The 'Pools' project demonstrates how Unity can achieve hyperrealism in liminal spaces, drawing direct inspiration from the Backrooms aesthetic. The main technical challenge lies in correctly rendering the ceramic tiles and water reflections, all under extremely soft indirect lighting that generates an atmosphere of unease and solitude. We analyze the technical pipeline behind this setting.
Technical pipeline: Blender and Unity for ceramic and water 🛠️
The process begins in Blender, where the geometries of the pool and walls are modeled. For the tiles, the key is precise UV mapping that allows applying a material with a high roughness value and a detailed normal map simulating the beveling of each piece. In Unity, Shader Graph or the standard Lit Shader are configured with a very high Smoothness value but controlled by a mask to avoid a plastic effect. The water requires a hybrid approach: a transparent plane with a Shader that uses the Reflection Probe node to capture the environment and a subtle UV displacement to simulate waves. The indirect lighting, calculated using Light Probes and a low-intensity Skybox, eliminates hard shadows and creates that feeling of infinite and empty space, key to the Backrooms genre.
Unease as a technical result 🎯
Graphical fidelity alone does not define hyperrealism; the absence of visual noise is equally important. By eliminating direct light sources and forcing soft bounces in corners, the player feels the space is both familiar and strange. This project demonstrates that mastering indirect lighting and texturing of inorganic materials are the most effective tools for creating convincing liminal spaces in real-time.
Is it possible to achieve the hyperrealism of an empty swimming pool in Unity using only free assets and standard shaders, or is it necessary to resort to paid tools like HDRP and high-end texture packs to capture the aesthetic of liminal spaces like those in Backrooms?
(PS: optimizing for mobile is like trying to fit an elephant into a Mini Cooper)