How I Quickly Create 3D Environments in Unreal Engine 5 | FULL WORKFLOW

I love creating atmospheric, photoreal environments, and Unreal Engine allows me to create these environments very quickly. It took me long enough to get the hang of this free program, so I want to fast track your progress and show you my step-by-step workflow.

I always start by gathering reference beacuse it guides our creative journey. From tehre i'll block out the camera angle, environment and lighting with the goal of getting us to 80% ASAP. Because we're going to spend most of our time adding details and tweaking anyway. It's that last 20% that makes the creative process so addicting. Just know that you can spend days or WEEKS tweaking the lighting, camera, and adding details, but it's the best part. Have a blast!

Original Music for the Final Render by: @Feverkin

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
01:11 Gathering Reference
01:27 Project Setup
01:58 Navigation & Shortcuts
02:25 Camera Setup
03:20 Environment Setup
04:20 Mesh Boole in UE5
05:13 Lighting Setup
08:02 Foliage Assets (Graswald)
09:39 Build a Foliage Master Material
13:37 Foliage Wind
15:21 Organize your Material Attribues
16:23 Painting Foliage
17:38 Tweaking the Details
19:01 High Quality Export Settings
20:40 Console Variables
21:38 Final Result

RESOURCES:

JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

PRINTS & ASSETS:

TOOLS I LOVE:

MY RIG:

#UE5 #3d #environment

[pwnisher]

High Quality Console Variables for export with the Movie Render Queue:

r.ScreenPercentage (Anywhere from 150-200)

r.AmbientOcclusion.Denoiser 0
0
r.DiffuseIndirect.Denoiser 0
r.Reflections.Denoiser 0
0
r.Shadow.Denoiser 0

0
0

r.MotionBlurQuality 4
r.MotionBlurSeparable 1
r.DepthofFieldQuality 4
r.BloomQuality 5
r.Tonemapper.Quality 5

2

64
64
0

[tbonelonious]

I would say I prefer the type of tutorial you did here, not completely overbearing but I still learned quite a lot

[joshsmithbuilds]

I definitely prefer these more technical, click-by-click videos <3

[MaybeAnnatar]

Something I really enjoyed watching this as someone who's a beginner with UE5 is that you didn't skip some incredibly helpful beginner knowledge but I also didn't feel like you were treating me like an idiot. Genuinely excellent tutorial content.

[ds]

not only is this the best tutorial ive ever seen, you are operating as a guide at the frontier of new 3d technology. i watched this to learn unreal and left instead with a deep appreciation for you as an artist. you have a talent for teaching. fully felt transported to the world you created and when it ended, didn't want to leave. thank you for your generosity and for inspiring

[pgetheelderscrollsturkiye]

The phrase ''if i can think it, i can create it'' really summs up the entirity of this job, and i think being able to create whatever you can imagine of is one of the best feelings and works you can do.

[hoplessgamer]

This is my first ever UE5 tutorial (just randomly clicked your video from Youtube's recommendations list), I think step by step method helps a lot of newbies like myself, to learn but more importantly to get motivated to do it ourselves, by seeing you teach every step that we can easily follow along... You are such an amazing teacher Clint, been following you since corridor days. If you're teaching UE5, I think I'll be back very often now.
Thanks man.

[reddjinn]

Awesome vid! For those of you following along for the first time, you will not see Modeling Mode in your selections... you have to go to EDIT: Plugins then find Modeling Tools Editor Mode and enable it. You will need to restart your editor, so save your work. :) Then you will be able to access the Modeling Mode referenced here in this video.

[mdp]

Love the step by step tutorials, please don't skip them! It can be so hard for people who are not pros yet to follow otherwise

[Mocorn]

The format of this video is perfect Clint. Overview videos that paint broader strokes do have their place but this format gives me confidence to actually try myself with UE5 and that is really cool. You're on the right path with this channel, keep up the good work :)

[HomAxz]

Hey mate, I wanted to leave a few notes after watching this video.

Exposure: instead of clamping the auto exposure values, I'd recommend setting the exposure to manual.
This way you have the most control, and it's also required for a few options that the MRQ offers (such as high resolution).

HDRIs: if you want to use a HDRI only for lighting, without projecting it as a sphere as your sky, you can directly load your HDRI into the skylight. If the sky itself is not visible, there's no need to enable the HDRI Backdrop plugin.

MRQ: As you mentioned, the "screenpercentage" command renders a higher resolution and then downscales it to your final output.
The problem with this is that your gpu might run out of VRAM.
What you can do instead, is to use the "High Resolution" feature of MRQ, which lets you render with multiple tiles. Highly recommend you to look into it.

If you're going to do post on your render, I'd highly recommend using the "Color Output" feature of the MRQ, and either converting from linear sRGB to ACEScg, if you want to have the most control, or at the very least disabling UE's tonecurve, rendering a linear image from Unreal.

If you don't want motion blur at all, you can use Spatial Samples instead of Temporal Samples.
If you ever find yourself wondering why a material is ignoring DOF, the cmd "r.SeparateTranslucency 0" fixes that.

Finally, as a few general good workflow things (personal taste): I like to use the PPV for my general render settings, such as lumen quality, etc, while leaving Lens settings specific to the cine camera actor.
Also UE defaults a vignette of 0.4 which I always turn to 0 to do manual vignetting in post.

Hope this helps.

[SearchTruthReality]

re: overview vs. step-by-step -- due to the speed with which you advance in this tutorial, you're provide the best of both worlds. It's not just step by step. You provide clear, concise, detailed explanations using technically correct terminology, which is very much appreciated. An overview alone functions as an introduction and leaves gearheads with unanswered questions.

[developingtank]

I've been going through so many tutorials to try and get into making these types of scenes. Yours are the only ones I have found that get right into it, don't over explain every minor detail, and just help people start enjoying the creative process right away. So much respect for the time, care, and effort that goes into making this level of quality stuff.

[esmithk]

These click by click tutorials are SO great. Not knowing how to do something and having a literal entire step by step on how to do it is so much better for learning than overview style tutorials.

[JustIn-srxe]

I'm blown away by the photo realism of these scenes. I honestly can't wait to see what someone can come out with in games or cinematography with something this realistic.

[medrelins]

Step by Step is extremely helpful. Love these types of videos. Will comment more once the video is over but great work so far.

[ianjamessanders]

This is one of the most inspiring videos I'v ever watched when it comes to learning and growing as an artist... I feel so much more confident after watching this video! thank you so much for what you do!

[xiggywiggs]

I definitely prefer a step-by-step click-by-click kind of tutorial. (I went to school for 3d art but do said art in my spare time and work as a software dev, I mention this because I know a question like this benefits from knowing something about the skill-level of the answerer)

I get the sense that most people think once you get proficient in a skill you'll tend to prefer overviews, but I've actually found the opposite, especially because if you're a feckless polymath like myself you will often learn little process nuggets from a step-by-step tutorial that you would go forever without stumbling onto, it's especially effective for finding little niche features and keyboard short cuts for example.

[krab]

Honestly, i don’t know anything about 3d programs, but its really facinating to watch these works come to life from beginning to end. I can’t think of anyone else as passionate, creative and inspiring as you in this field. Might even try to create art of my own. Love your videos Clint, keep it up man! :)

[DropTestDipansuHalder]

You are the best teacher I ever found on youtube. The simplistic way you explain - is just amazing. I will start watching your other videos now, but couldn't stop myself from writing you first. Please keep on inspiring us.