First Terrain Environment - UDK

cdrose

Hey everyone!

I've started working on my very first full-scale environment piece as part of my portfolio. Aim of this project is to create a large landscape with a lush forest in areas and to have some hard surface (man-made) pieces within it too. I'm going for an alien world setting, lots of Bioluminescence but don't want it to look like too much like Pandora :poly121: It will be a real-time environment in UDK and I plan on posting my progress for feedback etc as I work.

Tools I will be using are:

• Autodesk 3DS Max (3DS)
• Autodesk Mudbox (MB)
• Adobe Photoshop (PS)
• World Machine (WM)
• UDK
• xNormals
• UV Layout

Think that's all of them lol well hope to give you an update soon, I've already created a landscape in WM and MB so will post up images of that soon. Next step is to import into UDK and start creating textures and materials for the landscape and begin blocking out the environment. If you have any ideas then please feel free to give them to me

cdrose

Here are 2 screen-shots from MB of my terrain with the basic diffuse applied, colours and details are not final but purely to get a feel and look. Can anyone explain why I get the "white stripe" along one side of my terrain in MB? The texture is fine and is the correct size, it's some kind of view-port issue I believe.

Alex3d

Why did you start on your terrain in Mud/Wb? If you plan on using UDK, then use their Terrain tools. Its much more adopted for the engine and easier to modify, not to mention it automatically creates collision mesh :P Here is a tut:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYGG2e9CEBE"]Unreal Development Kit Terrain Basics Tutorial - UDK Tutorial - YouTube[/ame]
Yeah its a bit outdated, but you can search for newer ones... Good luck on your environment!

cdrose

Hey thanks for the video tutorial but I want to get some extra realism so that's the reason I started in them tools, then I can import the heightmap into UDK

Jessica Dinh

Ooo, I will def be following this, I am currently making my first UDK environment too! And your project idea sounds fun, can't wait for updates

cdrose

Jessica Dinh wrote: »

Ooo, I will def be following this, I am currently making my first UDK environment too! And your project idea sounds fun, can't wait for updates

Cool! Thanks I'll be keeping you all posted, for the minute I'm having to do work for indie team so will be giving updates soon after!

cdrose

Issue Solved: For some reason importing just one alpha layer causes this issue, when I imported more than one the layers displayed correctly

cdrose

OK I have the problem occurring again when importing more than 3 weight maps :poly127:

I've attached some images of what is going on, I seem to be getting "blocking artefacts" on my weight maps. The first 3 weight maps (Sand, Rock, Grass) appear to be affected by the last 3 weight maps (flow, wear, deposit) and also have the "blocking artefacts"

Am I doing something wrong?

UPDATE// I'm going to upgrade to the October Build of UDK so that I can use the new Landscape Layer Blend system here: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LandscapeMaterials.html#Landscape%20Layer%20Blend

UPDATE2// Ok I have the October release now it has new landscape and foliage features so will try out the new things and give an update on how I'm getting on. Can see the release notes here: http://www.udk.com/news-beta-oct2011.html

cdrose

To get a feel for how it will look I've slapped on my diffuse I made in Photoshop with the different weight, ambient occlusion and cavity maps from Mudbox and World Machine. I've also applied the normal map too to the landscape but I do get a lighting issue with this applied. Any how here are some images to give you an update on my progress. I plan to carry on as is making assets and blocking out the landscape while leaving the landscape material on the back burner for now


Here is a wireframe


Landscape with my diffuse and no lighting


Same as above but now with a UDK Directional Dominant Light


Same as above but with the normal map applied

iniside

Flow is definitely to strong, and have wrong color.
It should have color more similar to terrain around it, or or should be more sandy.

Flow map defines well.. Flow. Which means places where water >flow< trough terrain. You should check how it look in real rives and dyed rivers.

cdrose

iniside wrote: »

Flow is definitely to strong, and have wrong color.
It should have color more similar to terrain around it, or or should be more sandy.

Flow map defines well.. Flow. Which means places where water >flow< trough terrain. You should check how it look in real rives and dyed rivers.

Cool thanks, yea I figured it was a little too strong when I first saw it in UDK

This was just one texture applied over the surface and it is different in photoshop actually now you have pointed that out, the texture I'm using is below. But I will definately look more into getting the colour more accurate.

Computron

Not sure what Hboybowen is asking but I think hey used worldmachine to simulate erosion and extract maps. These are then overlayed in the UDK landscape Shader.

cdrose

Hboybowen wrote: »

how did you create your diffuse textures Single colors or complex textures?

Yea as Computron said I created weight/alpha maps in World Machine and then used them as layers in photoshop with some colour tweaks.

The UDK shots are just a diffuse of those maps applied together. The layers within UDK all have this diffuse texture on at the moment

cdrose

An update on my progress

I have finished setting up the material for the landscape and have imported the normal, detail and specular maps for the sand, grass, rock and flow layers. UDK doesn't seem to like applying 4 normal maps so I have had to leave the flow layer normal map out

I need to also fix the grass tiling issue too but I'm hoping that foliage should cover this up. I have also now finished modelling my patches of grass and will be working on some trees and other plants next. I was planning on using the new Pivot Painter tool in UDK but it looks extremely complicated so it will be something I tackle at a later date. So that's all I have as an update for now but I will blog again once I have made some more progress ;-D





EDIT: Since this post I have updated the materials and also added a skylight so that the shadows are not so dark, I have also improved the skydome too. Will post images when I have them.

gauss

Really enjoying the development here, I think you're well on your way to a lot of very strong ambience. Keep up the good work and keep posting pics

cdrose

gauss wrote: »

Really enjoying the development here, I think you're well on your way to a lot of very strong ambience. Keep up the good work and keep posting pics

Thank you very much

cdrose

Ok so I think I may have missed something out in my blog that I have updated or changed so I will briefly go over what I have done. I find these bullet points are a great way to get across my progress:

• Added specular and normal maps to my landscape material
• Added dynamic clouds
• Added exponential fog
• Improved the sun and added glare (not visible in screenshots :-\)
• Foliage
  • Created large, medium and small grass patches
  • Created small tree
  • Created Master Material
• Added wind
• Improved water material
• Added swelling effect to water material (tide effect)
• Particles
  • Created fireflies :-)
  • Created blue dust particles
  • Created water particles

Ok so here are some screen shots of my updates, I realised I haven't made any under water shots yet so I will get them up next time :-)

You can view an interactive panoramic here: Bioluminescent Forest (WIP) QTVR






I have also created a leafy plant and making another at the moment, I will post screen grabs of them soon