Backrooms, the most famous liminal space on the internet, was originally brought to life in Blender by creator Kane Parsons. After achieving massive success on YouTube, the project evolved into a film adaptation and became a global phenomenon, making it the perfect inspiration for this Blender tutorial. In its original form, Backrooms was presented on YouTube as found VHS footage from the 1990s. This visual style makes CGI production significantly easier, as the low resolution, VHS artifacts, image noise, and heavy motion blur hide many of the finer details. As a result, even relatively simple renders can appear convincing and realistic without requiring an excessive amount of work on small details.
However, if we want to achieve a look similar to the latest Backrooms film, which takes place in the present day, things become significantly more challenging. Unlike the VHS aesthetic of the original series, modern 2K and 4K resolutions reveal almost every detail and imperfection. Without blur, image noise, and other effects that help hide flaws, the technical execution in Blender needs to be much more refined. Modeling, materials, lighting, and rendering all have to be carefully crafted to achieve a convincing and professional result.
