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UE3 Home > Environment Artist

Environment Artist

As an environment artist, it is your job to provide the level designer with the content needed to create and populate the world, e.g. the environment. Environment artists can be tasked with creating a wide range of objects from architecture to machinery to ground clutter to vegetation and more. This generally involves creating models to be used as static meshes along with the textures and perhaps the materials to be applied to those meshes.

Unreal Engine 3 provides a flexible pipeline for getting content into the engine and a wide variety of tools for setting up, using, and optimizing that content enabling the creation of detailed environments without sacrificing performance.

FBX Content Pipeline

Technical documentation and tutorials over using the FBX pipeline to create content for and import content into UE3. Static Meshes - Skletal Meshes - Materials - Animations - Morph Targets.

Getting Started Topics

Getting Started: Content Creation - First steps for creating content for UE3.
Design Workflow - Overview of Epic's internal design workflow.

Content Creation Topics

Creating Models - Explanation of the art assets needed for creating models for UE3.
PivotPainter Tool - Tool for storing model pivot and rotation information in the model's vertex data.
FBX Static Mesh Pipeline - Guide to creating and importing static meshes using the FBX format.
Static Mesh Pipeline Tutorial - Tutorial for creating and importing Static Meshes.
Unwrapping UVs for Lightmaps - Best practices over setting up UVs for use with lightmaps.
Normal Map Processing - A guide to properly processing a normal map to use in Unreal Engine.
Modular Environment Creation - Guide to designing meshes for use in a modular environment.
Static Mesh Editor User Guide - Guide to using the Static Mesh Editor in UnrealEd.
Mesh Simplification Tool - Guide to creating parametrically simplified meshes within UnrealEd.
Fractured Static Meshes - Guide to creating and using Fractured Static Meshes.
Collision Reference - Reference of collision types for Static Meshes and other geometry types.
Collision Technical Guide - A technical guide on how collision functions within Unreal Engine 3.
Creating Textures - Tips for creating textures for use with normal mapped materials.
Importing Texture Tutorial - How to get textures into Unreal Engine 3.
Creating Normal Maps - Practical advice and resources for creating normal maps.
Creating Shade Maps - Guide on creating shade maps using 3dsMax.