Creating Foliage for Videogames

SpeedTree, Maya, ZBrush, Substance & UE5 Workflow with Colin Valek

Learn how to create game-ready foliage assets from scratch using hand-crafted models and textures. This workshop by Senior Environment Artist Colin Valek will give you a comprehensive guide to using SpeedTree to create trees and groundcover vegetation that can be used to build lush and beautiful game environments. 

This workshop is intended for intermediate-level artists with some prior knowledge of working with SpeedTree, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Designer, and Unreal Engine. Learn professional tips about the art direction of foliage assets, as well as technical considerations for using foliage in games. Also, you will go over the importance of quickly blocking placeholder assets before committing to detail work. 

The chapters work through the process of sculpting and texturing highly detailed plant models using ZBrush and Maya. These plant models are then baked down onto texture atlases using Substance Designer and finally assembled into foliage assets within SpeedTree. Lastly, you’ll be given some tips on integrating and populating foliage in Unreal Engine 5. 

Included with this workshop are Colin’s SpeedTree project files for the hero tree, grass, flowers, and clovers.