Create a Rocky Video Game Terrain in Blender – Day1

on Sep 2nd 2009 with 50 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Software: Blender
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
  • Estimated Completion Time: 1 Hour
This entry is part 2 of 9 in the Best of Blender Session
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This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Rocky Video Game Terrain

In this series of tutorials you will learn how to create a finished environment for Blender’s Game Engine. The main focus of the series will be texturing and lighting, with the use of some custom 2d filters to enhance the result.

Day 1 will deal primarily with sculpting the model. Since we want to start with texturing as soon as possible, we’ll use the sculpt mode in Blender to quickly create the shape with the upcoming clay brush, and adding the main details we’ll use for the environment’s textures with the layer brush.

In Day 2, while following the premise of skipping as much of the modeling work as we can, we will create a low poly mesh by basing it off a lower multires level of the sculpted model, and then applying a decimate modifier to it. We will then use this low poly mesh to bake tangent space normal map and an approximate ambient occlusion map.

Before starting you should gather all the reference you can. I’ve ended up editing out from the screencast the part where I show the images I’ve used for reference because I’ve followed them quite loosely. However, you can see a composite of some of them here. I’ve also made a test sculpt before starting the real one that can be seen here.

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Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Roberto Roch is an aspiring 3d artist, with a passion for game art. He meant to create a small interactive demo with Blender so he started gathering the skills needed to develop it. However, the first stage was concept art and he got stuck with learning how to draw since then. You can check if there's been any progress at thisroomthatikeep.blogspot.com.  

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  • Paket

    Looking awesome!

    …first xD

  • http://craigps.co.nr Craigsnedeker

    Oh great stuff!!!!!

    • http://thisroomthatikeep.blogspot.com/ Roberto
      Author

      Glad you like it Craig!

      there are a lot of things that I would have done differently now, but this is the first video tutorial I’ve done and I’ve payed the lack of experience, oh well…

      Thanks. :)

  • Kris

    So many mind blowing Blender tuts! I have to play catch up this week for sure!

  • http://www.dsaportfolio.com.br Diego SA

    Oh, don’t believe it’s made on Blender. Such software did not look so powerful when I first saw it but it has such a power… Still not learned how to use it yet but never is too late.

    • http://craigps.co.nr Craigsnedeker

      Blender is capable to do anything any other program can do. But it does have a higher learning curve.

      • eathan28

        yes it does. from modeling to animation to game. name it. blender has it. you gotta give it a shot sometime.

  • Alejandro Soto

    Excelente tutorial, espero con muchas ganas la segunda parte ¿para la proxima semana?

    Saludos

    • http://thisroomthatikeep.blogspot.com/ Roberto
      Author

      Pues ya esta en la cuenta de blip, debería publiarse en breve…

      :)

  • http://craigps.co.nr Craigsnedeker

    Just watched thi. I have to saw I’m in awe, can’t wait for #2!

  • bruce

    wish i knew how to do this in maya!

  • http://fweibel.com ! FaB !

    Hello,

    Thank you for the tutorial.

    Howdid you get the “Clay”tool in sculp mode ? I don’t have it…

    • http://thisroomthatikeep.blogspot.com/ Roberto
      Author

      I’ve compiled blender 2.48 with the patch for the clay brush applied to it.

      If you don’t feel like compiling blender, your options are:

      - heading to http://www.graphicall.org and searching for a blender version with clay brush (only seen a windows build).
      - downloading a build of 2.5 from there (don’t know how usable are they atm)
      - wait for the first release of blender 2.5, which should be out next month.

      • Fab

        How do you go about compiling blender to get the clay brush?

  • Pelle Johnsen

    What kind of hardware/OS is being used? Looks to be very interactive with 1 mill. polys :D

    • http://thisroomthatikeep.blogspot.com/ Roberto
      Author

      intel core 2 quad q9550 @ 2.83GHz
      nvidia 9800 GT
      and 4 GB of RAM

      OS: ubuntu 8.04 64b

  • http://www.cresshead.com steve g

    great tutorial and we’re all looking forward to ‘day 2′

  • theguy

    awesome tut, when’s the second part coming out??

    ca’nt wait!!

    many thanks btw

  • http://j.veirasgalisson.free.fr/blog/ RooL

    You can use ctrl + F to rotate the brush.

    Nice tut.

    • http://thisroomthatikeep.blogspot.com/ Roberto
      Author

      Nice! didn’t know about that, will be very useful.

  • EvadeAndSurvive.com

    Bad tutorial;

    Want to teach people or do you like to create stuff and play it back for yourself again and again. Your tutorial does nothing to show your viewers step by step how to create what you are creating. No one knows and no one can follow your step by step directions for creating what you are creating. If you assume people know what you are creating, then why would they watch this, they would rather do it themselves. However if I were new to this and I wanted to follow directions on how to make my own backgreoud, then this tutorial does nothing to show me how. Enjoy yourself, I will go elseware to learn.

    • Mike

      @EvadeAndSurvive:

      Errr… what?

      It’s a tutorial on how to use different tools and techniques to create a game engine-ready terrain for Blender. It’s not a “How To Use Blender For Newbies” series.

      The tutorial doesn’t show step-by-step? What are you talking about? It goes strictly step-by-step, with him narrating exactly what he’s doing, what settings he’s using, and why. He even goes so far as to explain why what he’s doing “now” is preparation for something he’ll do later.

      Now, if the real problem is that what he’s doing is beyond you? Fine… but that’s your problem, not his. Perhaps you should take the time to go learn Blender and learn the basics. Then you *will* understand what he’s doing, and wouldn’t have to come here emo-raging at the guy for dedicating *his time* – not yours – to record 4 very detailed and quite helpful videos explaining how to create very impressive scenes.

