Let´s see where to start now? hmmm...

Rock Bottom

Hey guys i´m having some trouble understanding how does Environment work.
well i know first its the modeling then placing the models to look awsome then texturing but then were does UDK come in to play??? is it just for lighting purposes ore what? any help will be great thanks

cholden

UDK comes into play as a game engine to build your game in or simply render your art. You can do the same in max, maya, or whatever. The benefits of presenting your work in a real time game engine that also happens to be used by a lot of real game companies. It's also a toolset that's been around over a decade so it's pretty easy to use.

When using UDK, you can begin an environment a lot of ways mainly depending on what type of environment you're creating. Most start with a few placeholder assets, and build up from there. You can build everything outside of the editor and import it, but it's best to think about and work within the technical specifics.

The technical stuff is the power. Again, you can render a scene in max, paint in a background, paint in smoke/atmosphere, paint in color correction and other post processes...OR you can learn how to do all that stuff in real time in UDK. This goes back to the first paragraph as the technical know-how is a great benefit.

I guess that's all philosophy in a way. The direct answer is; you get started here:
http://www.udk.com/
download that and read the docs, lol. :P

Eric Chadwick

Also the wiki has some good links about getting started.
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryEnvironment#Environment_Workflow_.26_Modularity

Rock Bottom

thanks guys this will come in handy