Environment Artist Bootcamp

Build the skills you need to launch a career in Creative Tech.

Master 3D Modeling
Create Stylized Textures
Learn PBR Workflow
Understand Lighting
Advance Trim Sheet Workflow

Architect Entire worlds.

Environment artist is one of the most dynamic jobs in games now. It's a rapidly evolving area of the tech that is capitalizing on procedural tools such as Houdini & Substance Designer. There is always something to build since they create everything non-character. The game industry itself is growing at an annual rate of 16%. This trend is only set to increase with the advent of cloud gaming, VR / AR technologies and virtual sets.

By the end of the course, you will have produced a portfolio-ready environment. You will also have gained knowledge on how to troubleshoot new problems and tasks.

This environment masterclass will consist of twelve live lessons and mentoring. You’ll learn core environment design skills and workflows and be part of a community of artists working to achieve next level quality in their work.

By the end of the workshop you'll:

Be fluent in the various stages of the PBR workflow.
Understand on how to design different lighting styles.
Mastered Environment Modeling pipeline.
Mastered fundamentals of trim texture sheet creation.

COURSE FORMAT: Standard

LECTURE TYPE: Live

FEEDBACK: Live interactive group sessions

DURATION: 12 weeks

ASSIGNMENT: Due each week. Expect to spend 20-30 hrs/wk viewing lectures, Q&A, and time on assignments

Q&A: Twice a week

MATERIALS: Photoshop, ZBrush and 3D packages such as Maya, 3Dsmax, Modo, or else should be known to follow along

SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate to Advanced

PREREQUISITES: Knowledge of Unreal and 3D Software Packages

Curriculum

Week 1-2

Concept, Overview, & Blockout

Reduce decision making. Set expectations, moodboards, and concept. Blocking out the major shapes of assets, and setting up a modular kit where applicable.

Week 3

Lighting Theory

Different styles of Lighting Scenes; Interior Lighting, Exterior Lighting, Natural Lighting. How Lighting Works With Particle Effect.

Week 4

Lighting Blockout & Composition

One of the most crucial stages, building the scene in unreal and getting a basic lighting pass setup. Using various methods to capture; such as capturing highlights and shadows from different angles and lighting scenarios.

Week 5

Material Creation

Tiling texture maps for Substance Designer channels and trim texture creation. Generate height and perform normal conversions. Cover masking methods and generate final maps.

Week 6

Material Refinement

Refine material graphs, group together nodes that are often used together into single nodes. Material set up for different rendering options. Tips and tricks to make material more believable.

Week 7-8

Creating Our Game Ready Mesh

Retopologize your Mesh. UV unwrapping, define texture sets, geometric detailing, working with multiple UV sets, and vertex painting.

Week 9-10

Set Dressing

The little things to help add movement, decals, assets, details, story telling, and VFX basics. Bringing all of your elements to life.

Week 11-12

Polish & Presentation

Finalize lighting, mood, shadows, skylights, volumetric fog. Post processing, camera settings smaller details/props, and presentation for your portfolio.

Lucas Annunziata

Lucas Annunziata is a Senior Environment Artist at Blizzard currently working on Overwatch 2. Lucas first started in the industry at Torn Banner Studios working on the medieval first person slasher Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, where he was responsible for many of the environments. Over the course of his career he has contributed to many titles, mostly first person games in unreal. Since joining Blizzard he has upped his stylized art game, but still enjoys all aspects and styles of 3D Environment Art.