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Are you looking to create a truly immersive and breathtaking environment for your next project?

Look no further than our game artist bootcamp, where we'll take you through every step of the process of creating a variety of stunning environments in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5).

Introduction

The environment is a crucial part of any game, whether you're creating a first-person shooter, a role-playing game, or even a virtual reality experience. It's what draws players in and immerses them in the world you've created. But creating a stunning environment can be a daunting task, especially for those who are new to game design or unfamiliar with Unreal Engine 5.

That's where 'Unreal Engine 5 The Game Artists Bootcamp' comes in. Our comprehensive Skillshare class is designed for both beginners and experts alike and covers everything you need to know about creating stunning environments in Unreal Engine 5. From asset setup to lighting and special effects, we'll guide you through each step of the process to help you bring your vision to life.

Our ‘Unreal Engine 5 The Game Artists Bootcamp’ top 8 points:

Dynamic Lighting: Set up studio lighting, night scenes, and night/day cycles with UE5 built-in tools;
Cinematic Camera: master camera turntables, handheld close-up shots, and camera transition shots;
UE5 Blueprint Fundamentals: develop skills in prefab collections, interactable doors and floating collectables with UI messages;
Comprehensive Asset Setup: learn to import and setup assets with PBR textures and seamless materials;
Asset Blending: master vertex painting, physics-based object scattering, and distance field blending;
Large Terrain Creations: sculpt using height data, and implement fog using depth-masked planes and volumetric materials;
Foliage Creation: utilise the foliage tool for vegetation and natural environments with Quixel’s mixer library;
Motion in Environments & VFX: add motion to materials, and animate insects and fire using UE5’s Niagara particle system.

Your project will be to experiment with the 10 different Unreal Engine 5 bootcamp projects following our Skillshare class lessons. From learning how to set up cinematic cameras in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5), to creating blueprints, setting up and blending assets, and creating terrain, this class comes with a project for everyone.

Of course, you could set yourself a challenge and diversify aspects or details of each project such as using assets you already have from your other projects. You could change their length or complexity to make your UE5 environments more alive as your skills increase.

Class Overview

Are you ready to take your game design skills to the next level?

Our game artist bootcamp is the perfect place to start. With 10 comprehensive parts covering every aspect of creating stunning environments in Unreal Engine 5, you'll learn everything you need to know to create an immersive and breathtaking environment that draws players in and keeps them engaged.

'Unreal Engine 5 The Game Artists Bootcamp' is divided into 10 parts, each covering a different aspect of creating stunning environments in Unreal Engine 5. Here's a detailed overview of what you can expect to learn in each part.

Part 1: Asset Setup

First impressions matter, and in game design, the assets you use play a crucial role in setting the tone for your environment. In this part of the class, you'll learn how to import assets, set up textures, and create seamless blends to create a cohesive environment that sets the stage for the game.

Importing Assets
- Adding FBX meshes onto Unreal Engine 5 (chair, table barrel, bucket)
Setting up PBR Texture
- Creating material shader for a basic PBR texture setup
Seamless texture setup
- Creating an adjustable material for seamless textures that allow you to control texture scale and colour
- Setting up wood, metallic and water materials, including transparency setup

Part 2: Asset Blending

Creating a cohesive environment is essential for immersing players in the world you've created. In part 2, you'll learn how to blend assets to create a realistic and seamless environment that feels natural and immersive.

Vertex Paint Material Setup
- Creating a vertex-based blend material that allows you to paint moss onto castle walls
Physics-based object scattering
- Setting up collisions, enable physics onto objects and scatter them whilst simulating the scene, then save out location of the scattered rocks
Setup Distance Field Material Blend
- Creating an opacity mask-based blending material which allows you to blend in textures of rock with the landscape using a dithering effect

Part 3: Terrain Sculpting and Texturing

Creating a realistic landscape is essential for immersing players in the game's world. Here, you'll learn how to sculpt and texture the terrain to create a lifelike landscape that will draw players in and make them feel like they're part of the world you've created.

Sculpting Landscape
- Learning how to use height data information to generate terrain. We will also make use of UE5’s built-in sculpting mode. You will sculpt a terrain using basic brushes in combination with noise brushes and adjusting large-scale terrain with more complex tools such as the terrain stamping tool
Creating Landscape Material
- Making an attribute-based landscape material to texture the terrain based on weight painted data and height map blending
Texturing Terrain
- Learning to blend in terrain textures with height blended weight data for landscapes

Part 4: Large Terrain Fog Setup

Adding fog to your environment can create depth and atmosphere, but it can be tricky to get it just right. In part 4, you'll learn how to use fog to add depth to your environment and create the desired mood and atmosphere, whether it's a bright and sunny day or a dark and moody night.

