CT5106: Environment Art
Initial Design Process:
I chose "Witch's House" as my prompt for this assignment. Immediately, I thought of ideas of a more neutral witch, rather than a classic evil sorceress-style one. This led to thoughts of a cottage-y, woodland setting, with tall trees and fantasy-esque glowing mushrooms framing the building, almost as if her magic has seeped out and affected its surroundings, distorting the world in a fantastical way.
To begin, I produced a series of moodboards, collaging a range of ideas and imagery I could picture being present in my design. I initially created one moodboard, covering my clearest ideas on how I wanted to depict the witch's house. Afterwards, I made note of each individual asset I wanted to include in the environment, and made individual moodboards themed around them specifically. This was to narrow down my design ideas for each piece. For example, I wanted to create trees to populate the forest surroundings, but by producing a specified moodboard, I narrowed down my concepts to trees that were dark and somewhat eerie, with branches twisting in a multitude of directions.
Working from my moodboards and additional ideas, I drew up a concept art piece of how I imagined my Witch House setting to look. I pictured the house as the "central piece", with plenty of plants and mushrooms surrounding it. The further surroundings are enveloped by a mystical fog with faint sparkles that float in the air. The mushrooms are dramatically oversized and emit a soft glow, something I frequently found in "fantasy forest" settings. I also designed the terrain to be uneven, allowing for a staircase to flow over a small pond and up to the house's entrance.
Throughout this design process, I was attempting to picture how I could reuse and repurpose assets throughout the scene. For example, I could imagine using the staircase's wooden planks for the doorway's arch.
Starting in Unreal Engine 5:
My first step in Unreal Engine 5 was to produce a whitebox of the scene, based off of my concept art piece. Doing this helped realise my design into a 3D space, making sure each piece would be placed and scaled correctly.
Producing Assets:
To help me keep track of the models I needed to produce, I decided to import each asset into my Unreal scene after I completed each one. By doing this, I could slowly replace the whitebox models with my final ones, making it obvious to tell which parts of the whitebox needed replacing. Another perk of doing this was I could see how each asset's textures looked when placed in the same setting - if one looked out of place, I would be able to tweak it early on rather than at the later stages of the project.
The first thing I modelled for the scene was the Mushroom Stem. Beginning in 3DS Max, I began with a cylinder and warped the size so it was largest at the bottom, then tapered in slowly and subtly bulbed out at the top. After I was confident with the shape, I took the model into zBrush to sculpt in some details, such as an organic fungus-like texture and some bumps at the base.
In Substance 3D Painter, I imported the 3DS Max model (as my low-poly model) and performed a high-poly bake using the zBrush model as the high-poly. This meant I could use the lower poly version of the model, but it would have the detailed appearance of the high-poly version. After this, I applied materials and generators to the model, attempting to create a plant-like appearance, with a subtle magical pearlescent shine.
Also at this stage, I placed a Point Light inside the low-poly Mushroom Head, partially to see how the light effect would look on the now-textured Mushroom Stem, but also because I couldn't wait to see this light effect in the scene as it was one of my favourite details in my concept art.
I made the Mushroom Head in the same way as the Stem. In zBrush, I specifically spent time creating the ridges on the inside - since I wanted this area to glow, I had to make sure the it would look detailed with the light emission. I also hand-sculpted each ridge in attempt to create an organic feel, as if I used a chisel tool or any symmetry aids, it might have made the ridges look like they were placed synthetically. When texturing the model in Substance Painter, I coloured the inside so it subtly got darker approaching the centre, like real mushrooms. The high-poly bake also greatly strengthened the ability of generators, as I could easily apply colour to the ridges and other areas sculpted on the high-poly model. I also used masks to make the underside rougher than the coloured side, to even better communicate the different "feel" of the two areas.
One aspect to note is my decision to model the mushroom's stem and head independently of each other. I did this for modularity reasons - by having each section separate, I could resize and angle them to produce a range of mushroom looks instead of having one static appearance.
