Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art on
Halo 4
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
Halo 4Vic DeLeonLead Mission Artist, Art Lead Outsourcing at 343
Industries.Vic specializes in organic sculpting and modeling of
environments, as well as directing the artistic quality of
environment prop set pieces. His work on Halo 4 includes modeling
and texturing of the Reclaimer, Requiem, and Infinity missions, as
well as Ragnarok, Harvest, Shatter, and Wreckage in Multiplayer. He
also worked on Spartan Ops season 1 and 2. Vic previously worked at
Bungie on Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo: ODST, and Halo Reach.
RJ Ranola Senior Environment Artist at 343 Industries.RJ
specializes in hard-surface environment modeling, texturing and
level assembly. His work on Halo 4 includes modeling and texturing
work on the Dawn, Shutdown, and Composer missions as well as
Spartan Ops season 2. He also modeled the massive Mammoth vehicle
from the Reclaimer mission. He previously worked at Raven Software
on several major titles like Singularity, Return to Castle
Wolfenstein, and Def Jam Icon.
Hi everybody! Many thanks to IGDA Seattle for inviting, Bungie
for hosting. RJ and I are super-excited to be here and were all
going to have a great time tonight.
1
The Reclaimer Mission and the UNSC MammothBig Environments and
Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Well be taking a look into two of the biggest chunks of
Environment Art from Halo 4 tonight, the Reclaimer Mission and the
Mammoth vehicle, then taking questions at the end of the
slides.2
The big ideas:
Breathtaking grandeur, size mattersHuge wastelands, rocky
cliffs, sandy valleysAccommodate large-scale battles and
eventsSuper-fun vehicular combat spacesAwesome co-op
experienceSupport the fiction of RequiemEvoke memories of Halo 3
Ark mission
The Reclaimer MissionCODENAME M40Big Environments and Even
Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Mid-way through campaign, big vehicle map, replayability, co-op
were big factors3
The concerns:
The expense!The expense!!The expense!!!
The Reclaimer MissionCODENAME M40Big Environments and Even
Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Alan Greenspan says CAREFUL- budgets!
Budgets- figuring out the logistics and the math, a lot of
vehicles, a lot of weapons, a full sandbox! Then the giant
budget-eaters like the Mammoth, Lich and Infinity!4
Art Director creates a mood boardBig Environments and Even
Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Kenneth Scott
Evokes a feeling, first image to be created, a springboard for
concept art
5
Concept Art & reference sheet
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Thomas Scholes, Vic DeLeon
This is the most interesting phase, exploration, meetings,
discussions. Narrowing down the look. 6
Reference collecting
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Bing Flickr Tumblr and Google geologic references- specifics.
Find what you want and what you dont want- examples of geology7
More reference hunts
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Specific bits of the environment- like water. Not normal water-
La Brea Tar Pits8
Concept Art: Gravity Wells
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
John Wallin Liberto
John Wallin Liberto. Large setpieces9
Concept Art: Interiors
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Justin Oaksford
Justin Oaksford traditional forerunner architecture evolving and
changing before our eyes, seeing the newer styles with implied
functionality10
Concept Art: InteriorsBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Sparth
Sparth functional forerunner style of the battery room
11
Concept Art: InteriorsBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Sparth
Sparth more ceremonial look of the Librarian room12
Economics? modeling method: custom or component?
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Figuring out the logistics and the math. Making the call to
custom model or go with components, if so what percentage? Settled
on 80-2013
Material studies
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Material response, texture, feel of primary elements,
geology!14
Prototype, messy but important!