Height Fog Use
- Using the exponential height fog tool to create depth to the mountains based on their distance from the camera
Create Fog Plane Material
- Creating a material for a plane that makes controllable fog planes with custom depth masking and camera distance-based opacity
Volumetric Fog Setup
- Creating another variant of fog material; volumetric fog. This will give 3 dimensional (3D) depth to the fog in the scene

Part 5: Mastering Foliage Creation

Adding foliage to your environment can make it feel more alive and immersive. In this part of the class, you'll learn how to add grass, shrubs, and trees to your environment and create a natural and beautiful landscape that feels like it's teeming with life.

Using Foliage Tool to Setup Grass
- Using Quixel’s mixer library to add grass and shrubs using the foliage tool and learning how to use its preset material instance to tweak the colours
Placing Larger Foliage Assets
- Learning how to grab free Quixel tree assets from UE5 marketplace, how to set up wind system actor for them, and how to control season colour changes on trees
Painting Large Areas Using the Foliage Tool
- Painting out a preset environment with clusters of foliage, and making the best use of the foliage toolkit by tweaking its values to place it around our nature scene

Part 6: Creating Visual Effects

Special effects can take your environment to the next level and add an extra layer of immersion for players. You'll learn how to create smoke, fire, and water animations to create a realistic and dynamic environment that feels like it's alive and breathing.

Creating Niagara Smoke Particle
- Setting up smoke particles for the chimney using UE5’s Niagara System
Creating Animated Fire Particles
- Setting up a SubUV texture for fire animation of a particle with controllable colour variation
Animating Water Material
- Learning how to add animation directly onto water material for it to have constant panning motion and ripple distortion

Part 7: Lighting

Lighting is a crucial aspect of creating a stunning environment, as it can set the mood and atmosphere of the world you've created. In part 7, you'll learn how to light your environment to create the desired mood and atmosphere, whether it's a bright and sunny day or a dark and moody night.

Studio Lighting
- Setting up a Skybox with a 3-point light system to get a controlled lighting environment within the scene
Night Scene
- Using UE5’s built-in environment lighting tab in combination with post-process effects to create night scene lighting
Night/Day Cycle
- Using UE5’s built-in Sun Position Calculator plugin to get accurate sun positioning
- Creating motion for the sun by tweaking its blueprint system
- Adding a star-lit sky which is only visible at night by making full use of automatic exposure which simulates brightness adjustments like your eye would have

Part 8: Cinematic Camera Techniques

Using cinematic camera techniques can create professional-looking shots that draw players in and make them feel like they're part of the action. Here, you'll learn how to use camera techniques to create stunning and dynamic shots that will keep players engaged and immersed.

Camera turntable
- Setting up a camera attached to an object which rotates around a Viking boat using level sequencer animation
Handheld close-up Shots
- Creating a camera shake motion from a blueprint template that randomizes the rotation of a camera to simulate shaking
Camera Transition Shots
- Learning how to set up controls for post-processes and camera control in UE5’s level sequencer to create transitions between camera shots (blackout and blur out)

Part 9: Breathing Life into the Scene

Adding life to your environment can make it feel more dynamic and immersive. You’ll learn how to add motion to foliage, create buzzing bee clusters, and animate flying birds to create a natural and dynamic environment that feels like it's teeming with life.

Foliage Motion
- Using UE5’s wind node to create motion to the leaves
Bees using Niagara
- Using the Niagara particle system to control clusters of bee meshes to make them buzz around
Birds Flying
- Learning how to import a rigged bird character with animation and setting it up in UE5 to fly across the air

I am excited for you to share your UE5 environments for your portfolios with me. Go beyond the taught material and make your buzzing bee cluster simulations grander by modelling them and adding animation cycles to them using software, such as Blender.

Part 10: Blueprint Fundamentals

Blueprint is an essential tool for creating interactivity and functionality in your game. In this part of 'Unreal Engine 5 The Game Artists Bootcamp', you'll learn the basics of Blueprint and how to create asset prefab collections, interactable doors, and floating collectibles to make your game more engaging and dynamic.

Creating Asset Prefab Collection
- Setting up mesh tiles as a blueprint and as a collection of items to be able to place them in a map that can be then real-time adjusted all at once
Interactable Door
- Changing UE5’s game mode to a first-person perspective. Creating a door using blueprint coding that allows you to open it using an interactable button
Floating Collectable Objects
- Creating floating and rotating animation using blueprint timelines. Creating text UI for a custom message to appear whenever a user ‘picks up’ an object

Summing it all up

Creating stunning environments in Unreal Engine 5 is an art form, and with 'Unreal Engine 5 The Game Artists Bootcamp', you can begin to master it. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced game designer, our class will give you the skills and knowledge you need to create an immersive and breathtaking environment.

By the end of 'Unreal Engine 5 The Game Artists Bootcamp', you'll have a deep understanding of asset setup, blending, terrain sculpting and texturing, large terrain fog setup, foliage creation, visual effects, lighting, cinematic camera techniques, and Blueprint fundamentals.

You'll be able to apply these skills to your own game or project, creating an environment that draws players in and immerses them in the world you've created!

Until next time, happy modelling everyone!

Neil

Dante Luong

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