LEGO BATMAN DIORAMA

Concept & Design

Lego Batman: The Videogame [2008] by TT Games is one of my favorite games of all time. This project was simple--I wanted to create miniature/diorama of two similarly themed levels in the game. Being made for a YouTube video within a week, this project is a showcase of speed, execution, and careful presentation, not intended to be high-fidelity.

Programs used:

Krita -- Digital Drawing
Blender-- 3D Modeling & UV Editing
Substance Painter -- Texturing & Baking
Photoshop -- Digital Drawing, Editing, & Effects
MecaBricks -- Lego Model Construction
Unreal Engine 5 -- Game Engine & Rendering

Lego Batman takes place in an extremely interesting city filled with a vast variety of environments. In the levels Poisonous Appointment & Green Fingers you venture through the different parts of a nature reserve and botanical garden. In this diorama I sought to think about the inspirations the developers might have had and how I could reverse engineer the aesthetic. Below is a sketch I did outlining the structure of the scene.

Modeling & Texturing

I came at this from the mindset of a level designer. I only wanted to model unique assets that I could then place freely in Unreal and modify if needed. A lot of the modeling here used shortcuts and quick solutions because this was more so about the overall look of the scene which was specifically made for a YouTube video so small details weren't necessary. For example, the giant wrapping vine was made from extruding a curve then converting it into a mesh. The flowers were made from the hair particle emitter using a single flower mesh to duplicate.

For texturing, I combined and modified many of the materials provided in Substance Painter.

In this video I break down most of the process: Creating The Botanical Gardens From LEGO BATMAN | Levelism Episode 2.2

Only unique models made with an assembly philosophy

Color coded geometry for Substance Painter preparation

I also recreated some of the lego objects from the game using Lego's official modeling website called Mecabricks.com:

Unreal Screenshots

Despite a simplistic, limited set of assets, I was able to assemble and combine them in a deceptively complex and detailed fashion. Utilizing lighting, atmospheric effects, post processing, and careful camera work, I was able to present the scene with a professional and impressive flare.

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