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UE4 - Interior Environment - Genius Party Apartment

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Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
Project Genius (Genius Party Beyond - small movie)

So I've been heavily inspired by this small movie to recreate it as a small interior environment. This is my first full interior, but I feel I've wanted to create an environment I love. I don't want to go full realism on this, but rather try and capture the character of the place. It's also a very dull environment in terms of color, so I would like to see what I can do there.



What I want out of the project:

- Gain experience using the Unreal Engine 4
- Create Modular Assets and work efficiently
- Gain experiences creating PBR materials in Substance Designer
- Use 3DS Max (I have experience in it before, but I want to use it as my main modelling software and use Blender for skyrim modding)
- Integrating and understanding of Texel Density within my environment
- to try and give the environment character and help tells it's story.

Limitations:
- 512 PPM (basically going to create 1024x1024 textures to use on a 2m x 2m plane for walls, floors and ceiling)
- 1-2 month/s project


Here are all of the screenshots I'm using as reference for recreating the environment: http://imgur.com/a/j9ds4

I've started drawing a floor plan based on the video: 


Key locations:
Living Room - used for teddy storage, lounging and watching TV. has en-suite bathroom with alien in back (watch the video xD)
Kitchen - 2nd most space used. for food prep, and material prep for creating the substance that is used to create life in toys
Hallway - not used often, but can be used for storage as the kitchen and living room are small. 
Robot room - very small room with storage. also houses a robot sitting in a chair connected to a machine keeping it alive.

TO DO:
- block out
- begin planning materials + statics
- replace everything with statics (keep at right texel density)





Replies

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    I actually started blocking out the scene based on my floor plan drawings and the video itself. in one scene compared to another, it became obvious that there were some differences in sizes of walls, so I improvised. Along with the fact that I would like to walk around this place in engine once it's complete.

    First blockout 
    Below: refining the blockout and planning statics




  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Last night started playing with the Hallway walls and how I could create them. basically I was thinking of creating a 1024 wooden plank material and use 512x1024 of that for the wooden panel on the bottom. I was then thinking of creating some high poly shapes and using them for the floor, border and ceiling trim. but I could also re-use them for the door frames. 

    After watching Warren Marshalls video on him creating a staircase from Micro pieces. I really loved the idea of it.

    Here's that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OeY2Lch4uE&t=884s

    before frames:

    after frames:



    I'm also trying to keep in mind the thickness of the walls. for me they're 20mm therefore having the door-frames be 30mm thick, it gives me an extra thickness of 5mm from the walls. I think it will look cool once the frames are in!
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    doing some more work on the statics for the hallway. 
    the hallways materials are basically:
    - 2mx2m floor that is white ceramic floor (3x3)
    - 2mx1m wooden panel
    -2mx2m concrete wall (maybe with wallpaper peeling off) I could also create some corner broken alpha cards to break up some of the repeating corners.

    here is what I am using at the moment:


    the two 1x3 pieces are great for those tight corners, but I use them both since depending on where I use them, they can tile with a corresponding 2x3 piece properly. 

    You will notice I am using a small corner piece to fill in the gaps. the reason I'm not creating seperate corner assets is because it just seems quicker. I may do a similar thing with the peeling wallpaper. and have them clip to the grid and adjust them in engine rather than a fixed mesh in 3ds max. it gives me more creative freedom.

    Here's what I've done using these pieces alone. I'm really in love with what you can achieve with very few modular assets.

    I will be applying materials and fixing the collision on these pieces next. The floor trim, border trim and ceiling trim will all be high poly meshes baked down to a low poly. some of these pieces can be used anywhere basically. for furniture, or doors and even the door frames.



    close-up of the corner beading: 

    Any feedback is welcome.
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Tonight I wanted to make sure the statics I have so far can completely create the apartment. I think it's holding up so far, apart from 1 or 2 pieces I need to create to fill in some gaps. (mainly the 2x1m gap in the living room) where I need it to tile a certain way.

