Unity: Box Modelling / Terrain

Box modelling is a quick and easy way to get an idea of the space within the game level you are trying to create. By using the pre-set shapes you can place them where you might want them to be, add in a first person controller and get a feel for the space as you would if you were playing the final game. By doing this it will also help when creating elevation plans as you will have specific dimensions for your objects within Unity.

We were all directed to create a shipyard and add in any extra components we wanted. From here we learnt how to add in shadows, fog - to add more atmosphere to the level and also a skybox. A skybox is wraps around the entire scene in Unity and as the name suggests, it replicates the sky. At the moment we have just used the pre-made textures, however you are able to create your own if you want to.

The next thing we learnt was using the terrain tool. This allows you to build up areas of terrain, in a way you're really painting areas. The longer you hold down on an area, the higher the peak will be. Along with the terrain tool, you are also able to paint either pre-set textures or your own textures onto them. You must take into consideration that whatever texture you choose it will have to tessellate/repeat so you will have to find the right balance between this and the size of the texture.

The good thing about Unity is that you can download pre-made assets for free. For this we downloaded terrain assets which included different types of trees and plants. When it comes to adding trees into the environment, you can either add them in by hand or paint them on within the terrain tool. If you add them in by hand they become geometry, this is good for realism, however it is not necessary to place them everywhere. It will end up slowing down the game. For trees that are further away it is better to paint them. Another way to make sure the game does not lag too much is to apply billboard. Billboard will calculate distances and after a certain point it will make objects 2D, yet when you walk close enough to them they will appear 3D again. The only problem with this however is that it can be quite noticeable so you need to find a medium ground where you think it look okay.

To make the scene more realistic you can add in a wind zone, this will create wind in your environment which in turn will make the trees sway. To make trees sway you need to increase the bend factor. I found it quite hard to make it look natural, however if I created trees in Maya I would be able to move the pivot point to the base of the tree, this would then make sure the trunk of the tree would be be more stable and therefore look more natural. Another issue I found was that if you have billboard on, it will also affect the trees being able to sway in the wind, only when you get close enough to the tree will it start to sway. This is far more noticeable than just a tree going from 2D to 3D, so I will have to take this into consideration within my environment and try and work around it.