Week 5: Tree Canopy

    This week I finished up the tree canopy. To start, I modeled some different branch variations in Maya.

    Basically, I created some reusable branch pieces to build the different variations. Those pieces are in the top row above with the final variations along the bottom.

    After creating the branches, I brought them along with the leaf meshes into SpeedTree. To attach the leaves to the branches, I created target nodes using the click place tool in freehand mode. Each target automatically finds the closest point on the branch and then adds a leaf.

    With the leaves placed, I then arranged all the branches to fit within a square plane and rendered the atlas.

    Next I mapped the atlas to some cards in the main tree and added the canopy.

    Finally, I brought the tree into the Unreal project. I also painted the ground plant that I created earlier along the base.

    Overall I think the tree is adding a lot to the scene, and I'm glad I finally have the canopy in. I am wondering if the canopy is a little too thin right now. I might want to increase the atlas density in the future, but I'm going to think it over a bit first. Next I'm going to create some ferns. They should add some nice variety to the scene, so I'm looking forward to starting on them!

Week 4: Tree Canopy

 This will be a quick post for this week. I got a bit slowed down due to having a cold. Mainly I started on the leaf atlas for the canopy. To create it, I sculpted some oak leaves similar to how I approached the previous plant. After that, I painted some textures in Substance Painter. Next, I'm going to make a dead variation of the leaves, start on the branches, and then create some canopy textures.

Week 3: Bark and Tree Trunk

    This week I started on the bark and tree trunk. For the bark, I used Substance Designer to mix some small chunks and gradually build up a layered bark effect. I think it's kind of getting there, but I feel like the crevices between the bark chunks may need more definition.

    To create the initial layers, I made 4 different bark chunk shapes and arranged them on 3 different tile samplers which I combined together. After making that initial height map, I varied up the shapes with warp and slope blur nodes.

    After making the bark, I applied it to my tree trunk in SpeedTree. The branch shapes will most likely need more edits, but I will probably get more ideas on what to change once I add the canopy.

    Other than that, I also made Spanish moss and added it to some of the branches. I had a lot of trouble placing them, so I'm still looking for a good way to hang them quickly and believably. To generate the textures, I learned how to use FiberMesh in ZBrush. Once I had the high poly, I simply baked them onto a low poly plane and used the maps to generate a base color in Substance Designer. Eventually I want to pack a few more variations into the atlas. For now though, I just kept it to 4 pieces so I could test them out in SpeedTree.

FiberMesh Process

Final High Poly

Final Textures

That's all for now! Next I'm going to start on the canopy and rework the trunk, bark, and Spanish moss as necessary.

Week 2: First Plant

 This week I created materials and meshes for my first plant type. 

 

One new technique that I used is generating the materials in Substance Painter. Since I had height information from the ZBrush sculpt, I could create a lot of variation with fill layers and generators. As an example, I used the "Dust Dirty" smart mask to make the leaf veins yellow.

Since the ZBrush leaves had different Polygroups, I also baked an ID mask. With this mask, I created a different color overlay layer for each leaf. This made it so some leaves could be a little more yellow and others more blue-green. This subtle variation adds some more contrast to the plant so the leaves don't feel like they're all one flat color.

Example of some of the different layers used.

Overall I think it's off to a decent start. Next I'm going to start on a tree. It should be a great way to better familiarize myself with SpeedTree!