      People are amazing.

  • adam p

    didnt you have to go pee during the recordin :)

  • Dyangelo

    First, Your awesome,
    second,
    Are you using a pen?

  • Alberto

    Hello, this is a very good tutorial, but, where i can find the textures for the layer brush?

  • Kraig_85

    Hey Brilliant tutorial

    I’m using Blender 2.49 and I can’t seem to find the clay option on the sculpt tool properties… any ideas where it might be hidden ?

    Again, thanx for the Tutorials.

    • Fab

      @Kraig_85

      I’m having the same problem.

      • AB99

        Same here

  • http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/3d-art/create-a-lifelike-video-game-terrain-in-blender-day1/ OliverB

    deadly tutorial :-}

  • cheatsguy777

    at Fab and Kraig_85, it needs to be compiled in, it’s not a default.

  • Labeeb

    dude.. could u suppose upload the blend file

  • noah

    what texture are you using to make it look sandy

  • Wolfsong73

    Excellent video series!

    I’ve been looking for some good tutorials on how to do something like this and have found the resources lacking. Then, bam, I find these videos.

    I do have a question, though, regarding this approach being game engine ready.

    How well would this approach carry over into larger areas? Let’s say you wanted to create an entire, fairly large, game level using this approach, how well would that work out in terms of performance?

    I can definitely see this approach being perfect for smaller, more restricted playfields. Just curious how it translates into larger environments.

    Thanks!

  • Oblivion

    Great tutorial all of them I found it very informative!!
    I would be interested in knowing the same on large areas vs performance I’m rather new to blender but I have used unreal for many years I know you can’t really compare the two.
    My approach on large areas in unreal for the most part they have anti potrals witch will stop renders so you have a thick forest you put these in the tress, a valley of terrain taller sides the hill tops would have them inside. Depending on the layout this could drastically up your fps. Lets face it if you have a wall or a hill and beyond that is a ton of detail why would you want your card rendering stuff you can’t even see.
    Is there any other level optimization techniques in blender other then the few you showed?

    • Aaron Stromberg

      I know this is an old post, but this has been one of the more frustrating things when trying to design high poly levels in blender. So far, the only ways i’ve figured out around it are using high res normal maps, and killing my tri count. But I would love any info on other methods.

  • OTM

    How did you create the textures for the layer brush?

  • Greg

    Where did you get the textures for the layer brush?

    • http://www.pegasusdigitalmdia.com Aaron Newtona

      All good up until the point where I needed the brush textures?

  • AB99

    I dont seem to have the “Clay” option you were talking about in the beginning, any sugestions on why i dont have it or what i should do? thx

  • http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/blender/create-a-lifelike-video-game-terrain-in-blender-day1/ animateddy

    i want to make a game but.. i know a game like eternal lands or something can’t i make but i’m still trying now, i have make al the objects, characters, in game objects… but how do i create the whole game now?

    • Alec Steinhorn

      You need to find yourself a game engine like Director or Unity3d, which can compile your game files into one game. This requires you to know how to script, however, either in a native code like lingo for Director, or other languages like Javascript or C#.

      Good luck!

  • Aaron Stromberg

    You sir, are nothing less than fantastic. I wanted to let you know this is perhaps the most helpful video i’ve watched. You didn’t tell me how to do it, but instead showed me ways i can. Not only that, but you packed it full with great little hints, keyboard shortcuts, and snippets of info. I love you.

  • Torben Jonas

    Very very good tutorial thanks! Helped me a lot and its helpful to see how to do modeling a landscape.
    But i also have the same question as other people here: Where can i get these alpha textures you used in the video? I googled for about 5000000 years with all words i had in mind but there were no textures like you used :( maybe you can write a comment or upload yours? would be great

  • Romulo

    Hi Roberto,
    where can i find the feathers alpha image? i created one in gimp real fast like the sand one but the feathers i wasnt able to do the same hehe…
    is there anyway u can upload some alpha images as i saw u have a bunch of them?
    thanks in advance,
    Romy

  • Cloud92

    Hi Roberto tutorial looking awesome but i can’t download bledner whit clay brush, can u upload ur blender ??;>

  • Some guy

    Are there similar sculpting tools for 3ds Max? Because I can’t find them, especially the alpha textures one I am most interested.

    Or is it better to start learning ZBrush or Mudbox?

  • crazylady10189

    I need make file m3g for game 3d mobile, i were make landscape , grass, or space but all failed Example

    When i make landscape like first video, i make landscape but when export this file file1.m3g size it is 1-4Mb (heavy) for game mobile.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQFDcPLvfd0

    When i make landscape like second video, i make landscape but when export this file file2.m3g size it is 2Kb but when i use M3G Toolkit to look file2.m3g i just see white.
    http://vimeo.com/5180333

    When i make Asteroid like third video, i make asteroid but when export this file file3.m3g but when i use M3G Toolkit to look file3.m3g i just see white strips, don’t like when i rendered
    http://vimeo.com/7801287

    When i make grass like four video, i make grass but when export this file file4.m3g size it is 1Kb but when i use M3G Toolkit to look file4.m3g i just see black, don’t like when i rendered.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ_YT2FeuIU
    Please guide me how to make file m3g size lightly and look like when render! Reply to my mail if you can!
    Thank you very much!

  • http://www.BehdadGame.com Behdadsoft

    Hi.
    i’ts Very good.realy blender is powerful software.

  • Dihydrogensulfid

    Tutorial looks great, but sadly I couldn’t follow the steps / find the tool-settings.
    Tried this tutroial on a bigger terrain (I created a rude concept, which I improved with this tutorial), but it was slowed down, too much polygons by adding the details on sculpting :/

  • sularg

    Day 1 video is not working.. can someone reupload it?