Category:EnvironmentModularity

2013-04-22T15:32:47Z

MartinMurphy: added skyrim transcript from gdc 2013

= Category Environment Modularity =
Topics about making modular environment art for games.

Modular means pieces are made to fit together according to a common pattern, so just a few pieces can be reused multiple times to create a bunch of variety.

== Pages in This Category ==

== Modular Design & Workflow ==
How to plan out the development of modular environment pieces, and the workflow for creating them. The design of modular pieces is closely linked to game design; see [[Category:GameDesign]] for more.

* [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116526 Modular Environment Art applied from plaster tabletop sets] - by ''[http://www.polycount.com/forum/member.php?u=14498 'Makkon']''< >Polycount forum thread with great visual breakdowns of modular tabeltop models.
* [[attachment:Investigation_into_modular_design_within_computer_games_v1.0.pdf|Investigation into Modular Design within Computer Games]] (8.6MB PDF) - by ''[http://www.polycount.com/forum/member.php?u=37149 Scott Jones]''< >Research paper on modular workflow. Definition, benefits, history of modularity, usage, methods, case studies, UDK and 3ds Max. See the Polycount forum thread [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78444 Modular design within games].
* [http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/WorkflowAndModularity.html Workflow techniques and modularity with Unreal game technology] - by ''[http://www.epicgames.com Epic Games]''< >A guide to setting up your art-to-level-design pipeline and designing modularly.
* [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=39&t=444791&page=7&pp=15#post4855106 Environment workflow from an artist working on a Crysis mod] - by ''[http://stefan-morrell.cgsociety.org/gallery/ Stefan Morrell]''< >A modular city building and its texture sheet.
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=54178 Mod Facade Challenge] - by ''[http://www.linkedin.com/in/earthquake Joe 'EarthQuake' Wilson]''< >Breaking up a building into modular pieces and designing the texture sheet.
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=52743 Adam Bromell's sketchbook thread] - by ''[http://www.adambromell.com Adam 'adamBrome' Bromell]''< >Breaking an environment down into modular pieces.
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=52565 Chris' sketchbook thread] - by ''[http://chrisholden.net/ Chris 'cholden' Holden]''< >Environment design & modular workflow.
* [http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html Visually Appealing Building Guide] - by ''[http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com Christopher Albeluhn]''< >An excellent breakdown of how to create visual interest with game buildings. [http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/3D_Tutorials.html Additional tutorials here].
* [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98461 Modular Building Design Workflow?] - a [http://boards.polycount.net/ Polycount] thread < >Discussion about creating modular buildings, with interiors and exteriors.
* [http://www.3dmotive.com/product-modular-building-udk Modular Building Workflow] - ($) a 3dmotive tutorial by ''[http://www.tylerwanlass.com/ Tyler Wanlass]''< >Covers planning and workflow for modular buildings using Photoshop, 3ds Max, and UDK.
* [http://www.thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html Modular Environments in UDK] - a tutorial by ''[http://www.thiagoklafke.com/index.html/ Thiago 'Minotaur0' Klafke]''< >Covers the techniques used to make [http://www.thiagoklafke.com/zestfoundation.html Zest Foundation.]
* [http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/Help/Modular%20Environment%20Design.rar Modular Environment Design.rar] - by ''[http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/ Kevin Johnstone]''< > East Coast Game Conference slides of the talk "Modular Environment Design, Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the grid".
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=678052#post678052 Environment workflow @ EpicGames] - by ''[http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/ Kevin Johnstone]''< >A summary of the modular workflow used at Epic on Unreal Tournament 3.
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=924231#post924231 Gears of War 2 modular modeling (Polycount Forum)] and [http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?69232-Gears2-Environment-Art-%28step-by-step-page-5%29 Gears2 Environment Art Step by Step (ZBrush Central)] - by ''[http://wiki.polycount.net/Rorshach Kevin Johnstone]'' < >Tips and screenshots of using the grid for modular work, as well as a ton of useful insight into the Environment worflow at Epic. A highly recommended read!
* [[ModularMountAndBlade|Modular Mount & Blade]] - by ''[http://wypierpapier.blogspot.com/ 'gutekfiutek']'' < >Modular workflow for the mod "Polished Buildings" for the game Mount & Blade.
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=1101338#post1101338 Modular brick wall tiling] - by ''[http://iamglynnsmith.com/ Glynn Smith]''< >Tips and screenshots for sculpting modular brick walls.
* [http://www.brameulaers.com/tutorials/generic_wall_tutorial/generic_wall_tutorial.html Generic wall tutorial] - by ''[http://www.brameulaers.com Bram 'Peris' Eulaers]''< >Using 3ds Max and Mudbox to sculpt tilable modular sections for a stone wall.
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=50160 Rock modeling approaches] - a [http://boards.polycount.net/ Polycount] thread < >A variety of approaches for sculpting individual rocks and tilable cliffs.
* [http://osart3d.wordpress.com/home-page/tutorial-creating-perfectly-tiling-meshes-in-zbrush-for-use-in-videogame-environments/ Creating Perfectly Tiling Meshes in Zbrush for use in Videogame Environments] - by ''[http://osart3d.wordpress.com/ Owen 'SHEPEIRO' Shepherd]''< >Using ZBrush's 2.5D canvas to tile stamped meshes, then using Maya to model tilable geometry.
* [http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_sets/modular_sets.html Working with Modular Sets] - by ''[http://www.philipk.net Philip 'PhilipK' Klevestav]''< >How to design and texture modular sci-fi wall panels.
* [http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_rocks/modular_rocks.html Working with Modular Rocks] - by ''[http://www.philipk.net Philip 'PhilipK' Klevestav]''< >How to design, model, and texture modular rock assets, using Crazy Bump, Photoshop, and 3ds Max.
* [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76476 Modular Floor Tiles - Outlined in Shadow] - a Polycount thread < >How to work around UDK modular problems.
* [http://blog.joelburgess.com/2013/04/skyrims-modular-level-design-gdc-2013.html Skyrim’s Modular Approach to Level Design] - Transcript from GDC 2013 talk on Skyrim's Modular Level Design < >Skyrim’s Modular Approach to Level Design