To make the tree, I began modelling using zBrush. I felt my skills modelling trees weren't strong, however with zBrush's zSpheres tool, I could easily block out a shape and work from there. This technique proved more than effective, as I felt confident in the shape and could effortlessly apply further detail like burls and ridges using the DamStandard and ClayBuildup tools. After exporting this model, I imported it into 3DS Max to create a low-poly version. I used the "Retopology" modifier to heavily lower the poly count, then I manually edited the model to clean up the harsh edges. After unwrapping this model, I imported it into Substance Painter and performed a high-poly bake like before, using the zBrush model as the high-poly. Additionally in Substance Painter, I made heavy use of generators and smart masks to create the appearance of tree bark. I could easily apply darker tones to the recessed areas and lighter colours to the raised details. Using a range of colours (rather than just brown tones) such as reds, greens and cream colours mimicked the tonal variety of real-life wood.
Modelling a log was interestingly not as simple as I expected. Rather than using a basic cylinder as my low-poly model, I made use of horizontal edge loops to warp the overall shape into a subtle hourglass silhouette, making it look less "synthetic". To match the stylised look of the environment, I had to amplify some details, like the ridges and the cut edge on top. In zBrush, I heavily used the Scribe tool at a variety of sizes and "Z Intensity" settings, carving in the sides and forming a wood-like surface. I also used the Inflate tool in reverse (holding the alt key) to push in the top surface, followed by further using the Scribe tool to carve in a set of irregular rings. Additionally, I replicated this method on the bottom surface of the log. Throughout working in zBrush, I purposefully didn't use any of the Symmetry settings, ensuring the details I sculpted were placed uniquely, therefore appearing natural.
It was also important to ensure that this model looked good in all angles, as it was going to be used frequently throughout the scene. As a result, I planned to position each copy so each one was uniquely rotated, aiding in hiding that they were all in fact the same model. This is also why I sculpted on the bottom surface of the log - this surface would usually be hidden in the ground, but by reflecting the model horizontally, I could make use of the now-visible surface to provide more variety in the scene while retaining modularity.
I modelled the plank with a lot of the same techniques as the log. Rather than using a basic cuboid as my low-poly model, I scaled in the middle edge loops to create a subtle hourglass shape, again contributing to the stylised, fantasy art style I was trying to mimic. Again in zBrush, I used the Scribe tool to create the variety of grooves and ridges to the wood, plus some chips to the edges where the indented rings are. In Substance Painter, similar to how I textured the trees, I heavily relied upon generators and smart masks to place the colours.
Like the log, I made sure to keep the model detailed at all angles to maximise its modularity potential. I used this piece on top of the window and on top of the door to create an arched entrance, as well as for the staircase leading up to the house.
Making the terrain was quite a challenge. I was happy with the rough placement of the ground in my whitebox, so I exported the model pieces out of Unreal and into 3DS Max. I coloured each layer differently so I could better keep track of the levels, then I screenshotted the models from the top viewport. Importing this screenshot into Photoshop, I used it as a rough guide to draw a "height map". In a height map, black represents the areas lowest in height and white represents the highest. I meticulously drew this map by hand, using a range of brushes to create a slow gradient into white and plan for a bumpy surface. I also left an oval-like space for the pond, purposefully making the edges uneven in an attempt to make the pond's edge look natural.
In 3DS Max, I formed a plane (measuring 25m by 25m) and gave it plenty of edge loops to maximise compatibility with the height map. Using the Displace modifier, I imported the height map onto the plane and tweaked the settings until I was happy with the overall shape, constantly comparing it to the whitebox model. Once happy, I created another identical plane, but with even more edge loops, and applied the height map, creating a high-poly version of the terrain for me to bake onto the low-poly model in Substance Painter.
After baking the model in Substance Painter, I once again used smart masks and generators to apply the colours. I pictured the terrain with a appearance similar to (slightly) dry mud, with lots of tones depending on the height levels. These masks also proved useful for changing the roughness levels too, as I wanted the tones on the surface to be glossier when compared to the deeper levels, with the aim of creating a slightly damp look.
In regards to the house, I thought it was appropriate to work on it all at once. Using the dimensions of the house pieces from the whitebox, I constructed the low-poly model of the house. There was no need to model the roof pieces on the window or the arch and its beams on the door, as I had previously planned to reuse the plank and log models for this.
When adding detail to the roof, I sculpted a uneven, lumpy texture, almost as if it had been hand-build with mud and foliage, a technique often present in primitive woodland huts. When creating the texture, I also varied the roughness settings on each colour layer, providing more depth and realism to the appearance.
