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2025 Β· Procedural Environment

Urban Environment

A post-apocalyptic 3D environment inspired by a fungal-infected world, centered on a derailed train suspended between buildings and overtaken by procedural organic growth.

Year
2025
Type
Procedural Environment
Project video
YouTube β†—Bilibili

Overview

What I built and why.

A post-apocalyptic 3D environment inspired by a fungal-infected world, centered on a derailed train suspended between buildings and overtaken by procedural organic growth.

My responsibilities

My contribution.

Technical breakdown

01

Concept

Inspired by the fungal-infected world of The Last of Us, the scene imagines mutated fungi overrunning an abandoned city. Its focal point draws from Chongqing railway architecture: a derailed train passes through buildings, then becomes suspended and entangled by massive fungal structures.

02

Assets

I used Houdini RBD fracture tools to simulate the broken bridge, built a multi-UDIM UV workflow for the fractured pieces, and authored textures in Substance Painter.

03

Procedural branch tool

The Houdini tool generates branches aligned to imported models. Artists can adjust curves, branch shapes, and surface detail, then merge the results into natural-looking organic structures.

04

Procedural fungal tool

Users import a base model, paint a target mask, simulate fungal growth, and generate detailed fungal surfaces automatically.

05

Final polish

The environment was completed with city infrastructure, props, decals, vegetation, height fog, and lighting adjustments to strengthen atmosphere and depth.

Tools

Technical stack.

Process gallery

Images and their original notes.

Urban Environment β€” Concept, image 1Urban Environment β€” Concept, image 2Urban Environment β€” Concept, image 3Urban Environment β€” Concept, image 4

01

Concept

Inspired by the fungal-infected world of "The Last of Us," my initial concept was to create a post-apocalyptic environment where mutated fungi have overrun the abandoned city, gradually forcing out the surviving human beings.

The focal point of the scene is inspired by a railway station in Chongqing, China, where trains run directly through buildings. In my post-apocalyptic setting, I imagined a derailed train that passed through buildings is now suspended and entangled by massive fungal structures.

Urban Environment β€” Assets, image 1Urban Environment β€” Assets, image 2Urban Environment β€” Assets, image 3Urban Environment β€” Assets, image 4Urban Environment β€” Assets, image 5

02

Assets

I used Houdini's RBD (Rigid Body Dynamics) fracture system to simulate the broken bridge to achieve realistic destruction, implemented a multi-UDIM UV workflow to unwrap UV for the fractured pieces.

Created the textures using Substance Painter.

Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches, image 1Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches, image 2Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches, image 3Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches, image 4Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches, image 5Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches, image 6

03

Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Branches

This tool enables users to procedurally generate branches aligned with their models, with adjustable parameters for different visual effects. Created fungi wrapping around the train using it.

  • Import model
  • Generate curves
  • Generate model based on curves
  • Use procedural methods to create surface details and merge branch models for a natural appearance
Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal, image 1Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal, image 2Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal, image 3Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal, image 4Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal, image 5Urban Environment β€” Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal, image 6

04

Procedural Tool β€” Procedural Generating Fungal

This tool, created in Houdini, procedurally simulates the growing process of a fungal structure. Users only need to import a base model and paint masks on desired areas to generate fungi automatically.

  • Import model
  • Paint mask for target area
  • Simulate fungal growth
  • Create surface details for the fungal structure
Urban Environment β€” Texture Refinement, image 1Urban Environment β€” Texture Refinement, image 2Urban Environment β€” Texture Refinement, image 3

05

Texture Refinement

The train model was sourced online. I repainted its textures in Substance Painter to give it a broken appearance that aligns with my fungal color palette.

Urban Environment β€” Polish the Environment, image 1Urban Environment β€” Polish the Environment, image 2Urban Environment β€” Polish the Environment, image 3

06

Polish the Environment

After completing the focal point, I refined the overall environment by:

  • Adding buildings, city infrastructure, and props
  • Placing decals and vegetation to enrich surface detail
  • Adjusting height fog and lighting to enhance atmosphere and depth