By the end of World War II, Berlin was a pile of rubble, though you’d be hard pressed to tell these days given the extensive rebuilding work of the past 70 years. Still, if you pay attention, the scars can still be found. Shrapnel impact and bullet holes are everywhere: On bridge piles, bunker walls, and even the odd remaining apartment building.
When I first came to Berlin some 15 years ago, I rented my first flat in a beautifully renovated turn-of-the-century tenement block in the leafy Prenzlauerberg district. But when I moved in, I noticed the entire courtyard facade was still covered in impact holes, with barely a scrap of stucco left intact.
To cut a long story short–and to switch to a more positive note–these scars mean that Berlin remains a rich font of inspiration and resources for artists interested in the derelict, the broken, and war damages of all kinds.
Recently, I went on a photogrammetry expedition to capture parts of an old bunker in the former eastern district of Mitte. You can see the result in the title image, retopoed in ZBrush and rendered with V-Ray (check my poor-man’s scanning workflow here). In the process, I thought I’d extract some bullet-hole alphas to be used for sculpting in ZBrush.
I’m now sharing those alphas for free, and you can find them here.
There are 18 different 16-bit greyscale PSD files at 1024×1024, which were extracted directly from the 4-million-poly wall mesh, so they have all the details of the original wall asset. The archviz artists among you may struggle to find a use for them, but if you are into game assets or environments, you might find them useful. Remember that they are the real deal!
You can see all the alphas below and a few examples of what you can do with them (here in ZBrush).
Enjoy and let me know if you do anything cool. And while you’re in The Warehouse, check out my commercial assets, which are a lot more peaceful.
THANK YOU A LOTTTTT!!!!!
thank you!!!!!!!!!!!