Similarly, I sculpted some organic detail into the main body of the house. Like the roof, I could picture the hut being hand built, possibly with clay or mud, with plant life growing into the structure. I partially used the ChiselOrganic tool to sculpt in some fungus-like shapes near the top, as well as some bumps at the bottom to aid the transition slightly between house and terrain. Likewise, in Substance Painter, I added a moss smart mask to the top of the house, blending the top edge in with the roof a little more, almost as if the roof has started to grow into the house's main body.
The door was produced in an almost identical fashion to the plank model, however, the sole fact in that I only planned to use this model once in the scene allowed for further potential in the sculpting stage. I could sculpt in more specific ridge designs, such as the circular and winding patterns. Even though this piece was produced similarly to the plank and log, it felt especially appropriate that this model should be more detailed as it was part of the environment's centrepiece - the house itself.
While texturing, the wooden door was designed to look much more aged than the other wooden elements in the scene, almost as if it's been there the longest. Adding onto this concept, I applied a moss smart mask to the top of the door as well as in the deepest recesses.
As for the window, I sculpted details similar to the plank and the main body of the house. I liked the idea of the window being wooden, but greatly aged with organic plant life starting to grow into the material. For this, I applied a range of green tones in the deepest recesses of the sculpt, providing more variety to the wooden colour to make it look less flat and more realistic.
For the metal pieces of the house, I purposefully didn't use zBrush to create a high-poly for details. I was worried that the thin and delicate nature of these pieces would get too distorted in zBrush and as a result, wouldn't line up correctly enough in the baking process.
However, I still wanted these small pieces to be detailed. Rather than baking the high-quality normals from a high-poly model, I used a selection of Smart Materials in Substance Painter to provide the definition. There were plenty of worn and decrepit metal materials to make use of - so I tactfully placed a different material on different parts of the model, for example, the outer frame of the window-frame is a separate material than the inner cross shape. Finally, once again I used the moss smart mask to create a slight mossy appearance on the top of the pieces, using a multitude of green tones on separate layers so that the moss effect didn't look flat or inauthentic.
Photogrammetry:
One requirement of this assignment was to produce at least one asset using photogrammetry. For this, I purchased a figurine of two owls on a tree stump, which I thought fit the scene perfectly.
The process of scanning the figurine involved filming the object - slowly circling around it multiple times, slightly moving the camera up as I circled around, ensuring that the object was filmed at all possible angles. This video is then imported into the specialist software "Reality Capture", where it uses the individual frames of the video to piece together a 3D model of the object.
This process was incredibly challenging. I faced an abundance of failed scans, yet these failures taught me a lot about how to improve on each subsequent attempt. Things I learnt included how I had to film the figurine in lighting that was even on all angles and how filming the object on a multicoloured (but flat) surface would better the 3D model built, as it could distinguish what was the figurine and what was not. Even with all my attempts and changes, the model I achieved in Reality Capture wasn't perfect, very uneven and brittle-looking in some of the key areas.
After exporting the model from Reality Capture, I imported it into 3DS Max in an attempt to clean up some of the areas I wasn't happy with. I learnt that I could neutralise the harsh normals on the model by baking the normals (from the high-poly Reality Capture model) onto a low-poly version of the model. Like how I made the low-poly tree model, I used the Retopology modifier to decrease the poly count on a copy of the original model.
The above was the video tutorial I used to learn how to bake normals in directly 3DS Max. It was an interesting process, as I had only done this technique in Substance Painter, however by working in 3DS Max, I feel the strength of the bake was weaker than in Substance, which proved perfect for this case. Using the method, I also experimented with exporting a range of maps, with plans to use these maps when properly texturing the model in Substance Painter.
These were the maps I exported from 3DS Max: diffuse, normals, roughness and ambient occlusion.
In Substance Painter, rather than baking the model to create the maps, I directly imported the maps from 3DS. At last, the model looked just like the real-life figurine!
I wanted this model to look like a stone statue, so I opted to paint the tones directly upon the model rather than use generators like in previous assets. I used a selection of similar, more neutral colours to communicate an aged look, as if this statue had been painted a long time ago and had since faded.
Post Processing, Effects & Advanced Materials:
Feeling content with the assets I had produced so far, I felt brave enough to tackle the pond section of the terrain. This was something I was quite intimidated by, as I had no idea even where to start with producing something to resemble water.
