ENVIRONMENT ART. 3D MODELING OF GAME ENVIRONMENT
Take a course on creating locations in games and master the profession of environment artist. After the training you can put your first game scene in Unreal Engine in your portfolio, for example a cozy village, an abandoned castle or a ruined city.
required level: beginner with a basic knowledge of necessary apps
5 months
instructor is an active professional
4,99
Average score given by the students
According to the poll of 157 students as of 04.05.2023
$190
Price:
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$20,000/year
Junior 3D-environment artist salary
$40,000/year
Middle 3D-environment artist salary
$100,000/year
Senior 3D-environment artist salary
WHAT IS THE job
An environment artist creates unique game worlds and makes them atmospheric and immersive. They create realistic 3D objects and adjust lighting, camera and composition, just like in Skyrim, Hogwarts Legacy or Horizon Zero Dawn. Such a specialist will always be in demand, because every game has a lot of locations and levels. Plus it's a carrer with a low entry threshold, which is in demand not only in gamedev, but also in movies and advertising.
03
You will learn to split modular objects into their components - tiles and trims - and then make scene elemetns with them.
Work with the constructor
04
For example, rocks, stones, trees, stairs or gates. You'll also learn how to combine them seamlessly with each other.
Create environment parts
01
You'll understand how to work with ideas and match references to the setting.
Create concept designs
02
Learn a few ways to create them and you'll be able to paint the landscape quickly.
Create tile textures
05
Include a video of a fly-through of the entire game scene in your portfolio.
Set in-game camera and light
06
Understand how to create playable scenes in Unreal Engine and present them in the best light.
Set locations within the Unreal Engine
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
LEARNING PROGRAM
We emphasize practice, so during the course you'll learn how to work according to the pipelines of real studios, assemble a cool portfolio, and get meaningfull feedback.
Part 1: Interface
- Get acquainted with the 3D-Coat interface, navigation, layers and functions of the main program windows.
- Learn how to customize the program to suit your needs.
- Part 2. Voxel modeling tools
- Basic tools. You will get acquainted with the basic tools for working with geometry, you will be able to extrude, cut and create various shapes.
- Additional tools: needed for tasks that can be done in other programs. If you know how to work, for example, in Blender, you can skip this section.
- Part 3. Texturing tools
- Familiarize yourself with the basic tools for working with materials and textures in 3D-Coat.
- Part 4. Practice
- Developing a simple character for a warm-up composition. You can make a character in 3D-Coat in just six minutes with the help of ready-made dummies.
- Modeling of architecture and environment. On the example of ancient stone architecture payplain and methods of work.
- Texturing of what has turned out.
- Navigation. Primitives, their movements and changes. Hotkeys.
- Learning to move primitives in space. Customizing the interface for yourself.
- "Opening" primitives (origins, vertices, edges, planes). Primary understanding of working with the mesh. Bevel, extrude, loop. Using proportional editing. Why it is better not to use straight lines.
- Modifiers array, bevel. Modifiers as helpers and enemies in modeling. What does it mean to "Apply scale"? An unexpected way of modeling. Another modifier (Skin).
- Modifiers boolean, mirror, solidify. Basics of working with Subdivision surface modifier. Working with modifiers, their influence on the mesh.
- Subdivision surface modifier or what is lowpoly and highpoly. Modifier or shade smooth. How to count polygons. When to use sculpting.
- Principled BSDF and other nodes. Addon and nodes. The basics of understanding the node system. Procedural textures. Face orientation.
- When do I need a UV sweep? Modeling a simple object with overlaying ready-made textures. How it is organized in Blender. How to overlay ready textures, their editing.
- Lighting, camera and render of the object created in the last lesson. Air in the frame. Color management and Photoshop.
- Working with particles (grass in a flowerbed, leaves on a tree). The basics of physics (pillows, curtains).
- Animation of primitives, camera and light. Reasons for using simple animation. In what ways does it degrade and enhance the object? Practical application of animations.
- Starting to model a simple scene. The basics of working with photos, refs, with what surrounds. We use all the knowledge we've gained.
- We continue modeling a simple scene. Apply textures. Set the camera, color and light.
Basic information about the course: how it is structured and how to turn in homework.
- About the course
- A guide to homework
You will learn to invent and assemble references according to your idea. Build a scene from simple objects and immediately upload it to the engine to see how it plays and fix mistakes.
- Preparing to create the environment: searching for ideas, references and points of interest.
- Prepare Unreal Engine for work: create a blockout - a rough sketch of the future scene. We work out the approximate location of objects, player's paths and general dimensions of the space and objects.
- Create model drafts: think in detail about what basic objects we will need for the scene and how they will look like.
You'll create tile textures to paint landscape and understand the different approaches to creating them.
- Creating an earth texture in Substance Designer for landscape.
- Quixel Mixer toolkit breakdown. Creating additional textures for Landscape.
- Parsing the basic features and nodes of Unreal Engine's Material Editor. Creating material for landscape and painting.
Come up with organic rock formations and large rocks to break up the monotony of our cliffs. Figure out what organic skirts and cliffs are for.
