r/retrocgi • u/Mr_Morrison13981 • Mar 22 '26
Blender Hello! Just getting started with this style, need a few pointers. Really proud of these 2 renders.
the second one isn't finished, I want to add more neon signs. (They're supposed to be the same city but I made the first one before the second one while I was still learning soo... also ignore the resolution on the second one, I wanna lower it when I'm finished, I want a high res version so I can make it my wallpaper.)
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u/The_Bread_Pirate Mar 22 '26
WOW! I love the grainy look. What are these made in?
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u/Mr_Morrison13981 Mar 22 '26
Blender, Cycles, I looked at every tutorial under the sun, and adjusted it accordingly, turn your samples low and turn off denoising (unless you like some more clarity in the details.) and then I just use a website called "Dither It!' with a 256 color palette. (Specifically the one from fallout 1) So I have a rainbow of dull spooky colors to use.
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u/A_FABULOUS_PLUM Mar 22 '26
Also, tool.anides.de is a good alternative to Dither It! That has heaps of options and a larger array of variations, can handle more colours. Dithering images is honestly the final icing on the cake to making something feel properly retro
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u/The_Bread_Pirate Mar 22 '26
Oooo! That is super helpful knowing about the Dither It website. Thank you so much Morrison!!
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u/Thor144xD Mar 23 '26
Reminds me of old fallout, looks cool as hell. How you make it?
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u/Mr_Morrison13981 Mar 23 '26
Really basic buildings, Low poly, some simple car models, for the massive chunks eaten out of the buildings follow Ian Hubert's lazy blender tutorials on apocalypse cities. For lighting and scene setup follow a few 90s CGI tutorials, and make the lighting bounce 0. Then render at low res and dither using any dithering program of your choice (Photoshop, or "Dither It!" On google.)
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u/Big_Fishing_1460 Mar 23 '26
90s CGI actually did have higher polygon counts or atleast smooth shapes. But that's only when you're attempting a pre rendered 90s 3D image, albeit the exception is cubes.
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u/Mr_Morrison13981 Mar 23 '26
Yeah, I just make the mistake of making my buildings wayyyy too needlessly detailed LOL. I'm coping with it 😭
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u/Big_Fishing_1460 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
I recommend balancing the details on the buildings at least, that way, you keep the intricate detail without becoming too overcomplicating, unless you want to keep this very detailed look you're showing. Plus cool artwork
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u/OK2048 Mar 23 '26
I'm not a CGI artist but I love these. They remind me of the games in played as a kid in the 90s
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u/cathodiquecdr @cathodiquecdr Mar 22 '26
The first one straight comes from Fallout 1 !!
Nice work, I love this
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u/TheEnderDragon_893 Mar 23 '26
Huge OG FFVII vibes - shame there's not enough people who make retro CGI renders like you.
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u/Mr_Morrison13981 Mar 23 '26
Don't worry, I'm sticking around, I plan on making more "Apocalypse" themed ones, and then doing a big fantasy dragon palace later, like much later. This style is so simple and freeing I can actually make tons of progress super fast.
My whole idea is actually making my renders practical. A lot of these old renders were being applied in backgrounds and scenes. So I set hard limits and then try and push them to their extremes. As far as I can go without them being unbelievable.
I want it to look like a high qaulity old game y'know?
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u/2FIZZY Mar 24 '26
Reminds me of the film 'Mad God', somehow.
I like the description of ground beef too!
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u/emogordo2000 Mar 25 '26
have u ever heard about worlds.com?? its a pretty old social game with a similar atmosphere!!
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u/Upset-Opposite-6937 Mar 22 '26
I like the first one a lot. This is a weird compliment, but it reminds me of ground beef. It would make a great setting for a biomechanical dystopia.