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    Planning

    Lesson 1 in Unreal Environments

    Lesson Information

    In this lesson, you'll learn the basics of Unreal and begin crafting your environment idea. You'll find references, build a library of assets, and assemble those assets together into one convenient staging area. By the end of this lesson, you'll have all the tools you need to start building your own environment.

    Homework
    Set the Mood

    Using your idea from the Brief Builder Tool, create a mood board. Even the act of searching for reference can spark your creativity! If you don't have Photoshop, don't worry. There are plenty of free options for photo editing.

    Take Control

    Before doing any building, get comfortable with the Unreal Engine controls. 

    Bring in Assets

    Find and import assets for your project. Don't forget to make sure the assets have everything you need before making a purchase.

    Build the Zoo

    Once you've imported all the assets you want to use, build an Asset Zoo scene. Make sure everything looks good from various camera and lighting angles. 

    Share Your Work

    Upload an image of your Asset Zoo using the 'Upload Homework' button above, so your instructor and fellow students can see your progress!

    260 Comments

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    Kathleen Judge

    Strange. I followed your instruction to open the unreal project in Lesson 2 in order to load the brushify assets (as you suggested to another student) but I'm not finding the same assets available that you review in the 'Loading Assets section. The large rock (S_Cliff_Large.02) you pull into the scene isn't in the content folder we downloaded, nor were there any moorland levels under Map folder (in lesson 2 downloads). I am seeing moorland files under 'Distance Meshes' folder. In the Maps folder I am only finding 'LandscapeExercise'. Is there a different folder to download to access all the moorland maps to use during lesson 2?

    View 3 replies

    Andrew Hawryluk staff

    Apologies for the delay! The files are quite big when consolidated all together, so the upload is taking a bit longer than expected. You can find additional assets to download in the Lesson 2 and Lesson 3 pages for now, but once we repackage all the materials in the next couple hours it should cover everything from a single download so you might want to wait a bit til we get it updated.

    Joe Garth instructor

    Hey, I'll be adding a video on this soon. For now simply go into the project folder, and double click the .uproject file that will open the project with UE4.
    I had a LOT of feedback from students yesterday that will help me streamline this process, so expect it to be a lot easier in future.

    Joe Garth instructor

    Hi,
    Once you've opened the project go to:
    LS_LandscapeExercise\Content\Maps\LandscapeExercise

    For Lesson 3 you get an even larger project to download. For that project go to:
    LS_MoorlandCity\Content\Maps

    ROBERT ORICH

    Well I did the work for the first one.. made my asset Zoo, I actually used existing Brushify assets I have purchase, and it keeps giving me an unknown error when I click submit homework...Ya I keep trying this... it hangs at the screen shot upload which I had to modify from 2.1M lol now its 1.2 and hangs in uploading. Oh ya and it demands a banner, on the upload my homework... why do I require a banner?

    View 1 reply

    ROBERT ORICH

    Ok uploading homework issue was tracked down thanks to Joe Garth... Apparently png is not working... makes it hang or whatever.... as soon as I uploaded a jpg I had no issues...Just in case anyone else is having these issues

    Saf Fron

    In lesson one it wasn't explained. I assume it will be later. You can create Blueprint Class in the Content Browser (Just RMB and chose Blueprint Class - you'll then be given several other options depending on what type of BP you want to create). It's probably a little too early to explain that in the course material, hence the reason he may have glanced over it for now.

    Ramon

    Joe, if everything I need is in lesson 2 and 3 why is that not referenced anywhere in the lesson. Also, to be clear I'm not finding assets and maps not just because things aren't where you instruct us to look for them, I just don't have things that were said to come with the course. Specifically, I needed to purchase a $30 add-on for the sky textures just to simply open lesson 3. Even after paying MORE money, I opened every material, mesh, texture, map folder in both lesson 2 & 3 and I am missing the asset zoo with all the buildings, at least 1 boulder asset that you import in a default map to show the process, no natural road maps you open and show off, and literally, everything on your screen shows folders or elements I am missing in both lessons. I feel like I bought a textbook and was sent a stack of unbound loose pages all out of order and I'm expected to learn from it. This is beyond frustrating.

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