Developed Research

Taking a look at specifically how the assets and set pieces blend in with the environment and how small tweaks like rocks and damage, leaves or moss can help blend in the assets and pieces with the environment and landscape.

Here are the main inspiration pieces for my Idea and both take their inspiration from the game ghost of Tsushima, So not only am I looking at the game where the ideas originate from but also the work that's inspired from it so that I can get more ideas for what I can include to populate my scene. Looking at environment pieces and dioramas.

In this one you can see how he built the little shrine light by using the different maps for building up the model's textures. Showing layers of normal maps and rough maps and how they build on the model and texture to give it a lot more substance and detail.

This is the number 1 piece my idea and inspiration came from, a 3D Diorama inspired by ghost of Tsushima made in Unreal Engine. He includes some affects like rain and fire into the scene as well along with things like lighting. He shows some basic workings and the assets he used to populate the scene, even some textures made for the grass and floor of the scene. He also talks about how another artist inspired him for this piece when creating a populated diorama based on a game/theme.

This is the artwork and artist that the Shrine Diorama piece that inspired me is inspired by. It's done by Maarten Hof (Environment Artist @ Ubisoft Massive) and is a Wild West Environment Scene based and inspired off the game 'Red Dead Redemption 2' and even though the theme and assets of the piece are completely different to my idea there are still things to be learnt by looking at the scene. I like the small details: looking at things like the lights, dirt and floor (muddied and worn) and things changed through human interaction. Also even smaller things like wear and tear on buildings and how things can be broken and repaired. Showing environmental storytelling through set dressing a scene. The Shrine Diorama piece does this too with leaves fallen and a dying fire and left over sword showing that people were there and something happened, ruined banners to show worn environment to hint at a battle occurring.

On top of this there is a lot of good Ghost of Tsushima Concept art that do really well at Dressing a scene so you can gauge the environment. This helps with picturing where exactly I want to set my scene

I really like the contrast between these super twisted dark environments full of smoke and destruction with worn and broken structures with winding black nature, making it all feel very unnatural and eerie and how the other environments feel more cosy full of warmth and light. It's the difference between natural sunlight with loads of flowers and trees and foliage (feeling of nature and naturistic environments) and an ominous glow with black winding tendrils. Changes the environment to one that resonates normality to a foreboding presence, gives a real sense of importance by twisting the environment.

Then some concept art for the game:

However when it came to my actual modelling ability itself I would need help and guidance to create the assets I want or need for a scene I've come up with. This includes anything from the ground of the scene to trees and foliage (even rocks). I'd need to develop my skills to further improve the creation of the scene. So I wanted to use some tutorials; here are some:

The first set of videos I looked at where all to do with foliage and nature. Mainly looking at how people make trees and small foliage like grass and leaves. The reason I'm looking at these specifics in foliage like trees Is because I have very little experience in designing, drawing or modelling/creating models and textures for trees in 3D so I wanted to look at the different available methods and techniques that I could use to learn and make my own models and tree/foliage assets (even if I couldn't reproduce them all). I would learn to make my own to them implement it within my own scene.

Then I looked at a tutorial I found that showed how to model a Torii gate and then it moves through a myriad of other programs such as substance painter to create textures for the model. The tutorial is really good for the making and development of a Torii gate and is really useful to understand how I would go about creating the Torii gate for my own scene. It includes a lot of good information in a small package. By really showing a 1 to 1 experience of how It was made. I wanted to use this as a place to start to build my skills off of my reference photos to develop my skills. On top of just using it for a base to model off of I really liked this specific design of the Torii gate and the colours of black with a realistic looking wood texture was what I was looking for. Even subtleties like damage to the gate is the similar sorts of details I want to add to my piece as I want to move towards a realistic looking piece rather than a stylized art look.

This video is such a good tutorial for showing of the workflow needed in designing and creating a good 3D model, useful for not only the creation of a Torii gate but all sorts of assets in my scene. So even though what I looked into before showing me the process of foliage and creation of nature is completely different for normal asset making this tutorial is such a nice overview into what needs to go into creating a good model or asset for my scene and how to even display it.

Here is another useful tutorial going over how to import and image to maya so I can use my own sketches and designs from photoshop and implement them into maya to model them:

I then created another looking at some foliage or trees, as I had a vague idea of what direction I wanted to do for my tree or foliage with trees that come from Japan to keep it realistic while also fitting the scene. The best reference for this was looking at the types of trees that Ghost of Tsushima used and essentially copying their styles as they had already done extensive research into the natural wildlife so I just had to build upon that. The first Image carousel Is a broad look at game environments and general nature within Ghost of Tsushima, taking a look at the art direction of the game, some are close ups and some more overviews of the game. I really enjoy the art direction of the game and love the different environments. The colours and contrast and detailed environment work really shows when it comes to how real but also pretty the game looks and feels. However when collecting these referential images I did realise that some move away from just nature and foliage and start to look at environment building but I still collected them as I wanted to collect images on environments as well because especially in ghost of tsushima, they are so well made (because they feel so real and have a presence of not being boring, interesting, pretty while not being busy. Nice to look at and enjoy but still work when moving through them quickly: eye catching but not flashy).