    I've basically completely used the hallway statics and because I'll be reusing the size for the kitchen too, Ill just need to replace them with the statics for the kitchen.

    here's some screens from replacing all of the BSPs:

    Living Room




    Kitchen




    Robot Room


    Hallway


    I will be reusing the geo from the hallway pieces and creating the kitchen set next.

    Peace



  • Chidambhar_Swaroop
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    Chidambhar_Swaroop polycounter lvl 2
    It's really nice to see that ur spending a lot of time on the scale and planning of the project... Keep going...
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Thanks Chid! looking forward to doing more stuff tonight :D
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Started doing some more work on the Hallway apartment assets. figured I could create some peeling wallpaper assets using a single 1024 wallpaper texture. This wont be the final texture, just using it to see how the walls tile.

    I figured I could follow the same suit as I have with the other walls (create a 2x2 piece. reuse that and cut it into a 2x1 pices so that it will tile with an adjacent corner.)

    with the wallpaper pieces, I would love to make the most of them using a different half of the wallpaper UV space. So for example, the left side of the UV space side could be more heavily damaged than the left with more edge wear using an alpha mask and some holes etc.


    So I will texture the base wall along with the multi-sub object material for the who wall set, then keep the material for the wallpaper seperate, because I can create a 2 faced material and have a plain, grungy material where it's been pasted onto the wall with a try of glue. in engine.

    then I can simply use different combination for certain areas and make the most of the environment. 

    A problem I've run into is the place holder plank texture. I've created it so it's roughly 10 planks every 2 meters, which is a whole number I'm happy with when using the references I've gathered.

    I offset the placeholder texture so it frames all the planks and has half of the gap either side. but it's moved the center line probably because some of the planks in this texture are large than others.

    I'm glad I've done this before creating my susbtance designer material version of it. I will probably do it so the centre line hits the middle of a plank. 




    so basically 5 planks per meter, makes the planks roughly 20cm each, which is also justifiable.

    TO DO:

    Hallway
    - sort collisions for these pieces
    - create statics for wallpaper modular pieces and test in scene.

    other
    - create 2x1 wood plank floor piece
    - create blockout_static for Hallway_ceiling.
    - blockout ceiling trim pieces and other potential assets

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    some more updates on the wallpaper set.

    I like the idea of applying the full versions of them to each wall and then dragging a more ripper version or and version that's hanging down from one corner.

    I could still work on them like adjust how much they droop, or even use an FF modifier to adjust it's curve etc, but so far I'm happy with the form. I could even add a noise modifier and give it more of a wrinkle effect.

    Once I'm happy with these, I will Fix all the collision, and lightmaps and start working on materials starting with the wooden planks.



    What do you guys think of the wallpaper variation so far?


  • Apocrs1980
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    Apocrs1980 polycounter lvl 4
    I think they used really crappy adhesive. ;)
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Haha! I think you're right, do you think it adds to the space, or maybe the curves are too strong?
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    susbtance designer materials - wooden planks







    Started building my wooden plank material that I will be using for the wooden floor in the small hallway, and the Hallway wall panel walls in the main hallway.

    I'm having some lightmapping issues so it looks much dark on the walls than the floor itself.

    I started with this for the grain but hated it with every muscle in my body, so I decided to check out how others have been creating the type of grain I wanted, and found a substance. The guy basically warped a grunge map and adjusted the gradient on a gradient node. really cool technique.

    old version: 


    TO DO:
    -adjust this material (edge wear values)
    - create base concrete material
    - create trim sheet (modular trim pieces) can be used for door frames too.(texture in painter/designer)

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    wood plank update.

    added more detail on the edge wear and created dust in between the planks with roughness distinction 
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Plaster Wall Material

    Wanted to create a plaster material for the HallWay kit. it will be showing behind the wallpaper. I didnt want to use concrete for the Hallway, as I wanted to distinguish it from the tiled walls in the kitchen, as they will have a pure, cold concrete material.

    I wanted to show that the plaster is slightly old, but roughly applied to the wall too. I wanted to have directionality to the way it's applied too.

    It actually brings up memories of plastering walls on my summer holidays.



