Modular Environment Design 101: Ultimate Guide to Modular Asset Creation

Category: Maya, Environment Art, UE5

October 21, 2025

Modular environment design is the key to creating visually consistent game worlds using minimal set of assets in the shortest amount of time.

There are hundreds of games (new and old) that have used modular environment design to create its worlds. Dishonored series, Skyrim, Fallout, new Doom, UT2k4, Assassin's Creed Series, Dead space series and the list just goes on.

So modular design is something that has been here, is currently here and will continue to be the driving force for future game environment creation.

And over the past few years I've immersed myself into modular environment creation. Learning and testing everything for what makes modularity work and how you can achieve it with your own environment work.

In this post I want to break down the essentials of modular environment design, share my workflow and give you the pipeline you can start using.

By mastering modular asset creation, you'll be able to create bigger environments quickly, efficiently and finally bring your creative vision to life.

Let's get into it.

Video Tutorial

What is Modular Environment Design?

Modular environment design is a modeling technique that enables you to build large, detailed game environments using a small set of reusable 3D assets.

These assets are modular pieces, designed to snap together seamlessly, allowing you to construct varied environments like hallways, rooms, buildings, or even entire city blocks with repeating elements.

Unlike traditional modeling, where every asset is unique, modular design focuses on creating a limited set of assets that can be reused creatively.

Your only constraints are the theme of your assets, their quantity and how you combine them.

This saves time, optimizes performance and allows you to create variety of environments in shortest amount of time.

Core Principles of Modular Design

But first you need to understand several key modular environment design principles:

Rule Sets and Consistency: Establish a modular kit with standardized sizes and rules to ensure all pieces work together seamlessly.
Grid-Based Workflow: Align assets to a grid to maintain precision and re-usability.
Pivot Points: Set pivot points to ensure assets snap together without gaps or overlaps.
Base Modular Kit: Create and test basic kit before adding detail.
Texture Density: Maintain consistent texel density across assets for correct texturing workflow.

These principles form the foundation of modular design and are explored in-depth in the "Modular Environment Design Masterclass", where I guide you through each concept with practical examples and actionable steps.

The Modular Design Workflow

The great news is, modular environment design does have a clear, structured pipeline anyone can learn and follow.

Here's an overview of the process, from concept to final environment.

Step 1: Pre-Production and Planning

All starts with planning. This stage involves:

Gathering References: Collect photo references to define the aesthetic and theme of your environment.
Breaking Down References: Analyze references to identify repeatable elements and modular opportunities.
Creating Layouts: Design top-down layouts and blockouts to ensure your modular assets fit together at the intended scale.
Making Lists: Creating lists of modular assets you are going to create and build.
Sizes/Dimensions: Establishing modular sizes and dimensions for each piece you are going to build.

Step 2: Modeling in Maya

Next, you'll model your modular assets. Focusing on creating clean, optimized 3D assets that:

Snap together perfectly, leaving no gaps or overlaps.
Are versatile enough to be swapped or reused in various configurations.
Scale appropriately, from individual walls and floors to entire rooms or buildings, depending on your project's needs.

During this step, you'll be constantly exporting and importing to ensure each modular asset works together and can be used to construct bigger environment.

Step 3: UV Mapping

Once your assets are modeled, it's time to UV Unwrap them.

UV Mapping for Modularity: Use Maya UV mapping techniques to layout for tiling, trim sheets and unique textures where necessary.
Texel Density: Keep the same UV texel density across all modular meshes to maintain visual quality and same texture resolution.

Step 4: Texturing with Substance Painter

Create the Textures: Create tiling, trim sheet and unique textures for all the modular assets using Substance Painter.
Exporting: Export all textures to be used for UE5; packing Roughness and Metallic into a single texture.

Step 5: Material Creation in UE5

Create Master Materials and Material Instances for modular assets using UE5's Material Editor.

Master Material: Create Master Materials with all the adjustments to be made through Material Instances.
Material Instances: Create Material Instances to allow you to make adjustments to textures in real-time, changing their visual look very quickly.
Apply: Apply all Material Instances onto the Static Meshes, either globally or locally.

Step 6: Exporting and Importing Static Meshes

After modeling and texturing, you must export and import all your modular assets from Maya. You will actually be doing this throughout the entire pipeline.

Export/Import Technicalities: Understanding pivot point placement, multiple material IDs and iterative updates to streamline the entire modular process.
Testing Modularity: Constantly testing modularity, verifying that pivot points and snapping works as intended.

Step 7: Building Environments in UE5

With your assets in UE5, it's time to build your environment. This stage requires:

Collision Setup: Creating proper collision for your modular pieces.
Using Modular Assets: Construct modular levels in UE5 using your custom asset kit.
Creative Assembly: Arrange assets in unique and interesting ways to create your environments.

Step 8: Lighting and Polish in UE5

Lighting: Use UE5's Lumen to light your environment.
Adjusting, Fixing, Finishing: Constantly monitoring errors, knowing how to fix them and how to finish your environment asset set.
Post Process: Add final touches with post-processing for the final quality finish.

Why Learn Modular Environment Design?

Mastering modular environment design will give you a highly valuable skill set.

You'll be able to:

Save Time: Build large worlds with fewer assets, reducing repetitive work and abandoned projects.
Improve Performance: Optimize environments with reusable, meshes.
Finally Create: Bring your ideas to life quickly, creating game worlds that stand out.

The Modular Environment Design Masterclass

I've spent years perfecting the art of modular environment design and I've distilled this knowledge into the "Modular Environment Design Masterclass".

This comprehensive course guides you through the entire pipeline, from initial concept to a fully realized modular environment using Maya, Substance Painter and UE5.

You'll Learn

The complete workflow for creating modular environments.
Step-by-step guidance on planning, modeling, UV mapping, texturing and environment creation.
Practical tips for optimizing assets and troubleshooting common issues.
How to build a complete modular set and showcase it in a finished environment.

With detailed video tutorials, hands-on exercises and a focus on both the "why" and "how" behind each step, this course equips you with everything you need to create modular environments efficiently. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, you'll gain skills that you can apply to all your future projects.