Getting serious with 3D environment art creation

Zanmato

Hello all! Over the past 3 years, I've been doing 3D art, what made me pursue this hobby is because I love environments. I've played games that sometimes get me stuck wandering around just to admire the view and think how does one make a cool looking environment. I've been researching, reading cool articles at 80.lv , and watching videos. However, despite getting inspirations and whatnot, I can never execute them for reasons that scare me, like learning tons of software, I feel so overwhelmed. So over those years I just did mostly random stuff that piques my interest (props, diorama's, etc) and thought to myself I can never do those cool looking environment I've seen in ArtStation.

Fast forward today, I've stumbled upon a great YouTube channel that goes by the name Polygon Academy. I've been binge watching his videos and been learning a lot. It's because of those videos, my passion for environment art creation re-ignited. I've opened my favorite 3D modeling software (Blender) did a simple prop, textured it in Substance Painter, then imported it in UE4. I felt so good when I did that despite only knowing the basics of the last two software. Then I realized, I want to really get serious with environment art creation.

Enough of the history check about me. This time, I want to get serious with creating cool looking environments, it will take me a lot of time to get there but now I'm not scared to dive into software that I have little to no knowledge about. 

The questions would be, how can I not stray from this path anymore? What should I do for the first time (again) in creating environment art? What should be the first thing I should learn/do before creating awesome looking environments? This may have been answered on similar topics, but really want some insights on these kinds of questions.

The prop(s) that I did are below, I followed a tutorial for Substance Painter as I only know the basics.





I just rendered it in Substance to show it

TheGabmeister

If it's environment art, then there's a ton of topics to study. In the beginning, I recommend narrowing down to a certain type of environment to avoid getting overwhelmed by all the things you need to learn.

In my case, I first started with sci-fi props. This made me learn hard-surface topology, normal map baking, metallic / roughness map creation, etc. Afterwards, I moved to architectural visualization. This field of study taught me things like real-world lighting, lightmap baking, post-processing, etc. For each type of environment you create, you get to learn something new. Eventually, the knowledge you accumulate will be enough to allow you to create awesome looking scenes.

Zanmato

TheGabmeister said:

If it's environment art, then there's a ton of topics to study. In the beginning, I recommend narrowing down to a certain type of environment to avoid getting overwhelmed by all the things you need to learn.

In my case, I first started with sci-fi props. This made me learn hard-surface topology, normal map baking, metallic / roughness map creation, etc. Afterwards, I moved to architectural visualization. This field of study taught me things like real-world lighting, lightmap baking, post-processing, etc. For each type of environment you create, you get to learn something new. Eventually, the knowledge you accumulate will be enough to allow you to create awesome looking scenes.

Thanks for the reply! You nailed my other problem during my not-so-serious 3D years. It's I tend to look away on the things I want to learn, jumping from one to the other. I'll prolly need to focus on one aspect first to avoid getting overwhelmed.

sacboi

What should I do for the first time (again) in creating environment art? What should be the first thing I should learn/do before creating awesome looking environments?

I'd suggest taking some of Tim Simpson's advice via Video Game Environment Art and Level Design Tips by starting with a very simple scene, where as an example he extrapolates upon a piece by Ben Wilson. A industrial corridor, simply modelled using few materials but with each element well executed...pretty much a universal approach when learning anything new. So the key attribute here, is first getting too grips with the fundamentals prior to introducing any level of complexity.         

  

YF_Sticks

That's great to hear that you are pumped about making cool environments! It's a fun process.

To put it simply: The best way to get better at making environments, is to make environments. Now when you're starting out, this can easily get overwhelming. I see you already made some props. Now you can start very small. Take those props and try putting together a small scene with them. You could go for a small street corner where you just have a floor, 2/3 walls and your props. Then light the scene and try to play with color and composition until you get something cool that you like.

This will get you into the habit of creating and finishing environments. Now, the more you do this, the more you will also realize what you have to work on individually. For example you notice that your bakes aren't that good...so you work on your bakes. Or modeling, texturing, lighting etc etc. 

Try to keep your scope very small in the beginning. You don't have to make big scenes. Just a corner is already great and will get you further than you might think. Don't wait to create awesome environments, do them already! (and then learn from them as you go)

And of course, post for feedback regularly as people can point out your blind spots very well which will save you lots of time in the long run.

Hope this helps

Best, Patrick

Zanmato

sacboi said:

What should I do for the first time (again) in creating environment art? What should be the first thing I should learn/do before creating awesome looking environments?

I'd suggest taking some of Tim Simpson's advice via Video Game Environment Art and Level Design Tips by starting with a very simple scene, where as an example he extrapolates upon a piece by Ben Wilson. A industrial corridor, simply modelled using few materials but with each element well executed...pretty much a universal approach when learning anything new. So the key attribute here, is first getting too grips with the fundamentals prior to introducing any level of complexity.         

  

YF_Sticks said:

That's great to hear that you are pumped about making cool environments! It's a fun process.

To put it simply: The best way to get better at making environments, is to make environments. Now when you're starting out, this can easily get overwhelming. I see you already made some props. Now you can start very small. Take those props and try putting together a small scene with them. You could go for a small street corner where you just have a floor, 2/3 walls and your props. Then light the scene and try to play with color and composition until you get something cool that you like.

This will get you into the habit of creating and finishing environments. Now, the more you do this, the more you will also realize what you have to work on individually. For example you notice that your bakes aren't that good...so you work on your bakes. Or modeling, texturing, lighting etc etc. 

Try to keep your scope very small in the beginning. You don't have to make big scenes. Just a corner is already great and will get you further than you might think. Don't wait to create awesome environments, do them already! (and then learn from them as you go)

And of course, post for feedback regularly as people can point out your blind spots very well which will save you lots of time in the long run.

Hope this helps

Best, Patrick

Thank you both for replying! It seems everyone has the same answers, which is narrowing down what to learn and focus on building the quality of it. Prolly do some more research about Substance Painter and UE4 as I only know the basic stuff.

garcellano

At first it might seem like a lot, but just go through some tutorials. Many learn in different ways, either through tutorials, or a mentor, or taking a course. The more you use a tool, you'll get the hang of it. 

It takes time. I've gone through that, and still go through that lol. There's always something new to look up and dive into.

Go simple if you have to. Make a hallway, or corridor. Some of this stuff takes time to build, and you'll eventually have to go by parts or in sections. 

Taylor Brown

If you have 1k usd, 10 weeks of spare time and the discipline to make it worthwhile... You could take the Intro to Environment Art course at CGMA. 

Zanmato

garcellano said:

At first it might seem like a lot, but just go through some tutorials. Many learn in different ways, either through tutorials, or a mentor, or taking a course. The more you use a tool, you'll get the hang of it. 

It takes time. I've gone through that, and still go through that lol. There's always something new to look up and dive into.

Go simple if you have to. Make a hallway, or corridor. Some of this stuff takes time to build, and you'll eventually have to go by parts or in sections. 

Yes, right now I'm following through a course that helps me understand environment art. I'll prolly build simple scenes that has 2-3 props in it.

Taylor Brown said:

If you have 1k usd, 10 weeks of spare time and the discipline to make it worthwhile... You could take the Intro to Environment Art course at CGMA. 

Unfortunately, 1k usd in my country is not easy to get (I live in a 3rd world country) so spending that amount is not a definitive choice, for now. Their courses are very interesting though, I've watched the promotional videos and it really is something.