    Next, I really have to sort my light maps out, as they're not something I have tried properly, however, I do understand the concept of them.

    Firstly I will be completing these initial materials using Designer. Trim sheet is next. don't know if I should create it in designer, or simply bake from high polys. (which I may do instead) but still use designer to texture them.

    Peace!
  • Ashervisalis
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    Ashervisalis grand marshal polycounter
    Hey Mr. Bandit, it's coming together really well! With the final comps (when you get there), it'd be cool to see you add some post production that gives it the same dull colour scheme as the original. Your materials are looking really cool, keep it up!
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Hey @Ashervisalis
    Thanks! Yeah I haven't been worried about toning down the color etc in the materials since I can do that in the materials in UE4 which is cool. So I can definitely tweak them in there once I'm happy with these :)

    Thanks for stopping by!  
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    WOAH @Ashervisalis

    Loving the 'Synthetic Allegiance', been loving synth a LOT lately. I had your youtube album bookmarked the other day :D
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Plaster wall update - adding the plaster board feel.

    So I wanted to give the plaster wall a bit more depth in terms of situating it more with the building. I wanted to add an underlying plaster board to the material. So I added the boards themselves, as the amount of them are justified by how many there are. I also added a hint of how the boards where prepared before being plasted i.e the plastering cross-hatch tape used over the gaps between them.





    I'll be testing this in UE4 to see how it looks

  • GragGunslinger
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    GragGunslinger polycounter lvl 7
    Really enjoying following along on your process. Looking great! 
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    :)@GragGunslinger
     
    Thanks dude! Just going to throw it all out there until it's done basically haha. Also loving my learning process in substance designer, pretty awesome program!

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    *Small plaster update* - fixed the tape and tiled it once more to look right. 

    aaaand the nodes are a mess xD

    *accidently said ''FUCK'' marks instead of ''PUCK'' marks. decided to keep it*


    Quick test in UE4 environment: wall



    Detailed lighting: wall

  • Kevin Albers
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    Kevin Albers polycounter lvl 18
    Looks pretty cool so far, and certainly you are approaching it in an organized fashion. Yay!

    Nice materials so far, as well. The inspiration reference seems super grunged out, damaged and maybe never cleaned, so adding more dust and gunk to the materials should help them (or maybe you just haven't gotten to that phase with them yet). Your wood planks look like they still have a decent coat of acrylic finish or some such on them. I would expect the majority of that nice shiny finish to be gone, only appearing on part of the wood.

    The scale of the interior seems realistic, which may be a problem, at least if it was an actual game. I wonder if it will look cramped and tiny in-game. So many games scale things up a fair amount from reality, to try and get something that 'feels right'. Of course, for screenshots, you don't need to create a fake scale, so maybe going realistic will work out great.

    The big bits of peeling wallpaper seem like overkill to me. Maybe one big peeling bit in the whole environment, plus a number of smaller torn/damaged bits here and there, might be nicer.

    The low poly overall looks kind of blocky, mainly because I don't see any modeled bevels on anything at all. Maybe adding a modeled, chunky bevel (i.e. around 1 -2 cm) to 1 or 2 things would help make it look a bit more organic (maybe the door trim, or the top of the wainscotting/planks).

    My internet situation sucks, so I confess that I didn't look at all the linked reference or the inspiration video. So I can't really tell how well everything fits with the reference, apart from the shot of the kitchen at the top. 

    It should be a nice portfolio addition!


  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Kevin Albers 

    Yeah the actual reference (from the video) of that particular wall just baffled me to what it actually is. Either a plaster...concrete or simply wallpaper. So I just decided plaster xD I agree with the dust, especially where the plaster meets the wood boards, but was going to add that using decals in the game engine. although I'm not really going to use this plaster apart from the hallway etc so I could try it out in the material.

    The woods roughness map for sure is giving that weird acrylic feel, It looks different compared to substance designer, so I could fix that. maybe with some more dirt.

    the wallpaper -  the more I'm working on this environment, the more im not liking the wallpaper peels. In 3ds max, I'm actually fixing this by reducing the variety amount and adding only slight curls to them. 

