Creating a Street Environment in Blender 4.3

Tutorial: Creating a Street Environment in Blender 4.3

Software Used

• Blender 4.3 – scene modeling, layout, and rendering

• Adobe Photoshop – texture creation and editing

• Adobe Premiere Pro – video editing and finishing

Step 1 — Scene Planning & Blockout

1. Gather References
   Find street scene inspiration—buildings, road layouts, street furniture. This informs scale, architectural style, and composition.

2. Set Up Blender Project

   • Open Blender 4.3 and set measurement units to metric (meters) or imperial (feet) via Scene Properties → Unit System.

   • Establish a folder structure: models/, textures/, scenes/, renders/.

3. Block Out Streets and Buildings

   • Use basic primitives: Cubes for buildings, Planes for roads.

   • Scale blocks to approximate real-world proportions (e.g., building height vs. road width).

   • Maintain clean geometry: quad-dominant meshes with reasonable topology.

Step 2 — Modeling Street Elements

1. Road and Pavement

   • Create road surface using a Plane and subdivision for curvature details.

   • Add sidewalk planes with slightly elevated height and appropriate width.

   • Insert additional Loop Cuts (Ctrl+R) or bevels (Ctrl+B) to add road markings or kerb details.

2. Buildings

   • For each building, use a cube and scale to desired dimensions.

   • Add windows, doors, and facade details by extruding faces or using inset tools (I) and bevels.

3. Street Props

   • Model props like lamp posts, benches, trash bins, or mailboxes with primitive shapes and modifiers.

   • Use Array modifiers to duplicate streetlights or objects at regular intervals.

Step 3 — UV Unwrapping & Texturing

1. Basic UV Setup

   • In Edit Mode, select each building and apply UV → Smart UV Project or better, UV → Unwrap with seams manually marked where appropriate (e.g., building edges, roof ridges).

   • Ensure road and pavement surfaces have uniform UV distribution.

2. Export UV Layouts

   • In the UV Editor, use UV → Export UV Layout at sufficient resolution (2048×2048 or 4096×4096 pixels).

   • Export separate layouts for buildings, roads, and props as guides.

3. Photoshop Texturing

   • Open UV snapshots in Photoshop.

   • Paint base textures: brick, concrete, asphalt, window frames, signage.

   • Add variations (dirt, graffiti, stickers) for realism.

   • Save texture files in formats like PNG or TIFF.

4. Assign Textures in Blender

   • In the Shader Editor, create Principled BSDF materials.

   • Add Image Texture nodes and load your custom maps.

   • Connect albedo, roughness, normal, and detail maps accordingly.

   • Preview in Material Preview or Eevee/Cycles render modes.

Step 4 — Lighting and Rendering

1. Set Lighting

   • Use an HDRI environment texture for ambient lighting—add an Environment Texture node in the World shader for realistic sky and reflections.

   • Add Area or Sun Lamps to mimic street or natural lighting; position them to cast shadows and emphasize scene depth.

2. Render Settings

   • Choose Cycles for accuracy or Eevee for real-time interaction.

   • Adjust samples: aim for 128–512 for previews, 1024+ for final outputs.

   • Enable Ambient Occlusion, Bloom, and Screen Space Reflections for added realism (especially in Eevee).

Step 5 — Post-Processing and Video Editing

1. Render Output

   • Render stills or an animated camera fly-through.

   • Output a sequence or single image in high quality (PNG or EXR for professionals).

2. Composite in Photoshop (Optional)

   • Apply final color correction, add overlays like fog or street signage glows.

3. Video Assembly in Premiere Pro

   • Import rendered frames into Premiere Pro.

   • Arrange clips on the timeline.

   • Add transitions, titles (e.g., “Street Environment – Blender 4.3”), and overlay animations if needed.

   • Export using high-definition presets (e.g., H.264, 1920×1080).