Create Beautiful Environments With UE 5
In this course, students will be taught how to break down references and develop a list of reusable modular assets, utilizing trims, tileable and unique texture sets and working with multiple workflows to determine the best industry standard method. With this list, students will then use both Maya and the Unreal Engine 5 to create a fully realized environment with portfolio screenshots. The class will cover: Unreal Engine 5, Maya (or equivalent), Substance Painter, Photoshop, Marmoset, and more. By the end of the course, students will have an understanding of modular construction and workflow creation of assets, knowledge of the Unreal 5 engine and current day workflows for asset creation, create proper PBR textures, and generally master material creation for Unreal. Students will also be able to compose, light, and render a scene in Unreal Engine 5. The class will cover: – Unreal Engine 5, Maya (or equivalent), Substance Painter, Photoshop, Marmoset, RizomUV
Registration Now Open
Registration Period
Jan 31, 2024 -
Apr 22, 2024
Course Start
Apr 16, 2024
Course Format
Standard
Skills Level
Advanced
Duration
10 weeks
Q&A
Once a week
Feedback
Individual recordings
Lecture Type
Pre-recorded
Assignment
Due each week. Expect to spend 10-20 hrs/wk
PREREQUISITES
Knowledge of Maya (or equivalent), ZBrush, Unreal Engine, Substance | Recommended courses: Intro to Unreal Engine 5, Fundamentals and/or Advanced Substance for Environment Art, Shading and Material Creation in Unreal Engine
MATERIALS
Unreal Engine 5, Maya (or equivalent), Substance Painter, Photoshop, Marmoset, RizomUV
The more you know, the better.
Week #1
Observing Our Reference
Students will learn how to observe multiple references and break it up into repeated textures and assets. They will then begin with a basic block out of their scene creating and using modular pieces to fill it up. Throughout this process it will be important to think about breaking up the textures into main textures, secondary, and decals. We will also look at the tools that make for the best use of modular workflows Students will learn how to observe multiple references and break it up into repeated textures and assets. They will then begin with a basic block out of their scene creating and using modular pieces to fill it up. Throughout this process it will be important to think about breaking up the textures into main textures, secondary, and decals. We will also look at the tools that make for the best use of modular workflows.
Week #2
Importing Blockout Into Unreal Engine 5
Students will begin importing their initial blockout meshes into Unreal Engine 5. We will cover basic Unreal tools, grid snapping, and using our modular meshes inside of Unreal to build our scene. Students will also begin to flesh out their visual narrative aspects of the scene.
Week #3
Learning About Textures and Creating High Poly Meshes
Students will take the plans they made in weeks 1 and 2 to start to break up their models and their respective textures into two lists: ones that they would like to tackle as tileables and the others as uniques. Students will learn optimization and performance issues and concerns when it comes to constructing scenes in Unreal Engine. Students will also learn about texture density and proper pixel distribution. We will also begin to discuss nanite asset creation.
Week #4
Baking Textures in Marmoset \ Mesh Creation and Prep
Students will learn how to create repeatable textures using Maya and Photoshop. With emphasis on ensuring repeatability without making it obvious across large surfaces. We will first establish our normal, metalness, and ambient occlusion we will be using for the final textures.
Week #5
Building Textures in Substance Painter
Students will learn how to create textures using Substance Painter for both tiling and unique texture sets. We will add interesting “story” elements to textures (such as wear, decay, scratches, dust, etc. that tell the story of the texture): albedo, roughness, specular, metallic, normal maps. Students will also learn about managing PBR texture values and ensuring materials follow the proper PBR rule sets.
Week #6
Modular Application
Students will apply their new modular skills and learn the importance of modular modeling and re-use within assets and architecture. This process will also cover applying our tiling textures to the models(UV mapping) while we are finalizing our models and creating simple shaders for our models in the Unreal 5 engine.
Week #7
Advanced Materials
How to create more advanced shaders that can be used for color variation, and exposing parameters in material instances. We will also look at creating a master material to control the majority of the assets within the scene. These features will help us to make our modular pieces look more unique and less “tiling” inside of the engine. We will also cover additional material workflows that can further expand production efficiency.
Week #8
Visual Narrative and Material Masters
How to add secondary details to your scene, such as wires/cables, signs, small props, and storytelling: Students will also spend time focusing on development of the visual story elements within the scene. Lastly, we will be creating some additional modular models that can be used as secondary details “on top” of our large modular pieces for variation and asymmetry within our scene.
Week #9
Lighting
Students will begin adding lights to their Unreal scene. We will see how to break up the repetitiveness of the scene with different lighting environments and how shadows can work to our advantage. At this point we can also begin looking at composition for our final renders within the scene.
Week #10
Finalize the Scene
In week 10 we will use everything we have learned to add any additional details, decals, props, and lighting to “finalize the scene.” We will also learn how to take the highest quality screenshots within the Unreal Engine 5 and see how “post process” volumes can add a great deal of interest to our scenes. Students will have between 5-10 final images of the scene they have created at this point, as well as a handful of textures/reusable assets for future scenes.
STUDENT GALLERY
Bringing out the best in talent
LECTURES BY
Clinton Crumpler
Course Start: Apr 16, 2024
Nate Stephens is an Art Director at Respawn Entertainment, with over 20 years of game development experience and 8 shipped titles. He is currently working on the Star Wars franchise, and shipped Jedi: Survivor early in 2023. Previously Nate was the Principal and Lead Artist on the God of War games at PlayStation Santa Monica Studio, where he oversaw the Environment Art and Lighting departments. Formerly Nate was an Instructor for the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, as well as a Masterclass teacher for the Gnomon Workshop creating video tutorials. With a background in environment art, hard surface modeling, material creation, and lighting, he has been able to help many artists improve their skills to push their portfolios to the next level.
Instructor's Gallery
LECTURES BY
Clinton Crumpler
Course Start: Apr 20, 2024
Tragan Monaghan is a 3D environment artist with over 10 years of experience in the gaming industry. He has worked on high-profile titles such as Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends as a 3D environment artist for Respawn Entertainment. Most recently, he is a Lead 3D environment artist for NetEase.
Instructor's Gallery
PRICING SCHEDULE
Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education, these finance options allow you to focus on your goals instead of the barriers that keep you from reaching them.
3x Payments
$332.67
2x Payments
$499
Full payment
$998
Spring TERM REGISTRATION
Now Open
Jan 31, 2024 -
Apr 22, 2024
COURSE BEGINS on Apr 16, 2024
What makes this learning experience unique?
PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK
Receive personalized feedback on all assignments from the industry’s top professionals.
LIFETIME ACCESS
Enjoy lifetime access to the spectrum of course content, including lectures, live Q&As, and feedback sessions.
CERTIFICATION
Show off your Certification of Completion when you turn in 80% of course assignments.
FLEXIBLE LEARNING
Learn anywhere, anytime, and at your own pace with flexible, online course scheduling.
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