The Gnomon Workshop - Environment Modeling for Games

In this demonstration, Nate explains and shows the process by which a piece of concept art is interpreted and used to model out a game environment in Maya. In the process, Nate will explain various modeling tools, techniques, and workflows, as well as numerous theories and methods used to create game art. A timelapse video of the entire modeling session is included so that the viewer can see and understand all the techniques being used. Nate will also cover common errors and mistakes to avoid so that the scene will run efficiently in real time and light correctly.

Topics Covered:

* Interpreting concept art and using it properly
* Maya scene setup for modeling environments
* Using Maya image planes
* Scene blockout modeling and planning
* Using the Maya grid for precision
* Translation and poly modeling tools
* Using curves, curve history techniques, and creating curves from edges
* Proxy modeling techniques
* Selection tools and tricks
* Variety of theories and workflows explained to understand different pipelines
* Modular building and geometry reuse to build a scene efficiently
* How to clean up modeling properly so that it will texture and light well
* Color sets, bake sets, ambient occlusion, and how to stress test your environment
* How to model high poly geometry to be used later for texturing and ZBrush
* Creating normal maps from high poly objects
* Mental Ray lighting basics

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