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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:

 

TheZone_InitialPlan_s.jpg

 

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:

 

Inspiration Image Slideshow

 

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.

 

zonegrass_s.jpgzonemudandstones_s.jpg

 

zonepavement_s.jpg

 

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:

 

b01_01_s.jpg b01_02_s.jpg

 

b01_03_s.jpg

 

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.

 

trailer01_s.jpg trailer02_s.jpg

 

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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The shore in the picture with the water looks amazingly realistic, better than in Crysis!

Finally I see some texture which has some good dynamics in light and shadows.

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very good start Dave. Its also nice to see the progression of an "expert" in the field, so I can see where I go wrong. :( I will be watching this progression, and are very anxious to see a LE "Zone". :P

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We may do a custom water shader for this. A cubemap lookup with a skybox would be a lot cheaper to render than a full reflection, and that crystal-clear Half-Life 2 style reflection is sort of a rare occurrence in nature.

 

The tree line like you made is extremely cheap to render if it is far away enough that billboard rendering is used.

 

This will be very interesting to me, too, since I got my start as a level design artist. I was always good at details, but laying out a full scene was something I never "got".

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Guest Red Ocktober

Posted

 

We may do a custom water shader for this.

verrry much likes the sound of that... :(

 

 

good luck here dave... your stuff looks great... looking forward to seeing more of your artistry appear in the LW edge of the universe... keep those level dev screenies coming... verrrry helpful to see the wip shots...

 

--Mike

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