[UE4] Desert Environment
polycounter lvl 8
I started a new project today. A Nevada style desert environment. I might start adding the points of interest tomorrow. Maybe a highway and a gas station, thinking about adding critters too.
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New cactus models with spikes.
-Rough up that fence a bit, it almost looks brand new.
-Less is more, you could stick about 4 or 5 cacti in the scene and have more of an impact.
-Get some subtle colour variation in there,try using some material functions to add colour variety in the plants.
The scene in Hourences UDK asset dev 1 tutorial is very similar to this and might help somewhat, but it's probably not worth buying those tutorials now as they quite old. He does a nice job with the desert road in that scene.
It's important to have good reference in a scene like this. Take a look at this photo, and see how sparse it is, and yet the foliage is still composed effectively in the scene:
I think it's coming along nicely! A few things:
The dirt could use some color and value variation, as well as being darker and more saturated overall. It looks washed out atm. Try to think about how everything would look if you lit it 100% flat, that's the value your albedo should be. It tends to be darker than you may initially believe!
Which engine version are you running? This scene would really benefit from the new foliage model (or if its already using it, it needs tweaking) and distance field shadows/ao.
The thing I think needs the most work is the integration aspect I referred to. The foliage doesn't look like it grew out of the ground, but more like it juts out or was placed there. This could be mitigated by some color blending at the base of them, adding a bit of the landscapes dirt color. Other than the juxtaposition of greenish foliage on reddish dirt, there's a juxtaposition of detail. The foliage has high complexity, compared to the ground textures which are simple. They lack the high frequency that one expects from a rocky arid desert. I think more detailed textures on the landscape, and clear variation of texture (ie cracked ground may blend to sand, which may blend to rocky sand IRL) will go a long way.
Hopefully I'm getting everything across clearly. Keep it up man!
I know, I might add a LOD level to them, don't know why I used fever polys. It's not actually a specific landscape, I'm referencing varying terrains all over the world now.
You made very good improvements. Sure, the cactuses could use more polys, and be less flat at their top and you can always add more variation in the rocks and vegetation. But overall you have a solid base.
What was your process for the rock formations?
Thanks, I projected the UVs for the rock walls from the sides, and used a rubble texture for the polys facing up. It's something similar to the box UV option in 3ds Max. Look up absolute world position node for Unreal mat editor. I might post my material setup later if you like.
Here. It generates two UVs for the vertical parts. Projecting the textures from xz and yz planes (using rb and gb nodes) then it combines them using a mask (previewing the mask in the screenshot).
Then, using a similar technique it blends a rubble texture projected vertically (from the xy plane) with the first setup.
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Nice job!
If you want more color variation in the foliage, I've used this method before and it it works great.You can set a realistic/subtle color range and then the foliage changes depending on where you place it, even if it's only a tiny bit. Really satisfying for large environments with foliage. Sorry the video is in UDK, but I think it works alright in UE4.
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Thanks, I might use something similar in the video, or maybe a Fallout 2 soundtrack.
The Landscape is looking nice really nice though.
It also "sticks" to the ground, as it's a function of temperature difference (ground soaks up sun, gets extra hot versus air well above the ground).
Still, good job overall.
Thanks. Thats right, I'm actually using a particle system for that right now, I should switch to a screen effect, that would be much easier to control.
Could you please make some terrain texturing tutorial? I've tried a few but the results in not even close to yours.
Thanks!!!