This week I continued to use SpeedTree to generate more foliage to populate the environment with. As with the trees I used Substance Designer to generate the materials used here, I did experiment with using photography to create the textures but the results were not as effective or versatile. To understand how fantastical such plants in Monster Hunter should be I cross-referenced foliage found in the game with real-life examples and found much of it to be fairly grounded in design. I knew that I wanted grass and reeds outside to be dense but I also knew that the majority of those assets would be at a distance. I, therefore, prioritized mainating silhouette over significant detail or high polycount for these assets. These, as well as the trees, were applied using Unreal Engine 4s standard foliage brush tool in the aim of maintain the best performance.
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| Plants and reeds in the scene. |
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| Close up of potted plants. |
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| Close up of potted plants. |
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I also continued to focus on detailing the interior, adding and improving on what I had already done. Considering the rustic nature of the structure and the abundance of wood, including sculptures, I thought it appropriate to add woodworking tools that the occupants could use for various tasks. These tools included a wooden mallet as well as a range of chisels and knives. I also reworked the rugs in front of the fireplace to be more visually interesting with a new mesh and textures. The mesh was generated from cloth simulation within Maya and then processed in Mesh Lab to create optimized geometry that preserved shape.
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| Woodworking tool assets. |
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| New rug mesh and textures. |
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