Environment Modeling Questions

AdrianZaplata

Hey guys! 
I'm little bit confused while working on environments and got some questions - would be awesome if someone could help me with that! 


1. While blocking an environment in game engine (Unreal Engine/Unity) are you blocking it from meshes exported from 3D program (Blender/Maya/3ds) or from meshes in the engine?

2. How do you stay consistent between scenes created in game engine and 3D program? How to make those two scenes identical and stick to the scale?

3. Are you working on blocking up the environment straight in the game engine or first in 3D program?

4. While making the environment terrain (hills etc) are you using a plane in 3D program or using a terrain option in game engine?

5. A portfolio ready piece of game environment should be shown as a "render"/screenshot in game engine aswell. From what I know game engines do not have render options - how to do it? Are there any plug-ins or addons to do it? Any examples in Unity/Unreal Engine?

6. Are you showing your game environment only as a screenshot in game engine or as a render in 3D program aswell?


That's it for now. Thank you for your time and I appreaciate your effort

Regards,
Adi

TheGabmeister

AdrianZaplata said:

1. While blocking an environment in game engine (Unreal Engine/Unity) are you blocking it from meshes exported from 3D program (Blender/Maya/3ds) or from meshes in the engine?

3. Are you working on blocking up the environment straight in the game engine or first in 3D program?

I think the choice depends on your preference and your role in a team. If you're a 3D artist and a level designer, then blocking an environment within a game engine is quicker for iteration since you need to test things like collision and line of sight. After that, you export your map to a 3D program for refinement. If you're purely a 3D artist, then perhaps there's a level designer in your team who would give you a rough blockout of the level which will guide you in creating the environment.

AdrianZaplata said:

2. How do you stay consistent between scenes created in game engine and 3D program? How to make those two scenes identical and stick to the scale?

Just know the discrepancies in units and measurements between each software so that you export objects with proper scaling. What I usually do is I export a 1mx1mx1m cube from a 3D program to the target game engine as a test.

AdrianZaplata said:

4. While making the environment terrain (hills etc) are you using a plane in 3D program or using a terrain option in game engine?

This varies depending on a lot of things. If you need terrain tools such as real-time sculpting and foliage placement, then it's good to use the terrain builder within the game engine. You can also create a heightmap from tools such as World Machine, World Creator, and QuadSpinner Gaea, import it into the game Engine, and then use the terrain tools on top of that. If you want to create terrain way out in the background that the player will never approach, then maybe a billboard is enough.

AdrianZaplata said:

5. A portfolio ready piece of game environment should be shown as a "render"/screenshot in game engine aswell. From what I know game engines do not have render options - how to do it? Are there any plug-ins or addons to do it? Any examples in Unity/Unreal Engine?

Frames are rendered in real-time in game engines. What you see on the screen is pretty much a "render."

AdrianZaplata said:

6. Are you showing your game environment only as a screenshot in game engine or as a render in 3D program aswell?

If you're targeting the games industry, definitely go for a render from a game engine or tools like Marmoset Toolbag.

AdrianZaplata

@TheGabmeister
Thanks for your answer. It means a lot for me! Just to clarify one more thing...

5 & 6. How to get a render from game engines? Should I just print screen it while in Unity/Unreal Engine or are there any addons that allow me to take screenshots from it? 

Why Marmoset Toolbag? What's the difference between it and a normal render engine like Cycles in Blender/V-ray? Does it works like a game engine real-time renderer?


Cheers once again for the answer!

Ashervisalis

If you're using UE4, it has a high resolution screenshot function.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Basics/Screenshots/index.html

Toolbag is specifically designed to render real-time art, which shows whoever is looking at your art that it is probably game ready. Toolbag is also a beast when it comes to map baking.

JamesBrisnehan

AdrianZaplata said:

2. How do you stay consistent between scenes created in game engine and 3D program? How to make those two scenes identical and stick to the scale?

That's pretty simple actually. All 3d programs and game engines actually measure things in millimeters, centimeters, meters, etc. (in an abstract virtual kind of way) and store that measurement info in exported files that they can all read and understand like .obj and .fbx. You just have to find out where your software hides the grid options so you can set it to something easy like 1 grid line per 1 meter or something like that.

For an example, I work between Maya and Unreal. Unreal uses meters and Maya uses centimeters by default. I know that a generic character in Unreal is 2m tall, 1m wide, and 1m deep (not sure if they just liked the round numbers, or if they set it like that after Gears of War because they were just used to super bulky characters). Knowing character size, I then make my doorway 3m x 2m. I make my ceiling 4m tall. I make my stair step roughly 18-20cm tall, and so on from there. I can model in Maya using the snap vertex to grid function if I need something to be exactly X meters by Y meters. Then, when I move things to Unreal, I can turn grid snapping on and set it X centimeters so that I can line things up nicely.

If you're trying to recreate something from the real world you can usually google the dimensions of it. Or if you are working from a concept with a character painted in it, the character can be used as a yard stick, or I guess a meter stick, to get a rough estimate of proportions (if you account for perspective).