    The blocky ness is becoming more apparent, certainly on that first corner, so I'll be creating that corner as it's own modular piece so I can do more bevel work on it. My initial goal was to create as few pieces necessary to create the space, and then add onto the modules where needed. I was actually thinking of adding a corner decal of broken plaster as it's own piece to try solve this issue.

    something like this: 

    With the wallpaper, I'll be reducing it's blocky feel once I add an alpha wear on the edges,should give it a nice ripped feel. but I agree with the curls being too much.

    With the scale of the environment, I scaled it up more compared to the references, hopefully with the props it should have the right amount of scale :s HOPEFULLY xD The door trim and the wood trim on the sides are still block out. once I'm done with the wallpaper, I'll be creating the trim kit to be used around the environment. 

    Should be fun dude! Thanks for the feedback, you've made me take a load of notes to fix stuff. Appreciate the time!

    That pictures link: http://docs.cryengine.com/display/SDKDOC2/Using+Decals+for+Destroyed+Structures

  • Benvox2
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    Benvox2 polycounter lvl 10
    Really good planning and management from the start! Looking good!
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Thanks dude! Love your Dark Souls environment! :)

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Been working on the tiles, trying to push the Hall Way kit. I've also decided to try and reuse the nodes to create the 10x10 version that will be used in the Kitchen area.


    now for the adhesive under neath, I've been advised to keep the missing tiles versions of this material (that will show whats beneath the tiles) should be all done in the substance. I WAS going to model those details, but I'll see how this method goes.

    What will the adhesive look like?

    One benefit of working with tiles for this project is that I used to install bathrooms during my summer holidays. Which included tiling.

    So! a 10x10 wall tiles would be applied to the wall differently compared to the larger 3x3 floor tiles. 

    E.g. The 10x10 tiles are small enough to simply apply a small dollop of adhesive and apply to the wall. Where as the 3x3 larger floor tiles need more weight distribution. There fore I'll be creating two seperate adhesive materials for the wall and floor.

    Wall Adhesive: similar to this -
     
    *made by Ben Wilson* his work: https://www.artstation.com/artist/benwilson

    Floor Adhesive
    I want to get a bit creative with the floor adhesive, and include underfloor heating system. Which is more commonly installed in buildings more leaning towards industrial areas, which is what video references seems to show.


    I still really need to fix my light maps. but I'm more focussed on getting the materials done in this area, to the point I can play with how they relate to eachother.

    Peace!
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    posted a couple of crit images on some community forums, and it became apparent that I needed to improve my plaster materials.

    I added some circular motion to the application of the plaster to help break up it's empty feeling space:

    Here it is in UE4: 

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Having a lovely sunday with my partner, but I thought I should use the day to think of a design for the wallpaper. I didn't just want to create a generic 'ornate' one using only the nodes in Designer, plus im a big believer in using any method that works best.

    So, if you've watched the video I linked at the start, the Teddies used are basically vessels for the Alien that I believe is making her create by infusing them with the alien itself. What I love about the Teddies is how they navigate the space and react to her.

    If you have ever tried a large costume on, and have gotten your foot into where the arms should be, this is what it looks like. 

    The reasons I wanted to create this design of wallpaper.
    1. Thematically, it shows her love for stuffed animals (shows innocence etc)
    2. There's a Meta underlying theme of showing the teddies in the actual video, and sets a somewhat creepy tone.
    3. I GET TO DRAW A LITTLE. Substance Designer is awesome, but I'm not a robot, so drawing is fun. 

    Here's what I'm trying to go for in terms of design:



    I'm going to stick with just 3 main stuffed animals in different poses. I'm basically sketching an outline of them and importing them into substance designer. Here's what I have so far in substance designer.



    More of an update tonight.

    When they're destroyed by an officer, they emit colorful stars etc, so they will also be something I'll try and incorporate.

    Peace!
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Wallpaper update:



    Hand drawing these little designs are pretty fun being honest. added some more grim shading to them. I'll be adding more to this once im fixed on it's design.

