Creating a Realistic Environment in Blender
In this Blender tutorial, we'll learn how to create a realistic environment. Software required: Blender 2.75a.
What you'll learn
In this Blender tutorial, we'll learn how to create a realistic environment. We'll build the environment by sculpting and using the ANT Landscape add-on. We'll also create a fairly complex ground material using multiple textures. Along the way, we'll model and create materials for many environment props such as rocks, grass, flowers, bushes, and trees. We'll also use a few different techniques to generate our environment ecosystem from manual placement to particle instancing. We'll create a river water system using the ocean modifier as well as the dynamic paint features. Then we'll render with Cycles and composite the final image using the node editor. By the end of this Blender training, you'll have an array of techniques to create your own stunning environments with Cycles in Blender. Software required: Blender 2.75a.
Table of contents
- Exploring Where to Get CC0 Textures 4m
- Setting up the Scene and Composition 10m
- Using the ANT Landscape Add-on 10m
- Refining the Environment 9m
- Painting Stencils to Separate Terrain Textures 11m
- Creating Terrain Material with Three Textures 10m
- Refining the Terrain Material 6m
- Modeling Procedural Rocks 10m
- Creating Grass Variations 9m
- Continuing Grass and Flower Creation 10m
- Creating Clovers and Small Plants 12m
- Using Sapling Add-on 10m
- Creating a White Birch Tree 8m
- Continuing White Birch Tree Leafs 11m
- Creating a Pine Tree / Conifer 10m
- Finishing the Pine Tree 11m
- Creating a Bush Plant 10m
- Instancing the Background Forest 9m
- Continuing Instancing Trees 9m
- Adding Grass to the Foreground 10m
- Editing Grass Particles and Material 11m
- Finishing the Grass and Adding Rocks 11m
- Refining the Rocks and Adding Modeled Grass 10m
- Adding More Variations to All the Materials 11m
- Creating Believable River Water 10m
- Adding Wetness to the Rocks and River Bed 9m
- Compositing the Final Image 11m
- Recap of the Project 3m
About the author
Jeannot Landry is a family man and a Freelance 3D Generalist based in Shediac, New-Brunswick, Canada. He studied 3D animation from 2001 to 2004 at La Cité Collégiale, in Ottawa, Ontario. Since then, he has worked on various projects and in small studios. In 2008, he changed his working techniques and opted for the Open Source alternative Blender as opposed to Maya. Although Jeannot is a 3D Generalist and can do just about anything, his specialty and devotion is really bringing characters to life... more