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Vegetation and Plants for Games

Vegetation and Plants for Games

A 6-week course exploring the creation of vegetation and plant design for environment art.
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Overview Trailers Gallery Instructors Interview Pricing Benefits Testimonials

Creating plant design and vegetation

Creating plant design and vegetation
During this 6-week course, students will create a small vignette environment focusing heavily on the creation of vegetation and plants. The process will include using a tree as the focal point, creating a bark texture, importing these assets into Unreal Development Kit, and composing a final portfolio-ready shot. Lectures will demonstrate several different tools and workflows to achieve quality assets, tools that include Maya, SpeedTree, Zbrush, Substance Designer/Painter and the Unreal Development Kit. The instructor will work with each student individually to narrow down reference and ideas to create a vegetation kit with which to build a strong vignette environment. Lectures will cover how to utilize color, composition, and scope to create a cohesive look.

Upon completion each student will have an aesthetically pleasing piece for their portfolios, as well as a strong foundation that will translate into a modern understanding of the foliage pipeline for video games. Throughout the course, students will develop an understanding of the modern foliage creation pipeline, as well as the necessary skills to problem solve most forms of foliage. By the end of this course, students will have a great foundation that will translate into current generation video game production, a completed vignette environment piece for their portfolios, and a foliage kit they can build upon and use extensively for other projects.



Registration Now Open
Registration Period
Jan 31, 2024 - Apr 22, 2024
Course Start
Apr 17, 2024

Course Format

Standard

Skills Level

Intermediate

Duration

6 weeks

Q&A

Once a week

Feedback

Individual recordings

Lecture Type

Pre-recorded
Assignment
Due each week. Expect to spend 10-20 hrs/wk viewing lectures, Q&A, and time on assignments.
PREREQUISITES
Students must have an understanding of Maya, Zbrush, Substance, Knowledge of creating tileable textures substance designer
MATERIALS
Maya, Zbrush, Speedtree, Unreal Engine 4, Substance Designer/Painter, Photoshop (optional)

The more you know, the better.

Download & install PureRef | Gather reference for our scene | Break down our reference and create a collage in PureRef Discuss and demo our first (SIMPLE) plant in ZBrush | Lay out our first plant atlas to be exported for texturing Bonus: introduction to SpeedTree
Set up our project in Substance Painter and bake our maps | Texturing our Virginia creeper plant in Substance Painter Exporting our textures from Substance Painter | Creating 7 different variations of our Virginia creeper plant in Maya Exporting our models and textures in Unreal 4 and setting up a simple material | With the knowledge from weeks 1 and 2, we’ll be able to make almost any plant! Bonus: Substance Designer refresher
Jump into SpeedTree and start making our tree trunk | Move on to the large branches, focusing on creating a good silhouette Finish up adding medium-sized branches and roots | Complete our bark texture by creating the height, base color, roughness, and AO Apply our bark material to the tree in SpeedTree
Blocking out our oak tree leaves and sculpting them in Zbrush | Texturing our oak tree leaves in Substance Painter Modeling our high-poly branch assets in Maya | Building and baking our branch assets in SpeedTree | Creating our tree canopy in SpeedTree NOTE: Students will have 2 WEEKS to complete this week’s assignment.
Sculpting and texturing a large and small fern | Sculpting and texturing a set of leafy ground plants Modeling our ferns in SpeedTree | Modeling out our leafy ground plants in Maya Importing our landscape, tree bark blend, and foliage shader in to Unreal | Importing our plants into Unreal and creating an asset gym
Model and texture our flowers to add to our scenes | Model and texture ivy to add to our scenes | Jump into Unreal and begin building final scenes Light our final scene and experiment with post processing | Render out our completed screenshots NOTE: Students will have 2 WEEKS to complete this week’s assignment.

Trailers

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Course Trailer

STUDENT GALLERY

Taking your skills to the next level

Sergio Suarez
Senior Artist
LECTURES BY Jared Sobotta
Course Start: Apr 17, 2024

Hello! I'm Sergio Suarez, currently a Senior Artist working at an unannounced studio. Throughout my career, I've had the immense honor of working on titles such as The Last of Us Part 2, The Last of Us Part 1 Remake, and Grand Theft Auto 6, where I contributed to what is a great team effort in making these games look as good as they can be.


With a background in traditional art, concept art, and illustration, I have a unique perspective on picture making and optimally building any scene in a way that looks elegant and well thought out.


Through the years I've also picked up some technical skills that I am very passionate about, such as Houdini and building shaders in Unreal Engine 5, which I feel are invaluable skills for efficiency and composing a scene. I've also occasionally experimented with programming, which has enhanced my understanding of game-making from a technical perspective. This experience has made it easier to communicate across different disciplines and to develop tools that streamline the creation process for both me and my teammates, improving efficiency overall.
My career path has brought me to where I am today, where I work on a wide variety of things in UE5 (both technical and artistic), but mainly focus on organics and world building.