== More Information ==
* [[Category:ConceptEnvironment]]
* [[Category:EnvironmentModeling]]
* [[Category:EnvironmentTexturing]]
* [[Category:GameDesign]]

[[Category:Environment]] [[Category:EnvironmentModeling]]

Category:Whitepapers

2010-08-29T13:05:56Z

MartinMurphy: updated crytek link

= Category Whitepapers =
This page has links to conference proceedings and research papers (aka whitepapers) about game graphics.

== Company Whitepapers ==
* [http://www2.disney.co.uk/disneyinteractivestudios/blackrockstudio/technology/ Black Rock Studios]
* [http://www.bungie.net/Inside/publications.aspx Bungie]
* [http://www.crytek.com/cryengine/presentations/ Crytek]
* [http://publications.dice.se/ DICE]
* [http://www.unrealtechnology.com/whats-new.php?ref=downloads Epic Games]
* [http://www.guerrilla-games.com/publications/ Guerilla Games]
* [http://www.insomniacgames.com/tech/techpage.php Insomniac Games]
* [http://www.naughtydog.com/tag/presentations/ Naughty Dog]
* [http://developer.nvidia.com/page/documentation.html NVIDIA Developer Documentation]
* [http://graphics.pixar.com/library/ Pixar Library]
* [http://www.research.scea.com/research/research.html Sony Computer Entertainment America]
* [http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications.html Valve Software]

== Conference Whitepapers ==
* [http://www.gdcvault.com/free/category/ Game Developers Conference 2005-2010]
* [http://www.microsoftgamefest.com/london2010.htm Gamefest London 2010]
* [http://www.microsoftgamefest.com/seattle2010.htm Gamefest Seattle 2010]
* [http://www.highperformancegraphics.org/program.html High Performance Graphics 2010]
* [http://kesen.huang.googlepages.com/ Whitepapers master list]

== Game Graphics Books ==
* [http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article1698.asp Graphics Programming Black Book] by Michael Abrash (2001) - free download

== Game Renderer Articles ==
These articles help artists understand how game engines work, so they can learn how to build art that performs better.

* [http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/provost/byf1.html Beautiful, Yet Friendly Part 1: Stop Hitting the Bottleneck] by [http://ca.linkedin.com/in/gprovost Guillaume Provost]
* [http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/provost/byf2.html Beautiful, Yet Friendly Part 2: Maximizing Efficiency] by [http://ca.linkedin.com/in/gprovost Guillaume Provost]
* [http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,9722,00.asp ExtremeTech 3D Pipeline Tutorial] by [http://www.extremetech.com/author_bio/0,1728,a%253D234,00.asp Dave Salvator]
* [http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/ The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline] by [http://www.xmission.com/~legalize Richard Thomson]
* [[Polygon Count]]
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=50588 FAQ: Game art optimisation (do polygon counts really matter?)] from the Polycount forum
* [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=72921 How many textures per model is too many?] from the Polycount forum
* [http://www.devmaster.net/wiki/Main_Page#Graphics Graphics topics on the DevMaster wiki]
* [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64286 Why so blue?] thread on the Polycount forum has an informed discussion about texture compression.

== Pages in This Category ==

[[Category:Technology]] [[Category:Rendering]]

polycount - User contributions [en]

Category:EnvironmentModularity

Category:Whitepapers