Firewalk | Environment and Lighting Breakdown
What?
Make art improvements to PUBG environment art (Erangel)
Focus on:
Materials
Lighting
Special considerations:
Do this in Unreal Engine version PUBG 4.16; custom UE4 build
Do this in Unreal Engine version 4.21 Vanilla
Schedule:
Make two beautiful corners (interior and exterior)
Make it in two different engine versions (4.16 and 4.21)
Do it all in 30 days
Why?
Upgrade PUBG’s visuals to standards of “AAA” competitors (i.e. Battlefield, Call of Duty, etc.)
Improve experience for players and fans
Establish new quality bar for AAA battle royale/large world games
How?
Team: (GoDemics)Independent development team made of industry veterans from AAA games; mostly lead and senior artists with games and film experience (specialize in Unreal Engine development)
Roster:
Env artists x 2
Lighting artists x 3
Tech artists x 1
Experience:
Halo
Call of Duty
Battlefield
Uncharted
Doom (2016)
Many AAA franchises...
Surveying The Battlefield
Battlefield 5 Battle Royale (Firestorm)
Best visuals for a Battle Royale game currently on the market
Call of Duty Battle Royale (Blackout)
Apex Legends Battle Royale
Fortnite Battle Royale
Observations
Many studios are rushing out battle royale versions of their games:
Compromised visuals
Not enough resources spent on reinventing the pipeline for battle royale (quality/performance) Opportunity for PUBG to do what others have not?
Getting it out the door to compete in this space as quickly as possible
Standing Apart
To offer players the best battle royale visual experience:
Find a “look”, a visual language and direction that conveys the PUBG identity
Set a new quality bar for what a battle royale game can, and should be
Do the things that none of the other games are doing
Take some risks for bigger payoff
Process Overview
Deep Dive
Art Direction
Establish New Art Direction
Establish mood boards
Establish color pallette
Use reference for everything- when in doubt, fall back on reference!
Vital to get art direction nailed down as early as possible
Exterior beauty corner concept art (before and after)
Exterior beauty corner concept art
Interior beauty corner concept art (before and after)
Interior beauty corner concept art
Exterior Lighting and Color Palette Mood Board
Interior Lighting and Color Palette Mood Board
Reference sheets for building construction, influenced by geographical location, etc.
Technical Art Direction
Primary Goal: Make a New Pipeline
Must make a new pipeline from scratch to achieve goals
Pipeline goals/requirements:
Achieve highest fidelity visuals
Take advantage of all (latest) UE4 rendering features; don’t leave anything on the table
New flexible material system
New lighting technical direction
To Achieve High Fidelity…
Modeling
Texturing
Shading
Lighting
Post Processing
Modeling
More geometry to support realistic details based on reference
Photogrammetry
Attention to large shapes, silhouettes, and good overall form
Modeling composition based on real world references
Building from Erangel, before (left), after (right)
Modeling
Note the addition of details:
Silhouette
Trims and details
Normals free of artifacts
Updated topology
Photogrammetry
Scanned meshes
Scanned textures
Calibrated for UE4
Texturing
PBR calibrated textures
Validated textures
Correct compression
Use of (wide range) shading surface data
Layer masks
Using proceduralism with scan data to speed up production, while retaining fidelity
Shading
Implementing concept of:
Dielectric surfaces
Metallic surfaces
Example of dielectric material with corresponding data maps
Lighting
Accurate bounce lighting
Area shadows
Volumetric lighting
Vetted materials (PBR correct)
Post Processing
Tonemapping
Color grading (HDR- no LUTs)
Lens exposure
Depth of Field
Future Tech: Raytracing
PUBG RTX
Why Raytracing?
It’s the future of realtime rendering
Position PUBG at the bleeding edge of innovation
Add PUBG to the small list of next gen games supporting RTX (i.e. Battlefield V, Metro Exodus, etc.)
PUBG can become known as a title that pushes rendering innovation forward (like Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, DICE, etc.)
Reflections
Ambient Occlusion
Area Shadows
Global Illumination
Final Results
Takeaways
New pipeline must be implemented (we have the new pipeline figured out at GoDemics)
New material pipeline
New lighting pipeline
New modeling/asset creation pipeline
Use of photogrammetry
Use of procedural texturing
Art Direction: (we nailed down our new art direction as the very first task)
New visual development
New visual language
Must set new visual style for PUBG’s identity