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Malcolm Riley edited this page Jun 21, 2024 · 2 revisions

Greetings, fellow Factorio enjoyers!

I've received a number of messages asking about how I made the sprites in this repository, so I've created a series of tutorials to explain the process.

Tip

Some of these messages claimed strict interest in my lighting technique, to the extent that they also expressed active disinterest in reading through a tutorial. If you are in a hurry, here are the three elements you need to achieve a Factorio-like look to your renders:

  • A Nauvis-like HDRI
  • Edge detection for highlights
  • Ambient occlusion for concave details

And that's it, really! Good luck!

A Note from the Author

The first five chapters of this series are intended to be followed in sequence, and are hopefully explained in enough detail that somebody approaching them with zero experience would be able to follow along. Each chapter (besides the first) will entail the creation of at least one thingamabob practical to a Factorio mod; that is to say, it will hopefully teach you exactly how to render something from scratch that you may actually end up using in your own mod or modpack - common things like plates, gears, beams, maybe even some gravel or a tech icon. Ideally, this means that an absolute newcomer would be able to create something useful for Factorio and learn to use Blender at the same time.

The remaining sections are a scattershot of useful techniques that are intended to be approached with some level of familiarity with Blender. For now, this does mean that the specialty tutorials are collectively larger than the introductory tutorial chapters. My recommendation for an absolute newcomer would be to return to these sections after some practice, or after enjoying any of the wonderful Blender tutorials available online.

In any case, I intend to keep no secrets: after reading the tutorials presented here, it should be possible for you to look at any sprite in this repository and know exactly how it was done. Unfortunately, there's too much depth to Blender for me to cover every topic - if I've forgotten to explain something, please send me a message or open a discussion post on the repository and I will do my best to answer. Of course, I will also be providing Blender files to accompany relevant chapters, so if you've got an investigative spirit you will be able to explore the workspace and collect insights that way as well.

Finally, please note that this is a tutorial series on Blender as it specifically relates to Factorio modding; there will be some techniques and corner-cutting that may make the models unsuitable for use in other contexts, such as in games or "proper" 3d animations. Since the end result of our efforts will always be a flat image, I believe it is acceptable to be little lazy, for instance, with regard to mesh topology or "correct" lighting. The internet contains a plethora of excellent general-use Blender tutorials, and this does not aim to be one of them.

I hope this series will able to provide you with the knowledge necessary to create some practical renders for your projects, or at least provide a starting point. In either case, I'm sure that you'll be able to improve upon what was explored here as you discover a style and workflow that suits you and your project best.

Whether I hear from you directly, or play your mod one day, or you simply closed this horrid series to never look at ever again, I wish you the best of luck in your future Factorio endeavors.

If you have any questions or comments about this series, please feel free to open a discussion post on this repository, or send me a message directly at [email protected].

On Licensing

This tutorial series is dual licensed: The textual content of the tutorial series is licensed separately from the rendered images and Blender files. The licenses are chosen deliberately and reflect my wishes with regard to adaptation and reuse.

Tutorial Textual Content: CC-0

All textual content in this tutorial series is licensed as CC-0: it is released unencumbered to the public domain. That is to say, if you create a work using knowledge gained from this tutorial series, it is fully yours, and it is not necessary to link back to this tutorial unless you feel so charitable as to do so. This also means that you may also adapt, redistribute, or wholesale copy the text of this tutorial series for any purpose, without restriction or qualification.

Images and Blender files: CC-BY-4.0

All image content and all Blender files provided by this tutorial series should be considered to be under the CC-BY-4.0 license. That is to say, if you create a work using an image or Blender file from this series as a starting point, you are free to create, adapt, and redistribute that work for personal or commercial use, but please provide a link back to this repository or tutorial.

To be perfectly clear: in all circumstances you are free to redistribute and monetize any partially or fully derivative work as you see fit, but only in the circumstance where you have directly used the whole or a part of a provided image or Blender file as a starting point for your work do I humbly request that you link back here so that others can benefit as you have. I'm not looking for clout or accolades, so in my view even a bare link presented without fanfare minimally satisfies the terms of the license.

Return Home.

Table of Contents

Introductory Series

  1. Blender Basics
    How to use Blender
  2. Plates and Beams
    Dynamic and manual Mesh-making
  3. Gears
    Blender Add-Ons, simple Materials, and environments
  4. Corroded Metal Things
    Using Shader Nodes for procedural materials
  5. Gravel Pile
    How to use Geometry Nodes to procedurally generate Meshes, including automatic item variants

Miscellaneous Techniques

Blender-External Techniques

WIP Articles

  • Automatic Decoration: Rivets, Bolts and Fasteners
    A common visual motif is the ever-presence of rivets, bolts, and fasteners on the surface of metal objects. From the humble Assembling Machine to the exotic Spidertron, Factorio machines are a beautiful mess of crudely-fastened metal plates. Manually placing such Objects on the surface of Meshes is too much work, but Blender offers several semi-automated solutions.
  • Creating Compelling Crystals
    There isn't much precedent for effects like this in the base game, but even a relatively simple Material can create compelling images. Even seemingly complex features such as realistic refraction and chromatic aberration are relatively simple to accomplish.
  • Adding Details to Transparent Objects
    No material in real-life is perfectly uniform. Therefore, adding imperfections to the interior of a transparent Object can add realism and visual interest to a render. Whether adding bubbles to a gel or fluid, or adding mineral inclusions to a crystal, this simple method can help.
  • Using Shader Nodes to Rotate an Environment Texture
    HDRIs add realism and character to the lighting of a Scene, but rarely do the light features of these images arrive from the needed direction. Fortunately, there is an easy way to "rotate" the appearance of an HDRI without having to reorganize each and every Object in the Scene.
  • Looping Animations of Procedural Textures - Without Trigonometry
    Creating looping animations of animated procedural textures is fraught with peril - and trigonometry. There is an easier, more flexible, and more comprehensible method; what's more, it doesn't involve using a single trigonometric function. It can be used with 2D or 3D textures - you too can create looping animations of roiling volumetric clouds.
  • Easy Procedural Ores - Including Ground Transitions
    Many Factorio mods seek to add ores to the game - It may be easier than you think to create your own without having to resort to recoloring base-game assets.
  • Holdouts, Shadow Catchers, and Glow Textures
    When making a Factorio mod, sometimes it's necessary to capture only the shadow cast by an Object, only the light or "bloom" that it emits, or only everything except the Object itself. Blender makes alternative rendering techniques very straightforward.
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