EnvironmentSculpting

Environment Sculpting

Environment sculpting is the process of creating a high-resolution 3D model with a series of painting strokes, using. Usually the details from these models are baked into a NormalMap for a lower-resolution in-game model.

Sculpting Individual Objects

Sculpting techniques for creating individual non-tiling objects.

Bricks and Tiles

• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt michaelvicente.png <
  > Orb - My work on Crasher - by Michael 'Orb' Vicente<
  >Painterly style sculpting and texturing.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt ardolinoproceduralwall.png <
  > Stone Placement Tools script for 3dsmax - by Alessandro Ardolino<
  >A scripted tool for creating stone walls and floors in 3ds max.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt manjuriantile.png <
  > Tiles for normal map in Zbrush 3.5 - by 'manjurian'<
  >Silent timelapse showing the sculpting of a section of distressed tiles, with grout.<
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Metal

• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt plunqironworks.png <
  > ZSketch Ironworks - by 'plunq'<
  >Silent timelapse showing the sculpting of a wrought iron screen, from reference.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt weldseams.png <
  > Weld Seams <
  >Thread on Polycount about modeling weld seams.<
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Rock and Stone

• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt joshjay.jpg <
  > ZBrush 3 Poly Painting Tutorial I - by Josh Jay<
  >Using ZBrush, 3ds Max, and Xnormal to sculpt a rock model.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt yeramian.png <
  > Quickly Making Large Scale Rubble - by Timothee Yeramian<
  >Using 3ds max procedurals to quickly sculpt a concrete chunks.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt rockmodelingapproaches.png <
  > Rock modeling approaches - a Polycount thread <
  >A variety of approaches for sculpting individual rocks and tilable cliffs.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt henrichsproceduralstone.png <
  > 3dsmax Environment Modeling #1 Procedural Stone - by Sascha Henrichs<
  >Using 3ds max procedural modifiers and maps to sculpt a sandstone rock, and easily create multiple variations.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt ardolinoproceduralstone.png <
  > Rock Generator script for 3dsmax - by Alessandro Ardolino<
  >A scripted tool for creating rocks in 3ds max, inspired by Sascha Henrichs' tutorial.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt amorimstone.png <
  > Stone Tutorial - by Pedro 'bitmap' Amorim<
  >Sculpting a rock using Modo, ZBrush, Meshlab, and Photoshop.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt christopher.png <
  > Rock Sculpting Tutorial - by Jacob M. Christopher.<
  >Sculpting unique non-tiled rock forms with Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, and Unreal.<
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Wood

• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt henrichsenvironment.png <
  > Sculpting for environment stuff - video tutorials - by Sascha Henrichs<
  >Sculpting a wooden plank, a sandstone rock, and a tiled cliff.<
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Sculpting Tilable Maps

Sculpting techniques for creating tilable normal maps and displacement maps.

• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt robsonmudboxtiling.png <
  > Creating Tiled Textures and Displacement in Mudbox 2009 - by Wayne Robson<
  >Painting in Mudbox on the middle of a 3x3 grid where each quad has the same overlapped UVs. (video is about halfway down the page)<
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• Pixologic - ZBrush - ZClassroom Digital Sculpting - Environment With Tate Mosesian <
  >Video tutorial from Pixologic about using Zbrush to create tiled textures, by a Lead Environment Artist at Naughty Dog.<
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• Pixologic Release - Learning Series: Tileable Textures<
  >Video tutorial from Pixologic about using Zbrush to create tiled textures. Includes a free ZScript called Layer Shift that will enable you to shift all layers on your canvas half the width or height of your canvas (similar to the Offset Photoshop filter). <
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Tilable Stone

• Using Decals for Destroyed Structures - from the CryENGINE Art Asset Creation Guide<
  >Using alpha blended decals for broken concrete edges.<
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• Broken concrete for CE3 (Tutorial) - by Valdemar 'sltrOlsson' Nyhlén<
  >Video tutorials using Zbrush and Maya to generate tiled maps for broken concrete edges.<
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• (Tutorial) Tileable Textures - by Sean 'Oniram' Marino<
  >Video tutorials using 3ds Max, Zbrush, Xnormal, and UDK to generate tiled stone textures.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt sltrOlsson.png <
  > Gravel Texture with Maya Dynamics - by Valdemar 'sltrOlsson' Nyhlén<
  >Using Maya Dynamics to drop stones into a container and create a tiling gravel texture.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt mathiascadyck.png <
  > Floor Baking Tutorial - by Mathias 'MrFrags' Cadyck<
  >Designing, modeling, baking, and texturing a stone floor texture, using Maya, Zbrush, Xnormal, and Photoshop.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt glynnsmithwall.png <
  > Modular brick wall tiling - by Glynn Smith<
  >Tips and screenshots for sculpting modular brick walls.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt johnstonegears2modular.png <
  > Gears of War 2 modular modeling - by Kevin Johnstone + more info + even more info<
  >Tips and screenshots of using the grid for modular work.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt eulaerswall.png <
  > Generic wall tutorial - by Bram 'Peris' Eulaers<
  >Using 3ds Max and Mudbox to sculpt tilable for a stone wall.<
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Tilable Cliffs

• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt rooz3d.png <
  > Rock sculpting videos (silent timelapse) - by Behrooz 'rooz3d' Roozbeh, a Naughty Dog artist working on Uncharted 2.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt beyer.png <
  > Tiling Rock Wall Tutorial - by Hugo 'bugo' Beyer<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt khalamea.png <
  > Temple Interior tiling texture process - by Nicole 'Khalamea' Tan<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt shepherdtilingmeshes.png <
  > Creating Perfectly Tiling Meshes in Zbrush for use in Videogame Environments - by Owen 'SHEPEIRO' Shepherd<
  >Using ZBrush's 2.5D canvas to tile stamped meshes, then using Maya to model tilable geometry.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt henrichsmudboxtilingstone.png <
  > Tileable Stone in Mudbox - by Sascha Henrichs<
  >Sculpting in Mudbox, loading the displacement map in Photoshop for the offset filter, then fixing the seams with more sculpting in Mudbox.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt jamesonzbrushtilingstone.png <
  > Tiling Rock Tutorial in Zbrush - by Stephen Jameson<
  >Sculpting in Zbrush, loading the normal map in Photoshop for the offset filter, then fixing the seams in Photoshop.<
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• File:EnvironmentSculpting$sculpt ricezbrushtiling.png <
  > Tiling Rock Wall in Zbrush and Crazybump - by Bobby 'crazyeyes' Rice<
  >Creating displacement map in Crazybump, then sculpting in Zbrush.<
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<<Anchor(Re-Topology_Apps)>><<Anchor(Hard-Surface_Sculpting)>><<Anchor(Optimization_And_Re-Topology)>>

More Information

• Free Custom Zbrush Brushes by Michael Dunnam
• BaseMesh
• CharacterSculpting
• ReTopologyModeling
• SubdivisionSurfaceModeling

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