level design momoirs part 011

8/12/2019 Level Design Momoirs Part 011

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Level Design MemoirsPart 01- 'Overgrown'.

By: Julio Juarez

8/18/2011


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Introduction

This is the first tutorial of the series titled 'Level Design Memoirs'. The series will show how I approach

level design in my environments, and the thought process behind creating the individual assets. Future

installments of this series will focus on modular building, creating the illusion of large worlds, lighting,

and mood.

The first installment is titled "Overgrown" which focuses on creating the illusion of overgrown plants.

Because these tutorials focus on level design, they are more intermediate to advanced. Considering I will

not cover how to make the models themselves, or how the materials are created. This document

focuses on how to achieve a natural overgrown look with a low count of unique meshes.

The screenshot above represents the final look, the intention is to make it appear as if the tree is

overgrowing, and eventually forcing the tiles that are on the ground to move. As an addition, in the end

of the tutorial I will show examples of how to achieve overgrowth on architecture.

For this tutorial I will cover:

Meshes where used and for what purpose.

How the terrain and it's materials played a key part in integrating the assets together.

Tips and techniques used to distribute the foliage meshes to achieve a natural look.

Taking over architecture


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Asset List

The following is a list of the meshes that were used in the example map and their purpose:

Important Note:This list only represent the example map, not the Cambodia environment that is used

to illustrate foliage placement.

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1. These broken tiles are used to give the illusion that the tiles are being pushed out from the ground by

overgrown plants. In my Cambodia environment, these where used to make it appear as if the

architecture was breaking apart.

2. Round rock is used to give the landscape more variation.

3. 4.

3. Sharp angled rock is used to create interesting silhouette and break up consistency.

4. Tiled stones that are used to create the floor.


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5. 6.

5. Detailed tree that is the focus of this example.

6. Grasses, which have variations of lower and higher densities.

7. 8.

7. Bunched up leaves that are used to give volume to the bottom of the tree. They are also scattered

individually in the floor to create the illusion of fallen leaves.

8. Small set of flowers.

Important Note:The goal is to create the illusion of variety without having to create to many unique

meshes. In this example, It would not be efficient to create a large library of rocks that essentially have

very similar silhouettes. At the end, their shapes would look very similar to each other. It is more

efficient to create two or three very differentrock shapes that once combined could create large variety

of looks.


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Designing the Level

First thing that needs to be tackled is defining the area you need to work with. In this example level, the

stone tiles are 1024x1024 unreal units. The terrain itself is 4096x4096. Currently, the scene is using four

instances of the tillable stones. Seams in between each mesh are not very important at the moment,

they will disappear once meshes are overlaid on top, and the terrain underneath is edited.

Notice the contrast of the ground texture and the stones. This is very important for creating visual

interest. Unnecessary contrast can later be removed by using another terrain material layer.

In the above screenshot, some areas of the terrain where raised to break up the tiles and to contributeto the overgrown look.


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When creating terrain layers, it's important to have different light values in each element. For example,

having the grass material on the terrain be slightly darker/lighter then the dirt. This way when looking at

them from far away, the materials will still separate. If all terrain layers have the same light values, then

most likely everything will blend together. Thus creating a very one dimensional material.

In the above screenshot, two new terrain materials where introduced. One of them is a lighter version

of the dirt material that is used to blend with the stones. The other is a tiled grass material that will be

used as a base to place foliage on top.

Important Note:Notice the values for each of the terrain layers. The darker spots represent the grass,

and the lighter areas represent the stone blend material, therefore it's designed to match the value of

the stone tiles. Finally, the in between shades of gray represent the regular dirt texture.


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Important Note:If you intend to achieve a natural look, it is essential to break up corners, 90 degree

angles, and perfect alignments. Very slight rotations of your geometry from the grid space can increase

he believability of your environments exponentially.

In order to break up the 90 degree angles from the tiled floor even further, I added several instances of:

Broken stone tiles.

Sharp rock.

Round rock.

Important Note:Notice how a higher density of these stones where added at the edge of the floor tiles.

For the screenshot above, I started adding those same rocks in a different angle. Making It appear as if

the thick roots that are growing underneath are pushing them up.


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Adding Foliage

The following list consists of general rules that apply when placing foliage into you're environments.

Because of the complexity of these rules, I will mainly use the Cambodian Environment to illustrate

them.

1. Arrange the foliage into groups. So, if a flower is placed in the scene, that means that there would

be several sets of flowers nearby. The same applies with trees.

Notice the different groups that are highlighted in the above screenshot.

Notice how grasses are added in groups, as well as larger foliage in the a example map.


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2. Use foliage to break up corners, create transitions, and to minimize 90 degree angles.

In this case foliage is being used as a transition for where the tree meets the ground.

3. Look at it from a high angle in order to ensure that the arrangements look natural, and have

variety.

A high angle view can be used to make sure the distribution of assets look natural. The following general

rules will use the above screenshot as an example.

4. Avoid having a high density of a particular type of plant without breaking it up. This is true, unless

your intent is to make a wheat field.


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5. Avoid having plants that are that are consistently the same size. Nothing looks less natural than

perfectly cut grass in a forest. So use the scale tools to your advantage.

6. Avoid having plants that are consistently the same shade of green. Unless you want your foliage to

look like it was painted with the same crayola. Notice how in the above screenshot, different foliage

have a different shade of green.

Important Note:You can create an instance of one material and slightly shift its color to another shade

of green. Then apply this 'new' material to a few groups of foliage. Thus creating more variety.

7. Avoid lining up plants in a straight line, the only plants that I arranged following a line where the

water plants. That was because they tend to pile up against corners and other surfaces.

8. Finally, place smaller plants like flowers, or a higher density of grass next to larger objects such as

rocks, or trees. The above screenshot clearly illustrates this.


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Extra Section: Taking over architecture

In this extra section I will briefly explain how I accomplished the large overgrown tree on top of the

Cambodian inspired temple.

Important to note several things about the above screenshot.

Roof tiles are not perfectly aligned, especially close to the destructed area.

The same rocks that were used in the example map are used here to represent the building

falling apart.

These broken areas are a perfect place to add the large overgrown plants.

This screenshot shows how several instances of the same tree trunk where used to create the large tree.


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Important Note:The picture above was the reason why the tree appears to be at a very high density of

detail. This level of fidelity could not be achieved by using a texture inside the 0 to 1 space. Creating a

unique material for such a large object would produce a very large texture file, a blurry resolution, or

both.

The above screenshot is the final result. It is important to note several things about it:

Foliage was used to hide seams, and create transitions.

It was also used to fill holes that would otherwise reveal the underlying structure.

Foliage stayed consistent with the general rules discussed earlier. In particular creating groups,

having different sizes, and using different shades of green.

Post process and lighting was used to unify all the elements.


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End Notes

There is plenty to come for future installments of this 'Level Design Memoirs' series. The reason the

series is titled 'Memoirs' is because they are a collection of knowledge that I have gathered from

firsthand experience and personal observation. Therefore I will try to avoid using content that is not

produced by me.

Here is a sneak peak of a future installment:

I will use my latest environment titled 'Arctic Facility' to demonstrate my approach on modular building

and lighting.

Thank you for taking the time to read this document. Please feel free to contact me with any questions

or comments:

Julio Juarez

[email protected]

3dbrushwork.com

Please support by liking my page:

facebook.com/3dbrushwork

Special thanks to Bart Januszkiewicz, it was during one of our conversations that I was inspired to start

creating this series.
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