Asking for some tips on modeling workflow/process of enviorments?

mincedpotatoes

Edit: Some IRL stuff has gotten in the way, and it seems I won't be getting internet much through these next weeks(unless I can get it on phone). I'm still very interested in receiving advice even though I wont be on much to see it, and if anyone happens to post a reply in that time I promise I will try to respond as soon as I am able to. c:

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Hello!

Long story short, I've recently been working on a project for around 2-4 months that involves a lot of 3d modeling. Including in that time, I've been shoving my brain with information left and right with various techniques and skills to make my dreams come true, obviously, though have noticed environments and terrain drain me most, and I'm feeling a little stumped on how to approach them by now. I'd like to think I'm somewhat decent/okay (not really super "good", mind you, but I don't think it's anything beneath "bad") at modeling and texturing other things (like characters and assets) so I wouldn't need any help in understanding any kind of basics of modeling itself. I've come across this site before in the past, when it'd pop up on google for some forum tutorials, and thought I'd give a shot at asking if someone could spare a little advice on this aspect since I feel nowhere else I've been could help me(and I figured it would be easier directly on a so far decent art board...3d forum...thing)

However, even though I've been searching and looking for many tutorials on "how to create environments/terrain in ___" ect. ect., I can't seem to find any that make sense to me? Or I'm maybe not looking correctly in the first place. So, I ended up taking what I could from them, and tried to practice on my own while doing what I thought would be good for learning even more, but I feel like I'm not getting exactly what I'm supposed to achieve? I mean, I think I am understanding terrain and stuff bit by bit yeah, yet not at the same time because I sometimes don't really understand the "structure" of it all or the thought process I'm suppose to have when modeling something that has so many elements and vast landscaping to it...and maybe it's something someone can't really explain and I'm just going to have to learn on my own at some point, but it still would be nice to get some advice on how to deal with this sort of issue better, and it's driving me crazy trying to figure it out by myself. curse my analytical thinking

So, has any novice or advanced modelers struggled with such a thing before? How did you overcome it and what techniques and knowledge have you come to know on this? Should I study from real life more then work on the process later or continue practicing and hope that I can get to somewhere comfortable? I'm not really sure how specific I can get with this...but pretty much the whole package in case there's a better way to do things and to not get attached to any bad habits I might develop. I don't think style or trying to get a certain "look" matters at this point, because I'd just like to know the basic workflow and what structure process I'm needing to put into it all...

 Anyway, I hope this all made sense and it doesn't seem like I'm asking for too much because of my ramblings (and if it's okay if I ask any of this here in the first place, but I'd thought I'd try!  alsoincludingifthisisintherightforumsectionlol)

Thanks!

JordanN

I feel a bit grateful before I got into environment modeling, I would draw storyboards a lot. So the transition felt somewhat easy knowing I was taking the same principles that made paintings good and applying them into 3D space.

That said, making environments can still be an overwhelming task but still very manageable. I find it best to concentrate on the props I want people to look at first, and then divulge my efforts on the rest of the scene. Though I am an attention to detail person and still find it necessary for even a blade of grass to look nice.

I think the key is to just get something done. Too many times in the past, I would get stuck on an idea and never move past it for weeks. Now, I just push through a scene and if something looks wrong, I correct it at the end.

mincedpotatoes

@JordanN

That makes sense.. I have done art and stuff before, but never really tackled environments in a 2d aspect much and practiced learning it via drawing. I don't think I'm very "good" at art background and environment wise(though I wouldn't say I know what makes a good painting either)...do you think that could have something to do with it too? And then with what you said about applying the aspects of a good painting in general into a 3d space. I guess that could be another question I was wondering when I started this process: should it matter if I first understand it by 2d or 3d? I always thought 3d was easiest and faster because there was already space and what not compared to trying to imagine this depth on a canvas, but I suppose I need to understand it in order how to manipulate it? Then again, maybe it doesn't matter much but I'm not sure because both are pretty tedious to learn. lol

But anyway, I appreciate your response very much! I'll try to take these aspects into consideration. c:

chrisradsby

In my experience you have to pace yourself, if you want to make a detailed environment make a small one. If you want a vast one then try and make it less detailed. Obviously the best one hits all the notes but at a certain point in an artist life some aspects become more important than others, in my case I tend to work with realistic art every day so I tend to want to try more stylized things at home.

if you have anything to show I'd be happy to take a look at it and give whatever feedback I can give

mincedpotatoes

@chrisradsby Thank you for your response! And I think that makes sense and could something I could take account in... now to just understand how much I know about detailing and the right way to do it, haha. I actually do have some work I've done (mostly just experimenting but at least its something). They are pretty stylized since I'm trying to go for a certain look with my project (although it falls short because of my lack of fundamentals I guess) but I suppose some feedback would help in this case, and I thank you for taking the time to do such. c:

These are from oldest to newest(and the only ones I've kept that seem completed enough;;). The first 4 are made in blender and the last one is in unity btw. (also hope you don't mind they're separate links, idk how to make them a thumbnail and didn't want to put a bunch of giant images)

http://i.imgur.com/ruJr3TT.png
Basic Cliff over forest

the first stage I decided to try with more elements. It's actually pretty lazy now that I look back on it and I struggled a lot, but it was my and first time I had no idea what I was doing lol (aside from what references I've gathered to get an idea of what I wanted) but I wanted to push me out of my comfort zone, so next time it wouldn't be so daunting.

http://i.imgur.com/VaoZpeq.jpg
Beach cliff

a week later, I decided to try a different approach... I think I'm happy how "decent" this one came out after getting a handle on some new techniques and such, and tried not to rely on too many lazy excuses.

http://i.imgur.com/hSm0WI4.jpg
Rocky desert

Kind of had enough at looking at tree's and wanted to tackle on understanding different climates...I don't think texturing came out the best with it unrendered, but at least I was able to manipulate the lighting enough to make it look somewhat more decent.

http://i.imgur.com/dAzedl3.jpg
Small Beach shore

Went back with some trees and more water because I like beach scenes, but tried to push my limits with the terrain this time to make it a bit more unique, along with putting some more assets in to not make it look so plan or too "wilderness-y". I don't think this one was thought out very well and was kind of in the spure of the moment inspiration, and it ended up looking like an island when zoomed out mostly oops lol

http://i.imgur.com/piOhs55.jpg
Green mountain...thing

LOL don't even ask me what's going on here. This was in unity and I was mostly trying to take advantage of the terrain brushes and what not, and wanted to try and put some mountains and stuff in the distance (compared to when I would usually use just a plane shaped like a mountain) I mean, I don't know much about unity still or what I was doing, but maybe it could be used to "sketch" out my concept in highpoly, and then remodel it by simplifying it or something??

Anyway, I think what I most don't understand is giving the illusion that there's depth and that the land goes on forever in the distance (but layout and structure would probably help with that) as well as asset placing and the details...I'll probably edit my textures and assets in the future, but I just want to use them to put something there instead of it being a blank space lol. I'm also still in the process of creating a workflow for me, but I'm not too picky about how I do it so long the job gets done and it looks decent in the end (and doesn't take up too much performance), but there are some elements and techniques I want to keep, rather than just sculpting it all, slap some textures on it, and say I'm done because I'd like to model things myself without relying on that (to get that sort of...game-ish lowpoly look idk). But if there's any other prominent ways to teach myself to understand it better, I'd be happy to know of any. c:

Thanks again!