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Thomas Scholes, Vic DeLeon
First quick kit-bashing of a slice15
Prototyping locations and shapes
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Thomas Scholes , Vic DeLeon
Shapes and silhouettes, locations, scale16
Prototyping scale
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Thomas Scholes, Vic DeLeon
Larger view of scale and giant setpieces17
Basic geo mass out with Design and Structure ArtBig Environments
and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Tim Diaz, Jacob Benton, Vic DeLeon
Block-in and mass-out18
Mass out modeling
Simple shapes Silhouettes Composition No textures!Big
Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO
4
Chiyo Lai, Tim Diaz, Andy Bosold
Shapes, composition, silhouettes no textures yet19
Mass out: the entire level in block form Big Environments and
Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Beginning to end, its all there, not pretty yet20
Components! Sculpting the very first mesh
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Modeling & texturing main components
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Making things as inexpensive as possible, reusable,
omnidirectional and ambiguous shapes. Used 8 models for the
majority of the map. 8 custom pieces. Which takes us to
terrain22
Organic modeling: solving for multiple viewpoints
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Terrain was all custom, sculpted in Mudbox. Varying levels of
detail from micro to macro. Viewpoints: On foot, Warthog, jetpack,
top of Mammoth!23
Organic modeling: terrain sculpting in Mudbox
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Macro normals baked down. Components integrated with terrain and
blended24
Start adding in the details -integrationBig Environments and
Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Integrating and adding the textures25
Meanwhile: Hard-Surface modeling architecturals
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Chiyo Lai
26
Decoration objects
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Organic and geologic features. Mudpots, large cactus-trees,
boulders, rocks, small vegetation, pebbles, debris27
Decoration object propagation
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Applying all of the previous to the level artistically28
Meanwhile: Mission Designers are hard at work Big Environments
and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Jacob Benton
Balancing encounters, refining behaviors, adjusting weapon
locations etc29
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Meanwhile: Mission Designers are hard at work Chin Fong
Polishing the big moments of the mission. The Lich, the Infinity
etc30
Lighting Team adds lights, color grading & atmospherics
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Kenny Magnusson, Barbara Busch
Bringing it all together with lights, tweaks to color, adding
fog31
and FX Team adds particles & atmospherics
Water Sand Dust RocksBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Jon Wood, Tim Fortenberry
32
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
FX Team special challenges: deadly water
Water was a challenge- had to look dangerous, deadly. Went
through multiple iterations, viscosity and subtlety. Finally found
something that made us all happy.33
Skybox Team: matching & seamless
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Oliver Reguiero Fernandez, Ryan Watkins
Final polish: terrain painting blend maps
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Vic DeLeon
Painting the multiple channels into the ground35
Final polish: check collisions and physics
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Everybody helped
Final polish: check streaming & PLAYTEST!
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Final final.. OK to GO!
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
The bigger ideas:
Mega-scale UNSC vehicleA moving base, vehicle & weapon
cacheFun to run around on and inPart of the environment
gameplayPlausible design ethic
The UNSC MammothCODENAME TORTOISEBig Environments and Even
Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Break down: How excited I was to work on the mammoth.39
The concerns:
The expense!The expense!!The expense!!!
The UNSC MammothCODENAME TORTOISEBig Environments and Even
Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Alan Greenspan says NOPE!
Will talk about concern with budgets. How are we going to make
this and have it run ingame.40
The challenge:What would a mega-scale UNSC vehicle look
like?
Chunky or sleek? Treads or tires? Speedy or stable?
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Expiration and references. Also Maschinen Krieger41
Treads were reminiscent of the Elephant and we wanted to clearly
differentiate between the two.
Look and function as both An assault & support vehicleAND a
mobile base.
Needed:Sniper roosts & rocket podsWeapon & vehicle
cachesEasy entrance/exit/hatchesA really big cannon
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Actual military reference.42
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Mission Design created very rough function-only models
Toying with sandbox possibilities and gameplay
Starting point. Game play elements were establish. 43
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Mission Design identified preferred layouts
Base layout for the walkable space. How to translate the blockin
to a move visual and functional play space.44
Modeling the first visual-language prototypeBig Environments and
Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
First in game pass: though the designs was not approve it game
the team a sense of scale and gave us a sense of what we were
working with.45
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Modeling the first visual-language prototype
First pass in the envrionment46
Expanding on ideas
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Not approve look but designers approved layout47
Kit-bashing ideas to see what works
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
KITBASHING48
Scale tests: exteriorBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Scale with the Unsc vehicles 49
Scale tests: interiorBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Design approve interior layout50
More prototyping
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
51
More prototypingBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Having fun with prototypes
Playing with appearance & functionalityBig Environments and
Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Playing around with ideas: outrigger COLOR SHIFT53
Meanwhile Concept Art Team feeds off prototypes
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Sparth54
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Meanwhile Concept Art Team feeds off prototypes
Sparth
55
Finding the right look
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Sparth
56
Final concept of the Mammoth
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Sparth and Kenneth approve design.
57
Final interior concept
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Sparth mammoth interior58
Front view paint-overBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4
Sparth & RJ: Nicholas help with the front view of the rail
gun.59
First model from concept
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Massout of the approved Mammoth60
Second model from concept with textures
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Finished model in Maya: how it was made. Kitbashing sandbox
asset and material tinting.61
Final hi-res model with texturesBig Environments and Even Bigger
Vehicles: Environment Art in HALO 4
Finished model in Game : how it was made. Kitbashing sandbox
asset and material tinting.62
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Optimize the model, get it in-game
63
Optimized model in-game
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
Mammoth interior64
Hand off to vehicle team
Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment Art in
HALO 4
65
Ship it!Big Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles: Environment
Art in HALO 4
66
Questions For VicBig Environments and Even Bigger Vehicles:
Environment Art in HALO 4Thank you for comingVisit Halo Waypoint
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