After some research, I found a method that I felt confident in. I began with a rectangular plane that I lowered into the terrain model, carefully clipping it into the cavity I had left for the pond. Usually, clipping is something strongly advised to avoid with 3D models, however in this case it was my greatest asset, as the plane clipping through the uneven terrain provided a natural and uneven edge to the pond area.
Once I was content with the plane's placement, I had to create the material. This was the most advanced material I had created thus far, as I was used to just connecting the maps into the correct slots. This material used a normal map I downloaded, as well as a bunch of inputs and controllers I had never used before. I quickly learnt that these inputs control the movement of the normal map, creating a flowing water appearance. After completing the material and applying it to the plane, it resulted in a great subtle flowing animation, but I wasn't exactly keen on the blue-green colour.
To fix this, I edited the terrain's texture to darken the pond area. Following this, I adjusted the inputs so that the colour would appear slightly darker and more transparent, allowing for the terrain's darker texture to show through. I also felt that the normal maps were moving too fast for a pond, so I changed some values to make the movement a lot more subtle.
To hide the default background, I adjusted the Exponential Height Fog settings; increasing the density and opacity, as well as changing the colour to purple to better match my concept art. Instantly, I found that this completely changed the atmosphere of the environment - it felt more eerie but still conveyed a magical feeling.
Feeling determined to further recreate the "magical" feel conveyed in my concept art, I learned how to create particle effects using Unreal's Niagara System. Following some tutorials, I created a particle material, applied it to a Niagara system effect and spent time fine tuning the size variation, spawn rate, velocity, gravity, colour variation and spawn area size. I love how this effect looks in the scene, especially how the slight pink tone of the sparkles looks against the thick purple fog.
After spending a lot of time adding effects to my scene, I worried that the modular plank and log pieces looked too plain and a viewer could start to tell where they were being reused. To hide this, I thought to add a moss effect on some of the pieces. Using a texture I made in Substance Painter, I followed tutorials to create a material that would add the texture unevenly to areas of the model it was being applied to. I really like how this turned out, as not only did it succeed in my plan to hide the obvious modularity, but it also ended up aiding in making the house look more aged and succumbing to the nature surrounding it.
I liked the purple fog, but with my new skills using the Niagara System, I knew I could do more. Additionally, the motion of the pond and the sparkles made me feel like there should be some slow motion to the fog. Rather than removing what I had already produced, I made another Niagara particle effect. This effect has two layers of slowly rolling clumps of mist clouds, with opacity and colour varying on the height. When applied to the scene, I angled the effect so it would appear as if it was realistically rolling down the terrain.
After creating the rolling fog Niagara Effect, I made another effect using almost identical methods to make spores that would float down from the mushrooms. The mushrooms were my favourite part of the whole scene, so I couldn't help myself but add even more detail to them.
With the scene fully assembled, I was concerned that the terrain was looking too plain. It was at this point that I realised I had only used the mushrooms twice, so by reusing them in smaller scales, the terrain could be filled out and made more colourful. Speaking of which, I went back into Substance Painter and retextured the pieces to have more colours to use in the scene. The addition of the smaller mushrooms growing up from the ground really populated the scene and contributed to the whimsical, magical atmosphere.
Final Product:
Showcase Video
Isolated Assets
Evaluation:
Overall, I am more than happy with my final environment scene. I feel my texturing skills improved dramatically throughout the process, constantly learning new techniques to upgrade what I could achieve, even researching how to produce advanced materials in Unreal.
I think I succeeded in capturing the complimentary traits of the scene - for example, the mushrooms are magical and whimsical, however they also convey an uncanny atmosphere due to their unnatural size. Additionally, I feel my use of the Niagara System particle effects heavily improved the visual interest of the world, with the real-time motion effects really pulling the scene together.
However, I feel like some of the plant life in the scene could be improved upon. The addition of the moss was nice, but I feel like the terrain could've been improved with the addition of some more small foliage pieces, rather than just the small mushrooms. Similarly, I worry that the tree models are slightly too repetitive in design. A solution to this would've been to produce the branches separately from the trunk, so they could be placed on afterwards, producing a wider variety of designs and silhouettes.
In summary, this project has massively improved my skills in designing environments, as I have not only learnt new skills, but I have also been made aware of areas that I am weaker in and can thus improve upon in my future projects.
