Realistic 3D London model for Videogames

For our photo-realistic 3D city model of London for videogames, we manually capture all details on facades on top of our accurate Level 3 city model. We UV map the models, apply materials and textures. All the way to the last architectural detail, with high accuracy and precision. Where necessary, we use game library textures and spawn objects as instances to fit within a required memory budget.

One of such projects have been a Fortnite experience “100 Days Later”. And shooting zombies aside, our 3D model of London has never looked better.

100 Days Later is a Creator Made Island in Fortnite. In this simple Fortnite shootout, players of up to 8 battle hordes of zombies in London. Players get better weapons after each wave defeat and move from Tate Modern on the south side of the River Thames in a realistic 3D London environment, on their way to safety of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Players can play with their friends on any console, retaining a recognisable environment across platforms.

AccuCities derive 70% of our business by capturing Level 3 city models for architects, construction companies and urban planners. The rest of our production is taken by producing specialist renders, animations or from providing upgrades to our models to photorealistic 3D models. This might be for high-end interactive animations, presentations or, like in this case, videogames.

For this project, we have used our existing Level 3 model of London. We have then updated, upgraded and optimised the 3D model of London by UV mapping the models, apply materials and textures. Where possible, we have used available in-game libraries. We have upgraded the model by modelling everything, all the way to the last architectural detail, with high accuracy and precision. Far from simply scanning or photographing the area, to create state-of-the-art environment we had to do a lot of manual 3D modelling and post-processing.

“We have used our wide-area city model of London as a 3D canvas upon which we have upgraded all the required game play areas to a photo-realistic level of detail,” said Milo Spisz, Head of Production at AccuCities. “We have used terrestrial photogrammetry to carefully craft all the facade openings and architectural detailing as well as all the other street furniture such as shared bikes, bollards and statues within the play area. On many assets, we had to 3D model some of the interior features as well. Once the Level 4 models were created, we have sliced the models into features that could be repeated and loaded into the game as instances.”

AccuCities have been working on the project from the very beginning and kept on improving and polishing the 3D model throughout the development of the game.

“Once Milo and his team created the Level 4 models, we have optimised all of the assets to fit within the geometry and memory budget required for the Fortnite experience,” said Brais Brenlla Ramos, Head of Development at AccuCities. “The requirement was for the game to run smoothly on various platforms – from handheld game consoles to a high-powered gaming PCs or PlayStation 5. The city model had to look great on all of them, with nanites on or off, using as many library textures as possible, without losing the accuracy and realism we aimed to achieve within the London environment.”

The results of all this work is an accurate representation of a large area of Central London, from Tate Modern all the way to St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.