How this handbook uses sources

Every factual claim in this handbook links to a source you can open and check. This page explains why, which sources count for most, and how to judge the tutorials you find on your own.

#Why sources matter in 3D art

3D tools change fast. A setting that existed last year may be gone, renamed or moved, and advice that was right for one engine version can be wrong for the next. A source tells you who said something, when, and for which version. Without that, you cannot tell good advice from out-of-date advice.

Sources also keep opinions honest. Much of environment art is craft knowledge, and experienced artists disagree. Naming who holds a view lets you weigh it yourself.

#The source hierarchy

When sources conflict, this handbook prefers them roughly in this order.

A lower-ranked source can still be the best one for a question. A forum thread is often the only place a bug and its workaround are written down. The ranking only decides which source wins when two of them disagree about a fact.

#How citations work here

• A citation sits at the end of the sentence it supports. Several sources can back one sentence.
• The full list, with author, publisher, year and the date it was accessed, is generated at the bottom of every page.
• Only sources the authors actually opened are cited. If a claim could not be checked, it was left out.
• Quotes are short, exact and in quotation marks.
• Prices are not stated unless a vendor page was checked. Usually the page describes the licensing model instead.

#How disagreement is shown

When sources disagree, the page uses a views box. Each position is stated fairly and attributed to who holds it. The box ends with In practice, the handbook's practical advice for you.

#How to evaluate a tutorial

Before you follow a tutorial, spend one minute on these questions.

1. When was it made? Look for a date. Undated pages are a warning sign.
2. Which version does it use? Check the version of the software on screen. Compare it with the release notes for anything that changed since.
3. Who made it, and what have they shipped? A working artist's breakdown of a shipped game is different from a channel that covers every topic.
4. What is it optimised for? A portfolio render, a film shot and a game asset have different budgets. Advice for one can be wrong for another; see real-time vs. offline rendering.
5. Does it explain why? Good tutorials explain the reason behind each step, so you can adapt when your tool differs.
6. Do other sources agree? If two independent sources say the same thing, trust it more.

#Examples of version drift

Version drift is when a tutorial was right for the version it used but is wrong for yours. These examples show how quickly it happens.

#Blender's Auto Smooth (4.1)

Blender 4.1 removed the "Auto Smooth" option. Its job is now done by a "Smooth by Angle" modifier node group asset (Blender Developer Documentation: Blender 4.1: Modeling). Any tutorial made before 4.1 that tells you to tick Auto Smooth in the mesh properties no longer matches the interface.

The change drew complaints. Users opened a bug report calling it a workflow regression, complaining that the new operator did not affect newly added faces and that adding a modifier to many objects one at a time was impractical (Blender Projects issue tracker: Workflow Regression: Autosmooth 4.1). Developers explained that files from 4.0 get the modifier added automatically on opening, while new files need it added by hand (Blender Projects issue tracker: Workflow Regression: Autosmooth 4.1). See smoothing, hard edges and smoothing groups for the current workflow.

#Megascans on Fab (2024–2025)

For years, many environment tutorials began with "grab some free Megascans". Epic launched Fab in October 2024 as a successor to the Unreal Engine Marketplace, Sketchfab, ArtStation Marketplace and Quixel.com (Unreal Engine blog: "Fab" content marketplace launches in…). Megascans were free for everyone under Fab's Standard License until the end of 2024, and Epic said it would begin charging for them in 2025 (Unreal Engine blog: "Fab" content marketplace launches in…; CG Channel: Epic Games has made Megascans free to all…). Assets acquired before the end of 2024 can be kept and used forever (CG Channel: Epic Games has made Megascans free to all…; 80 Level: Megascans No Longer Free After 2024).

A tutorial from 2023 that assumes the whole library is free is now out of date for new users. See photo-sourced and scanned materials.

#Blender's file import and export (4.5 and 5.0)

Blender 4.5 added a new experimental FBX importer written in C++, which its release notes describe as "generally 3x-15x faster than the old one" (Blender Developer Documentation: Blender 4.5 LTS: Pipeline & I/O). Coverage of the 4.5 beta also reported that COLLADA import and export was deprecated and would be removed in Blender 5.0 (Digital Production: Blender 4.5 Beta: Nodes Get Nifty, Collada…). Older tutorials that export .dae files from Blender will not work in current versions. See 3D file formats.

#What an Unreal unit means

Today Unreal Engine's default unit of distance is the centimetre (Unreal Engine 5.8 Documentation: Units of Measurement in Unreal Engine). Epic's own Unreal Engine 3 documentation shows this was once a choice, not a rule: in the Unreal Tournament games 1 unit equalled 2 cm, Gears of War used about 2 units per inch, and "most licensees" used 1 unit to 1 cm (Unreal Engine 3 / UDK documentation: Unreal Units). Very old metric charts may not match a modern project. See units, scale and axes.

#Further reading and watching

• essential talks and videos and books — the handbook's curated lists of primary sources. All levels. Free and paid.