Then I found the artist "Douglas Davis" who was an actual 3D environment artist who worked on ghost of tsushima and took a look at some of his work on artstation which was way more useful then the over arching images from above. Because rather than garnering an overview look at the assets and detailed environment work and collecting what are essentially referential examples from a game. His Artstation page showed off a lot more detailed close ups. This meant that It went from having a collection of idea examples and game references to having detailed work to build off of. It gave a much clearer image on the assets used to make such great game environments. So I had images now of not just the environments themselves and getting the ideas of how to build a good environment but also the assets for that environment. Looking at specific nuances between brighter green environments and war torn and dreary while being affected by things like lighting, it all has a lot of detail and care being put into it.

After looking into environments and set dressing I then started to look at more specific things like close up assets and textures for assets and environments, 2 artists I particularly looked at were Colin Valek & Lisa Liao who both worked on Ghost of Tsushima. Focusing on close up details that were used to build up the larger environments of the game for pieces like Douglas Davis'. I really enjoyed looking at Colin's work with assets for flowers and leaves with how detailed and real they looked while also being so small.

Colin:

Lisa:

Looking at individual artists allowed me to more closely look at the art style within Ghost of Tsushima and specifically at models and work for the game. This allowed me to look at the games art direction which while taking a realistic standpoint over the island also heavily used lighting and colour to it's advantage to create specific seasons and themes in the environment. I really like the art direction of ghost of Tsushima as It's style and mood really kicks up the feeling of the nature and environment. Because of the direction of realism you can easily get immersed in the game environment and landscape and feel like you are the one there exploring. But this feeling/mood is only achieved because not only does the environment have realism but is very bountiful in beauty. The use of colour and setting really extenuates this feeling of everything around you feeling real and immersive. The amount of world building through the carefully placed assets really shows off the world environment and makes you want to explore it's features and beauty.

Then while keeping on the theme of specific assets and while moving away from foliage and nature in a scene I came across an asset pack on unity which I though was really good for showing off man made lanterns and pillars. The models and textures were simple but very clean and crisp, as if they came from a game like ghost of Tsushima and were a very good reference point for me if or when I decide to make some of my own lanterns and similarly designing items for my own scene.

It's not exactly a tutorial but they do give a good idea of what It take to make/create the assets which I can then use to develop my own. I like the design of these models as I want to create some of my own stone pillars and lamps and these sort of asset packs give a much clearer look on the design and creation process.

Then moving away from games I wanted to look at some real life trees to get some real life references rather than just realistic. You can really see the similarities between the trees in Ghost of Tsushima and the real trees in Japan, because they are close to a 1 to 1 and supposed to be realistic.

I did a small case study on the game Final Fantasy XIV (14) and its 2nd expansion "Stormblood" as the game takes on many Japanese themes so the level design of the game and areas within are filled with architecture and assets that can give good reference to my own work. This is separate to Ghost of Tsushima however as that game focuses on a much more high detail realistic environment causing immersion through reality. Whereas final fantasy is more low poly and less realistic it still however creates an entirely separate type of immersion due to a sense of emotion and character through world building a themed environment. I specifically looked at different aspects of the game that I was going to use within my project such as objects to set dress the environment. For example here are some screen shots of banners within the game that I can use to help develop the banner within my own scene.

I started to create lists of the different assets and materials within the expansion zones. I really liked their stylized designs. Especially when it came to texture work and the use of vibrant colours. But sometimes the earthy colours would be used to help it blend better into the environment.

Here are some other assets like boxes/crates & vases to fill the environment:

I love the simplistic designs/models in the environment and how they blend in so well but do such a good job of filling out the scene to make it feel more lived in.

I also looked at more shinto themed models with small shrines and stone lanterns.

then also at the lighting sources as I wanted to add some sort of lamp or lantern into my own diorama.

I was also tinkering in my head over whether or not to do any larger structures within my diorama like buildings and larger structures (e.g a well) so I took some referential photos for that as well.

Then I moved on from directly looking at Japanese styled architecture and assets/models to fill the environment or set the scene to look at the foliage and nature within the game as I knew I wanted to fill my environment with things like grass, bushes and plants to really fill out the scene and make it feel more like a snippet of Japan and a real place you could walk around as well as filling it out so it doesn't seem flat or empty.

So I first took pictures of the ground of the environments, looking at the lower levels and what populates it:

I like how even though the game is very low detail with much of the ground just being a flat texture it still is stylized and looks finished as there is all the models and assets to fill or block out the surrounding bits to take your attention away. So low detail and not as jam packed but still pretty to look at (very different from ghost of tsushima's overwhelming environments).

I then took a collections of screenshots to look at the specific models and assets that are used to populate the scene such as small rocks, small bushes a group of flowers or a tree or lantern. Looking at these specific small models that build up the foliage of the environment to make it feel a lot less dead.

I then moved my attention away from the smaller assets that fill the gaps and come together to build the environment to looking at the larger pieces in the set dressing like the trees and bamboo that make up the focus and main attention of the set environment area. The thing that contrasts to the buildings behind. I really like how easily in final fantasy the trees blend in so well to the background and rest of the scene.

The use of colour and size really show of the different types of tree I could add to my own scene even when the ones in final fantasy are low in detail and poly count they still look really good due to their designs and stylized colours. Each one looks so pretty as it's own asset as they are built to stand out and fit in at the same time. Which is something I want with the tree in my own scene as I want the tree to be a big asset and part of the scene but I also don't want it to stand out/look off and draw the attention away from and ruin the smaller parts of my overall scene design.

Finally I took some screenshots of some textures from the game for when I start work on the textures for my own assets.