions and keep edges honest. Save a camera preset per angle so future renders align perfectly when iterating.

16) Common Speed Pitfalls (and Fixes)

  • Cheating thickness in paint: Add a section cut inset; adjust the blockout to match.
  • FOV drift between iterations: Lock camera presets; write FOV in the corner.
  • Noise‑driven kitbash: Delete greeble; emphasize mass and load path; re‑kitbash with fewer parts.
  • Scan worship: Don’t inherit dents or tolerances that fight your use case; keep story, fix structure.
  • Overpromised render: Avoid glossy dramatic lighting in ideation; it hides flaws and misleads reviews.

17) Review Gates for Hybrid Work

  • Ideation Gate: Three hybrid A/B/C options with value locks; cameras and lighting consistent.
  • Iteration Gate: Updated blockout with approved 2D changes; pivots and sockets present; quick turnaround.
  • Finals Gate: Clean orthos from the blockout; paintover materials aligned to material IDs; interaction beats noted.
  • Handoff Gate: Exported passes, ratio card, socket/pivot table, and blockout FBX with locators.

18) Collaboration Tips Across Departments

  • Modeling: Ask for a 30‑minute sanity blockout review; take notes on thickness and clearance.
  • Rigging: Share pivot intentions early; provide ranges; test a 5‑second animation sketch.
  • VFX/Lighting: Expose emissive/roughness ranges as numbers on the sheet; avoid color decisions that hide shape.
  • Audio: Mark material pair contacts and moments of impact in the overpaint; add a simple event list.

19) Archiving & Reuse

Save your blockout kits as versioned libraries and keep your camera presets. Tag scans with dimensions and use cases. Archive paintover PSDs with grouped layers named by function so future variants can reuse structure without guessing.

20) Closing Thought

Hybrid speed isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about cutting waste. By letting simple 3D carry truth and focused 2D carry expression, you make bolder decisions earlier and ship cleaner assets later. Keep cameras honest, values clear, sources ethical, and every overpaint anchored to a believable blockout. The result is a prop pipeline that moves fast and stays trustworthy from first sketch to final handoff.