- Sculpt. Creating high poly rock in Zbrush. Creating the main silhouette of the object and its primary, secondary and tertiary forms.
- Low poly. Creation of low poly rock, its sweep. Bake basic maps for texturing. Creating a Substance Painter preset.
- Create a master material to work with large scene objects under vertex peint and tile textures.
- Rock texturing. Refining the master material, adding functionality to the material and optimizing it. Rock painting.
- Stones. Creating large stones in Zbrush. Material customization in Unreal Engine. Subsequent refinement of the scene.
Create a constructor from which you can assemble different pieces of scenes. You will dismantle modular objects into component parts - tiles, trims.
- Creating stone blocks for later use in a tile texture. Creating a second variation of the stone blocks texture.
- Refinement of modular objects by creating midpoly assets. Creating a destroyed variation of the object.
Create a trim texture for the environment assemblies. Detail modular assemblies using trim textures.
- Principle of operation and creation of mesh decals. Decals for the second UV set and adding Edge decals.
- The principle of creating trim textures for the environment. Detail of modular assets using trim textures.
- Work with vertex peint of modules. Unique and modular painting of environment objects with vertex paint.
We finalize large architectural assemblies for vertex peint using midpoly pipelines and trim objects.
Analyze approaches to creating unique large objects. Create large objects of a scene using a combined pipeline.
- Creating unique large environment assets, texturing with masks and tile-detail maps.
- Creating large environment assemblies using midpoly piplane without a unique normal.
Create trees, grass, pebbles and other minor objects. Without them, the scene will not be interesting and "alive".
- Creating small rocks to paint the surroundings. Setting up and working with vegetation painting.
- Creating tile patches for a scene. Using these landscape patch objects to increase detail.
- Creating different types of vegetation using atlases. Working with vegetation in a scene.
- Creating large vegetation types using a tree as an example. Model trunk, large branches and atlases to create trees.
Creating decals and patch meshes for environments. Material and application of decals in Unreal Engine.
Creating small props. Refining the environment and creating a local story by adding small unique objects to the scene.
You'll learn how to demonstrate the skills you've learned while working on a scene. The presentation is specially arranged so that all the skills you have learned are visible.
- Finalization of the scene. Final polishing of the environment, points of interest. Adjustment of atmosphere, light and post-processing.
- Render and final presentation of the environment for the portfolio, its objects and textures.
Here you'll be able to watch stream feedback recordings of past streams.
AUTHOR
COURSE
COURSE
There are no theorists among our teachers, only practitioners with many years of experience and renown in the industry. Igor Emelyanov is no exception.
Ramon is a 3D artist with six years of experience. He has worked at TraceStudio and Fox3D and participated in Metro: Exodus, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Plague Tale: Innocence.
Ramon Hicks
3D environment artist
COURSE AUTHOR'S WORK
Post-training portfolio
$30,000
Environment artist
Author's own 3D scene in Unreal Engine
Knowledge of algorithms for creating complex 3D scenes
It will be a powerful argument for future employers and customers.
You'll be able to create scenes to suit any task and setting.
Full-fledged composition with an ancient structure in the portfolio
Skills for working in the studio
You'll make it on a bonus block in which you'll learn how to conceptualize fantastic architecture and simple characters in 3D-coat.
They're enough to get a job as an environment artist in a studio or sell your work profitably at asset stores.
COURSE WORK
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
You'll need any 3D modeling program (Maya, Blender or 3ds Max), Zbrush for sculpting, as well as Substance Painter, Substance Designer and the Unreal Engine 4 engine.
We're counting on you to have at least some understanding of buttons and programs. We advise you to start with more basic 3D courses, such as our free intro course "Create your first 3D model".
A good environment designer will never be out of work - for every big game you need to create a huge number of locations. This is one of the most in-demand professions - at least in the AAA-industry.
It's impossible to guarantee such a thing, but you'll have everything going for you: a full scene in your portfolio and a full understanding of all aspects of being an environment artist.
The system requirements are fully consistent with the current system requirements of Blender and Unreal Engine 4.
Blender - OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1, 10, 11, Apple macOS 10.13.x. Processor: 64-bit quad-core processor with SSE2 support. RAM: 8GB of RAM. Graphics card: 2GB RAM, OpenGL 4.3
Unreal Engine - OS: Windows 10 64-bit or Latest macOS Monterey or older. Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster (minimum), Six-Core Xeon E5-2643 @ 3.4GHz (recommended).
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (minimum), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (recommended). RAM: 8 GB (minimum), 16 GB (recommended). OS Drive: 256 GB SSD. Data Drive: 2 TB SSD
Blender - OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1, 10, 11, Apple macOS 10.13.x. Processor: 64-bit quad-core processor with SSE2 support. RAM: 8GB of RAM. Graphics card: 2GB RAM, OpenGL 4.3
Unreal Engine - OS: Windows 10 64-bit or Latest macOS Monterey or older. Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster (minimum), Six-Core Xeon E5-2643 @ 3.4GHz (recommended).
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (minimum), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (recommended). RAM: 8 GB (minimum), 16 GB (recommended). OS Drive: 256 GB SSD. Data Drive: 2 TB SSD