"The Zone" Blog 01: Getting My Feet Wet
Entry posted by DaveLee ·
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Hello everyone! My name is Dave Lee, and I am a 3D artist and level designer. As Josh mentioned in a recent blog post, he has hired me to create a AAA-game quality environment for the Leadwerks engine — one that really shows off what it's capable of. This environment will be a fictional scene inspired by the real Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. For now it is titled simply "The Zone".
While I'm still getting the hang of Leadwerks and the Editor, I've found it pretty easy to just jump right in with only my experience in CryEngine 2 and some studying on the Leadwerks Wiki. So, this blog update is going to be a good sized one! I have drawn out a sketch for the environment, which you can see here:
I have also been collecting quite a few photographs from the internet for my "inspiration folder". These are images that I look over to maintain realism. I have uploaded some of them here so you can get an idea of what I'm drawing some inspiration from:
Terrain textures were one of my first experiments in the Leadwerks editor. Each of these has a specular map (in the alpha of the diffuse) and a separate normal map. I also did a bit of experimentation with the vegetation painting system, which works great, especially the LOD levels and billboards.
After experimenting with some terrain elements in the editor, I dove into the 3dsMax > Leadwerks import process. The first stages of the level is to get some of the rough untextured models into the environment without their textures but at the correct scale. With these untextured models in the Editor and some placeholder block models made at the approximate size I can "block out" the level in its entirety. This will allow me to make sure that I'm staying true to the original concept before I waste time detailing areas that will need to be adjusted on a macro scale later on.
Below are some screenshots that show the early stages of the blocking out process with some of the unfinished models:
I also worked on getting one textured building in game so I could learn how 3dsMax's materials and Leadwerks interact. You can see my first (and rather simple) textured building, a portable military trailer, below.
That's it for this update. Stay tuned as I continue to block out the environment and begin working on more buildings and props!
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