Throughout this project, I’ve tried to keep track of the other artists and instructors whose online tutorials and publically available projects were a great help in my development. In addition to individual CGMA teachers such as Jeremy Huxley, Peyton Varney, Clinton Crumpler and Steve Hong, I would also like to thank Ben Cloward, Michael Pavolovich, Ryan Brucks and Robert Berg for their online resources which were indispensable in this effort.
Jeremy Huxley:
Jeremy’s CGMA class “Vegetation & Plants for Games” gave me an essential understanding on how to approach trees, flowers, low vegetation and vines for this project. without learning these basics, I would never have been able to capture the eastern woodland feel of this project.
Peyton Varney:
Peyton Varney was my instructor in “Introduction to Environmental Art”, and provided the basic overview of scene construction necessary to begin considering a project like this. Only with his patience and skill could I ever have understood how to decompose a daunting challenge like this into core processes.
Clinton Crumpler:
Clinton was my instructor for “UE4 Modular Environments”, and extended my understanding of scene composition. While his course was mainly instructive in an early interior scene I created prior to this project, I learned a great deal on lighting and storytelling that I look forward to bringing into this setting.
Steve Hong:
Steve Hong is a brilliant concept artist whose class “Organic World Building” was the genesis of this project. I gained enough confidence and practical skills in that class to approach outdoor environments with the confidence that I would have with an interior one. To anyone considering CGMA, I highly recommend this course.
Ben Cloward:
Ben’s series of Youtube videos about advanced shader creation was very helpful in deepening my understanding of materials creation in Unreal. Triplanar projection was particularly useful for the cliff rocks in autotexture, as well as his series on stream and creek creation.
Michael Pavolovich:
Michael Pavolovich’s extremely fun Zbrush course was especially relevant to organic environmental creation.
Michael Gerard:
The creator of two advanced outdoor scenes available on the Unreal marketplace, this supplemented my other classes in really diving deeper into how woodland environments take form.
I am sure there are other creators I should mention, and I will try my best to keep this list current and give credit where it is due. I could not hope to gain this perspective without the time and dedication of countless others who have come before me.