Unreal Engine: Open World Landscapes (Udemy.com)

Master Unreal Engine 4's Landscape editing tools to create massive environments like in "Breath of the Wild"

Created by: Greg Wondra

Produced in 2021

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What you will learn

  • How to download, install, and setup a project in Unreal Engine 4
  • How to create new landscapes
  • How to import existing (real world!) landscapes
  • How to stitch together multiple landscapes to create massive open worlds
  • How to sculpt mountains, valleys, plateaus, and caves
  • How to paint a terrain with mud, grass, rock, or snow textures
  • How to spawn different visual and audio effects based on the surface type a character is traveling upon
  • How to populate a landscape with grass, flower, bush, and tree foliage
  • How to populate a landscape with road, fence, and river splines
  • How to create a day / night cycle
  • How to add God rays and fog
  • How to visually profile and debug your landscape's performance

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Quality Score

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Overall Score : 90 / 100

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Course Description

In this game designcourse,you'll learn how to use Unreal Engine 4's Landscape and Foliage Editing tools so that YOUcan build open world environments like seen in "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." Knowing how to use these tools is a critical skill for those aspiring to be Level Designers or Environment Artists!
Thiscourse contains over 110fun to followvideo lessons. You'll learn how to:
Download, install, and setup a project in Unreal Engine 4Create a new landscapeImport existing (real world!) landscapesStitch together multiple landscapes to create massive open worldsSculpt mountains, valleys, plateaus, and cavesPaint landscape surfaces with mud, grass, rock, or snow texturesSpawn different visual and audio effects based on the surface type a character is traveling uponPopulate a landscape with grass, flower, bush, or tree foliagePopulate a landscape with road, fence, and river splinesCreate a day / night cycleAdd fog & God raysVisually profile and debug your landscape's performanceAnd more!
With the knowledge gained in these video lessons, you will have the necessaryskills tostartbuilding your OWN open world environments!
Who this course is for:
Beginner Game Designers interested in creating open world gamesBeginner Level Artists interested in crafting realistic outdoor environmentsBeginners looking to expand their knowledge of Level DesignBeginners looking to expand their knowledge of Unreal Engine 4's tool sets (Landscape & Foliage Tools especially)

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Instructor Details

Greg Wondra

Hey Guys!
My name is Greg Wondra,I am a 12 year video game design veteran and 3 year game design instructor. I have worked for companies such as 2K Sports, KingsIsle Entertainment, and Nickelodeon. I'm proud to have had the honor of working on the games listed below:
-Wizard 101(PC)
-Lost Planet 3(360, PS3, PC)
-MonkeyQuest(PC)
-Sports Champions(PS3)
-Major League Baseball 2K5, 2K6, 2K7, 2K8(various consoles)
-SpongeBob Moves In(Mobile)
-Grub Guardian(Mobile)
Working in the gaming industry has been a dream come true and has provided me with rare lifetime opportunities. Over the course of my career I've been fortunate enough to have directed the likes of LeBron James and Derek Jeter in motion capture sessions. Additionally, one of the projects I was involved with (Sports Champions) was selected to be the game bundled in with Sony's Playstation Move hardware when it was initially released.

Since 2016 I've worked as the Video Game Design instructor at the Regional Occupational Center in Bakersfield, CA where Iteach high school seniors a full year course on game design using Unreal Engine 4.

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Reviews

4.5

58 total reviews

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By Rafi Haq on 12/27/2020

The course started okay at first. I found some really good pointers I was able to use at the start. The middle where I got onto landscape materials and landscape grass I found challenging at first, mainly thinking thats how the grass would look and I wasnt too impressed at first. Its only when I got onto foliages is when my landscapes really put the oomph in my creations. My world was really starting to take form and not to mention how easy it was adding foliages. I was ulitmately blown away with how my landscape turned out throughout following the course. I know with improvements and fine tuning and the skills I learnt from the course, I know for sure I can now make realistic landscapes. Im a step closer towards making my journey to creating my first game! Cant wait! Overall im very satisfied with the course... Highly would recommend anyone doing this. It really gets you brainstorming new ideas for new games!

By Martina Mataija on 12/20/2020

No

By Rick James on 12/13/2020

Luv'n it!

By Robert Reese on 12/6/2020

Good course

By Hrithik Bag on 11/27/2020

he give suggestive information... which is good!

By Dominique LACROIX on 11/25/2020

Trs complmentaire aux cours sur les mcaniques de jeux colle les RPG

By K K on 11/25/2020

Thouroughly presenting all the tools. Very good compared to other similar courses.

By PavelGameDev on 11/24/2020

. !

By Bruce Jahn on 11/23/2020

Great explanations and in detail. Love how he explains what he has been doing step by step in each video.

By Heinz-Dieter Kaiser on 11/22/2020

Neue mglichkeiten kennengelernt

By Piotr Pospieszaowski on 11/22/2020

Jak zwykle profesjonalnie! Obecnie mog patrze na temat kompozycji terenu w profesjonalny sposb. Dzikuj i brawo!

By Peter Wald on 11/20/2020

Feels more of a basics class. Does not really go into deep profiling and examples of how to fix common mistakes and issues. Actually gives the pretense without any real optimizations. Feels like a more connected youtube video series VS standalone classes. World comp did not give examples of why LOD's should be place. Your tool placement gives bad reference of use and poorer optimizations. Paint layers failed to cover the basics of not using more then 7 layers due to loss in performance for more due to draw counts regardless of used amounts (Engine limitation)
Really the pure basics. Great for a starter class. Not worth the price though. Id say around 30-40 top side would be fair for someone brand new. Saying you will be able to build landscapes like zelda breath of the wild with this tutorial is false.
Nothing covered about profiling in system application uses. Nothing about proper LoD segmentation.
Nothing covered about layer usage and good practice.
Nothing covered about optimizing FOV again LOD so you don't render objects out of view.
Nothing covered about true optimizations and trouble shooting.
Literally 0 concepts covered.
What was covered.
The basics of what the default engine can do with complete disregard of hardware / engine limitations.
Not i started going lesson by lesson. After awhile I realized the class was nothing more then the pure basics.
My background is 12 years development on UE4 specifically in landscapes. Out of all the courses iv taken for fun this was the basic and it was clear and good for the BASICS. Anything further and it teaches you nothing.