
25/06/2025
What you're seeing is ๐ป๐ผ๐ AI, it's UE5โHowever!
The best quote I've heard about AI is "not using it as a tool, rather as a collegue". One practical approach to this was I wanted to create a vintage 90s sportscar, but I didn't want a real world brand/model.
1. I started by chatting with Google Gemini about what defined iconic 90s sportscar design, shared some of my favorites, and asked it to help craft a detailed image prompt for Google Whisk.
2. After a few iterations, Whisk delivered a 4-split orthographic concept I really liked.
3. I fed those images into Hunyuan 3D 2.0, a free AI-based 3D generator, which gave me a detailed 3D sketch of the car in minutes.
4. I imported the FBX into Blender and manually retopologized
it using Retopoflow 3.
5. With Geminiโs earlier design suggestions in mind, I added more custom touches via traditional 3D modeling.
6. I named my fictional car brand Raccoonโpartly because I love raccoons, partly because the dark headlight design reminded me of one.
7. Finally, I brought it all into Unreal Engine 5.6, shaded it using Epic Gamesโs Automotive Materials pack, and rendered it with Lumen + Raytracing.
All-in-all, I didnโt use AI to generate a 3D carโI co-created with it. Through a back-and-forth process, I gained insights into what made 90s sportscars so iconic, received tailored references based on my taste, and got help in areas I might have struggled with alone. The result: a fully optimized, high-quality 3D model ready for Unreal Engine 5.