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Environment Art Bootcamp (September 2026)

Environment Art Bootcamp

September 2026

With Jacob Claussen, Head of the Game Art Program

Pre-Course Lessons

Modularity

Texel Density

TASK FILES

Action Items. Take a set of provided 3D assets and prepare them for a game engine environment: UV map each asset, apply textures to a strict texel density for visual consistency, and set up the final scene in Unreal Engine 5 for presentation.

Core Tasks & Requirements

  • Scene Setup: Import the provided 3D models into your existing UE5 project; keep a clean folder structure.
  • UV Mapping: UV unwrap all provided scene assets. If it feels hard, focus on the room walls first. Crucial constraint: maintain a strict texel density of 512 pixels/meter across all assets.
  • Texturing: Apply the provided textures to their corresponding objects within the UE5 scene.
  • Modeling (optional): If you finish the wall and other assets, model additional objects (a coat rack, a chest) that use the provided wood trim texture.

Deliverables — submit screenshots from your UE5 scene: a wide shot capturing the entire scene, and a medium shot framing a significant portion of it.

Week 01 — Direction & Scope

Week 01: Submission

Links

Reference Searching

Week 02 — Greybox & Composition

Presentations

Intro To Unreal Engine 5

DEMO

Week 02: Submission

Submission.

Week 03 — Proxy

Week 03: Submission

Submission.

Vegetation Blockout

Reference gathering for Vegetation — how to look for reference when building vegetation. (12m)

Design Blockout with Vegetation — blocking out vegetation ideas with simple shapes, early in production. (28m)

Links

Set Dressing Presentation

Week 04 — Planning

Presentations

Lighting & Color Theory

DEMO: Relight

Four demos: reference gathering, setting up the scene, looking at all the tools, and the relight itself.

Console commands

r.Lumen.ScreenProbeGather.ShortRangeAO 0
r.Lumen.Direct.SSAO 1

Links

Vegetation

Vegetation Pre-Production

Reference gathering (12m) · Design Blockout (28m) · Art Blockout with Vegetation — blocking out what sits on the texture sheet and setting up an early vegetation material. (1h 20m)

Links

Vegetation Creation

DEMO: Creating Oxeye-Daisy Flower — building the highpoly and baking it in xNormal, set up for UE5. (2h 43m)

DEMO: Creating Wild Grass — highpoly and bake in xNormal, set up for UE5. (1h 38m)

Bonus: baking realistic with Quixel textures & Marmoset; baking stylized with ZBrush & Polypaint.

Links

Rock Creation

DEMO: Creating Rock — building the highpoly of a rock in ZBrush, baking it down, and setting it up for UE5. (1h)

Links