This week, we're releasing DieselPunk, an all-new 3D asset Kit. DieselPunk's complex and beautiful architecture is inspired by Edwardian and inter-war aesthetics. The grimy and gritty textures were created to bring grungy, noirish stories to life. To learn more about the development of the Kit, we talked with the team behind it. Read on to hear about the process for creating the models, textures, and more from the creators that brought this vision to life.
What’s the story behind the DieselPunk 3D Asset Kit?
“DieselPunk is all about grit, industriousness, monolithic structures and utilitarian intricacies. It’s a style that doesn’t try to hide anything, it wears its pipes and gears with pride. Just like the layers of oil and dirt in the world of diesel, the KitBash3D team kept adding more and more layers of storytelling, to create a kit so full of grimy character, it might make you sick.” - Maxx Burman, Co-Founder of KitBash3D
What was your favorite part about working on the DieselPunk 3D Asset Kit, and why?
“The amount of detail in the architecture, particularly in the windows and doorways and telling the story with those assets. For example, in the building below, you can see that the windows will increase in detail and size, indicating a hierarchy of wealth or power. In this particular case, I modeled a casino, and imagined there would be a High-rollers club at the top, hence why the windows become larger.” - Joseph Sylvester, Modeler
”I worked on similar style architecture when I modeled buildings for Manhattan. DieselPunk allowed me to take that detail and go a step further. Adding the chaos and industrialization of the pipes and gears, such as in the building below, really helped establish the style of the Kit.” - Joseph Sylvester, Modeler
“My favorite part of the job is the post-production in Photoshop. I usually spend quite a lot of time overpainting the finished renders - in this case I spent about two days of fairly relaxed and unhurried work. Also the Kit itself has incredibly well-designed models and beautiful textures, so it was quite easy and enjoyable to work with.” - Max Bedulenko, Cover Artist
"Absolutely the graphic style and storytelling. The first graphic I made was a monogram for the city's leader, Magnus Watson, and you can see this magnate's fingers in all of the opulent, money making buildings throughout the Kit. It was a lot of fun mixing world war era graphics and propaganda with a more industrial and fantastical style." - Emily Amick, Graphic Designer
“My favorite part of working on DieselPunk was discovering the lore and story behind the Kit. When we develop our Kits, we do our best to create a story to help drive modeling, texturing, and graphic design decisions. This also just makes working on Kits more fun! In this case, it started when we designed a few potential early graphics for the Kit. One of the first graphic designs we did were some initials. Those initials then sparked an idea about who they belonged to. From there it became something that ended up dictating many of the building designs, how they were used, and what purpose they had within the Kit. It was a ton of fun and everyone got to create their own little story when working on the Kit.” - Mike Reese, Head of Kits
"My favorite part was defining the unique shapes and silhouettes and making them suitable with the DieselPunk theme. It allowed for unique storytelling elements. For example: What does a drilling company look like in a DieselPunk world? Let’s imagine below the land, the owner discovers oil. They build private pumps, build a company, and voila: you have a DieselPunk oil rig." - Hebron PPG, Concept Artist
“We did a complete overhaul of the windows and doors about halfway through the whole modeling process. It was a great team collaboration and it ended up adding a lot of character to the whole Kit. It was also very fun to iterate on the placement of pipes. The collaboration between most of the teams really pushed the final product to the next level.” - Luis Tornel, Asset Supervisor
“There are a lot of parts of this Kit that I loved working with. Material creation was one of my favorites—I love how everything is dirty, smudged, and damaged.” - Anderson Araujo, Texture Artist
Do you have a favorite model from the DieselPunk 3D Asset Kit?
"Ooooo…..I have a few actually. The concepts were really cool and each building felt like it had it’s own interesting story to tell. But, if I had to choose, it would be these three.” - Joseph Sylvester, Modeler
"This local pub. In a DieselPunk era, I thought it was important to have everyday buildings that weren’t hero assets, but help add to the story. I designed this building near the start of COVID-19. People were scared to gather out of fear of catching the virus. So I made a joke that the owner gave 19% discount to everybody who bought Corona beer." - Hebron PPG, Concept Artist
"My favorite model is the Astronomical Administration Building. It is a colossal building with beautiful, unique details throughout, like the giant calendar." - Emily Amick, Graphic Designer
“One of my favorite models in the Kit is the Governor's Mansion. This model was one that really built upon the story we were developing. In this case, the governor addresses his people upon the dais, talking about all the amazing things he is doing for the city while also hoarding all the most expensive resources that are being pumped directly into his own personal stash. Every part of the model hints at it, from the speaker system to the large pipe in the back. Those are the kinds of details that I think our community is going to have so much fun with.” - Mike Reese, Head of Kits
"I don't have just one favorite building. But the style that I liked the most in this Kit were models that included a lot of gears and pipes going through them, like the Factory, the Museum, the Factory Tower and the Drilling Company.” - Anderson Araujo, Texture Artist
“Not just one! Both the tram station’s interiors, the main level of the Hotel Noir, the DrillinCo, and the observatory are three of my favorites.” - Luis Tornel, Asset Supervisor
Is there anybody from the team you’d like to shout out?
“This Kit was a MASSIVE lift from everyone that worked on it but I want to give a huge shout out to our amazing texture artist Anderson. When he got his hands on it, he knew he needed to make it special. Every week he would come with better and better textures, each one telling another part of the story and inspiring the rest of the team. He really took it upon himself to ensure each building could stand on its own while also contributing to the entire Kit. I can’t wait to see what other people do with the materials he built. - Mike Reese, Head of Kits
“Definitely a shout out to all who worked on the Kit with me. Art direction, concepts, product shots, textures, were all fantastic! This Kit really helped me level up my modeling skills and it is extremely satisfying seeing this Kit released and I can’t wait to see what other artists will make.” - Joseph Sylvester, Modeling
"I'd love to shoutout the sheer detail in this Kit. The Kits team put in incredible effort to make sure that DieselPunk was next level from the small props, to the intricate interior halls, to the giant palatial buildings." - Emily Amick, Graphic Designer
Ready to try our new DieselPunk Kit for yourself? The Kit comes ready to use in all the top 3D software, including Blender, Unreal Engine, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Maya, and Unity. Happy KitBashing!