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Instructor's Gallery

Game Art
Game Art
Game Art

STUDENT INTERVIEWS

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A Forest Path

Introduction My name is Rhiannon Catton and I’m currently a Senior Environment Artist at Capcom Vancouver. I graduated from the 3D Art and Animation program at BCIT in 2007 and was...

Interview with

Rhiannon Catton

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Abandoned Library in UE4: Modular Approach & Materials

Introduction Hi! My name is Jonah Pankonin and I currently live in Kelowna, Canada. I am a college drop-out trying his best to land an environment art...

Interview with

Jonah Pankonin

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Autumn in the Mountains: Modular Hero Prop & Vegetation

Introduction Hi, my name is Zsolt Jackli, I am originally from Hungary and currently working at Bigpoint in Hamburg (Germany), on a mobile title called Wefarm as an Environment/Level Artist....

Interview with

Zsolt Jackli

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Crafting a Mossy Oakwood Forest in UE4

Introduction My name is Maya Mahalingam, I am an Environment artist from India where I started my career working for the mobile game industry back in...

Interview with

Maya Mahalingam

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Creating Mossy Swamplands in UE4

Introduction My name is Meggie Rock. I am an Environment Artist from Austin, Texas where I have been working in the game industry since 2013. Most...

Interview with

Meggie Rock

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Creating Natural Landscapes for Games

Introduction Hello! My name is Fernando Quinn and I am an Environment Artist currently living in Brazil. After three frustrating years in school trying to get a...

Interview with

Fernando Quinn

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Creating an Ominous Scene in UE4

Introduction Hi! My name is Ilya Ivanov, I work as a Level Artist at Sperasoft Studio in St. Petersburg, Russia. Before that, I worked at Trace Studio on such projects as...

Interview with

Ilya Ivanov

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Forest Trail: Vegetation in ZBrush and Material Setup

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Introduction Hello, my name is Nick Vigna. I’m an Environment Artist in the Seattle area and I have been playing video games since I...

Interview with

Nick Vigna

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Forest in UE4

Introduction Hello everyone! My name is Eduard Grechenko, I’m an Environment Artist from Kursk, Russia. I don’t have a formal art education, most of my experience...

Interview with

Eduard Grechenko

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Greenhouse Project

Introduction I’m Lauren McKenzie, a 3D environment artist at Zenimax Online Studios working on The Elder Scrolls Online. I actually went to college at Miami University in Ohio. My...

Interview with

Lauren McKenzie

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Growing a Jungle Environment in UE4

Introduction My name is Alexander Cowan and I’m from a small Caribbean island called St.Lucia and I have a master’s degree in Interactive Entertainment from the Florida Interactive...

Interview with

Alexander Cowan

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Hidden Shrine: Game Location Production

Introduction My name is Emily Henderson and I am an Environment Artist based in Los Angeles.  I received my Bachelors in Fine Arts with a minor in...

Interview with

Emily Henderson

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Pacific Northwest Forest: The Craft of Realism

Introduction My name is Kat Gray, and I’m an Environment Artist at IllFonic. I graduated from the University of Southern California in the Interactive Media & Games program in...

Interview with

Kat Gray

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Recreating Uncharted 2's Borneo Environment

Introduction Hello everyone! My name is Daniel Cangini and I am an environment artist who currently works as a graphic designer in Rome, Italy. In 2012, I...

Interview with

Daniel Cangini

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Recreating Uncharted's Environments with UE4 and Substance

Introduction Hi, my name is Yury Vorobiev and I currently live in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. I received my master’s degree in mathematics and applied informatics, after that dive into...

Interview with

Yury Vorobiev

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Vegetation Creation Techniques for Games

Introduction My name is Samuil Munis, I am an Environment Technical Artist at Ubisoft Sofia. I’ve graduated from New Bulgarian University with multi-media and design, about...

Interview with

Samuil Munis

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Zero Leagues: Setting Up Shaders for Organic Scene

Introduction My name is Tristan Meere, I am an Environment Artist specializing in materials. I currently work at Velan Studios in snowy New York. I have always been...

Interview with

Tristan Meere

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

$216.33

2x Payments

$324.50

Full payment

$649

Spring TERM REGISTRATION Now Open
Jan 31, 2024 - Apr 22, 2024
COURSE BEGINS on Apr 17, 2024
Vegetation and Plants for Games

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.

Testimonials

I really enjoyed this class and gained a lot of new skillsets from it. He has a natural talent in not only his craft, but in delivering it in a digestible manner in class. I highly recommend this class!

Christen

Jeremy was one of the best instructors I’ve had for game design. He was always helpful, always kind, and was a wealth of information for both newcomers and experienced artists.

Sara

Jeremy is an awesome instructor! I’m so happy I took this class and I’m happy with what I’ve learned.

Sahir

He’s a very encouraging and caring dude. I felt like he really enjoyed teaching the class which goes a long way.

Joshua

Jeremy was an excellent teacher. He went in depth with the course material and explained any questions we might have.

Andreas

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