    I'll be adding an opacity to this to have some subtle worn edges etc. plus grime.

    Have a good sunday all!

    EDIT:

    Started to add some small normal information and more on the actual design.

    when the scene is almost ready for propping I will be focussing on lighting and reducing the color saturation, so don't worry about it not matching the reference just yet by being quite colorful! 


  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    working on the Trim Set that should cover the creation of quite a few assets in the environment including:
    -wood + PVC Floor trims
    -wood + PVC Border trims
    - wood shelving
    - Door Frames
    -small stair case + steps
    -ceiling trim

    I re-used the wood grain material I created for the wooden planks to keep the wood together. and for the Kitchen I didn't just want wood again with the Ceramic Tile Wall, but rather create PVC plastic Trim pieces.

    LEFT to RIGHT
    1. plain wood planks with connecting wood piece on side (useful for border, stairs etc)
    2. floor trim piece
    3. PVC plastic cap for tiles
    4. PVC plastic floor trim
    5.spindle for chair/table legs and stair case assets
    6. single wood panel (used for door assets, small cupboards and drawers)






    Here I've started to create the corner trim pieces and how they'll fit together and make use of the seams I created.


    I will be making use of the trims this weeks and create as many pieces I can to be used all around the environment.
  • Auldbenkenobi
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    Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
    This is a big project, but as others have said, you seem to be approaching it in the best way possible. Kudos, and keep it up. Looking forward to the final piece. 
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Yeah! the more I work on it the larger the environment feels haha. It may take a bit longer than I initially planned, but hopefully should come together haha.

    my biggest obstacle is lightmapping and general lighting. Nothing a few tutorials and tips from friend can fix :)

    Thanks for popping by @Auldbenkenobi

  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    update using trims for Hallway Kit:




    I've been spending a lot of time getting this 'Hallway kit' just right, because it will be used roughly 80% of the environment. Got some awesome feedback lately and there's some things I have kept to the end such as lightmaps.

    Feedback received:
    1. touching up on my UV's and bevelling some corners where I can reduce harsh edges. (fixed these areas such as the corner modules)
    2.materials too clean (I will be able to add this onto the current materials once I have the light maps done which is tomorrow

    TO DO:
    1. lightmaps for hallway kit (mday)
    2. re-touch and add dirt/grim to materials for hallway kit (tues)
    3. create ceiling texture (plaster casted ceiling) (wed)
    4. materials to push the deterioration of tiles and plaster walls (Thurs - sat) (plaster= wooden lattice + tiles= adhesive)

    This next week I should be able to focus on getting these done.

    Things are looking really clean at the moment and any re-touching of roughness values in the materials can be done this week.

    Peace all!
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Update - BETTER CEILINGS!

    I didnt just want the flat ceiling that I originally planned so here's a WIP on the ceiling kit for the whole environment.
  • Chimp
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    Chimp interpolator
    if your intent is to capture it's character, i'm not sure why you've gone pbr-realism
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    Well, I questioned that a lot when I first thought of doing the project. My overall goal is to move closer and closer to where I'm comfortable with a style. I guess I'm still used to realism.

     plus pbr is something I'm still figuring out and since I'm learning substance designer in this project, it's a two birds one stone kinda of deal :)
  • Beard3D Bandit
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    Beard3D Bandit polycounter lvl 7
    focusing on the main architectural props that invade the spaces of the environment. These are electricals, plumbing etc such as pipes hanging from the ceiling that will find it's way to the boiler. Wires/wiring that will connect to appliances and light switches or fuse boxes and fans. 
    I'm also blocking out where I will have air vents. 

    The project is taking a lot longer than expected, but I am enjoying it non the less. Here's some of the wiring I'll be using. (wires are UV'd, the boxes are blockouts of the fuse boxes and light switches)





  • Seeberg
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    Seeberg polycounter lvl 6
    Amazing stuff, love the process and break downs, they are supper informative! Keep up the great work! 
  • Beard3D Bandit
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