Any good tutorials on outdoor environments?

Stoki

Are there any good tutorials on making an outdoor environment like a forest or something? I'm just really having a hard time wrapping my head around on how to start it, and what models exactly do I need to make. Any help would be nice, thanks

Eric Chadwick

What did you search?
 http://polycount.com/discussion/63361/information-about-polycount-new-member-introductions/p1#asking

armagon

Maybe he's asking because he found too many results and he's not sure where to start. Maybe he's just looking for some curated content for the pros. I've dealt with this problem and it was very hard to separate good material from the bad ones.

These ones are really good: https://gumroad.com/qtheory#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4j5tzAIflU

Stoki

@Erick Chadwick Trust me I've been searching for years to find a good step by step tutorial on creating outdoor environments  


What I need is like a tutorial that will show me on what parts do I need to focus while starting an environment, what models do I have to make and how to use them in the smartest way possible. Like I know how to model stuff, I just don't know how to start and what to model to put everything together as a whole environment. It doesn't have to be a video course, a good article or even some advices from other artist would be really helpful

musashidan

I don't really understand this at all. You say you've been searching for years for a good tutorial on this subject? In those years how many attempts have you made at creating such an environment? 

Plan it out.

Search for some ref images for ideas/Inspiration. Or go outside and take photos of interesting locations.

Get a pencil and a notepad and write a list of what you see in chosen images.

Break the environment down into its fundamental elements: the terrain, a river, a footbridge, trees, a ruined wall, etc....

Write a list of assets needed for creation

Grey box the environment using simple primitives

Import them to your engine and walk around. Get a feel for scale and distances. Do some tutorials on setting up a 1st person character controller

Iterate on grey boxing until happy.

Do some lighting tutorials and light the environment

Create the assets one at a time. Do individual tutorials drawn from multiple sources. For instance: start with the lanscape/terrain. Find a good tut. Build it. Experiment.

Next search for a tutorial on how to texture it and create materials.

Build some more refined assets as a next step from the grey box. Learn from some more tutorials: how to model a rock, how to texture a rock.......etc

Set dress the environment and iterate some more

Do some more lighting and post processing tutorials.

Experiment. Iterate some more. 

Polish until happy.

And most importantly, don't waste the next few years looking for the ultimate, all-encompassing tutorial on a specific subject. Just learn and experiment and create.

Eric Chadwick

Years? Seriously? You could have been using that time to make art, and actually learn first hand. 

My advice is to not look around for hand-holding to get you started. As tempting as that is. You'll learn much much more if you dive into it yourself.

Make a thread in 3D Art & Showcase. Post your work in progress, and ask for guidance. 

Dash-POWER

You can try to look at some Unreal Engine Forest packs. They often have everything what is necessary and you can inspire by them. Reverse engineering is also kind of tutorial and way how to move forward.