SMU Guildhall Graduate Catalog Spring 2016 — Cohort 23 | Page 18

Colin Valek Art Creation « Creating a High-Quality Forest Environment This project was made as an artifact I decided to create this forest environment create a flora-accurate, dynamic forest very passionate about nature and the for my thesis. The purpose was to environment and implement it within a modern game engine. In order to make this environment feel more natural and realistic, I did extensive research on the ecology and structure of forests and plants. In total, this project took approximately six months to complete. The main software I used to create the artwork was Maya, Photoshop, Mudbox, Substance Designer, and Unreal Engine 4. 18 ART CREATION for my thesis project because I’m outdoors. I love seeing the play of light shining through branches, streaming through translucent leaves, and making shadows across the forest floor. Not only was it a fun project for me, but I also learned a lot from it. It was challenging to create foliage in a way that was efficient and looked good without hindering performance. Overall, this project ended up being incredibly useful for learning how to create 3D vegetation for game environments.