00:00 Real jobs and income for environment
00:03 

00:03 artists. If you can become an
00:04 

00:04 environment artist, you can earn from
00:06 

00:06 around $40,000 per year for junior
00:09 

00:09 positions up to $120,000 per year for
00:12 

00:12 senior positions. There are real careers
00:15 

00:15 and income opportunities related to
00:17 

00:17 environment art. If you think Gaia is
00:19 

00:19 just for making beautiful terrains, this
00:21 

00:21 video will show you how it can actually
00:23 

00:23 get you hired and paid. Target. You need
00:26 

00:26 to correctly set your terrain for the
00:28 

00:28 final output. First, you must define
00:30 

00:30 your goal. If we consider a game like
00:33 

00:33 GTA lo Santos, the map size is about 9
00:36 

00:36 km* 9 km. So, for that kind of project,
00:40 

00:40 we should set our terrain to around
00:42 

00:42 18,000 m. But in a game like Resident
00:45 

00:45 Evil 4, the total playable area is
00:47 

00:47 roughly 1 km * 1 km. So, there is no
00:51 

00:51 need for a very large map. Now, if your
00:54 

00:54 goal is a realistic villa scene, you
00:56 

00:56 don't need a huge environment at all. In
00:58 

00:58 most cases, a scene of about 400 m *
01:01 

01:01 400m is more than enough. Real scale.
01:05 

01:05 One of the most important things
01:06 

01:06 employers pay attention to is real world
01:08 

01:08 scale, and you must respect it. You need
01:11 

01:11 to set areas and heights based on
01:13 

01:13 correct proportions. For example, a
01:16 

01:16 human character [music] is about 180 cm
01:19 

01:19 tall. Trees are usually between 8 to 25
01:22 

01:22 m. Respecting these proportions makes
01:25 

01:25 your work look much more realistic and
01:27 

01:27 professional. Height maps and outputs.
01:30 

01:30 You should never rely on only a [music]
01:32 

01:32 single heightmap output. You must use
01:35 

01:35 all the outputs provided by nodes to
01:37 

01:37 improve your result. For example, in
01:40 

01:40 this case from erosion 2, we [music] can
01:42 

01:42 get four different outputs. One output
01:44 

01:44 can drive the main material. Flow
01:47 

01:47 outputs can be used for a different
01:49 

01:49 material where outputs can be used not
01:52 

01:52 only for materials but also for PCG
01:54 

01:54 spawning things like rocks, trees or
01:56 

01:56 vegetation. This approach [music] is
01:58 

01:58 extremely powerful and reaching this
02:00 

02:00 level of control can easily help you get
02:03 

02:03 job offers.
02:06 

02:06 Simulations always use simulation nodes
02:09 

02:09 in your projects. First of all, they
02:12 

02:12 give you great detail and their outputs
02:14 

02:14 are very versatile. Erosion nodes
02:16 

02:16 provide different types of erosion.
02:21 

02:21 Scatter nodes let you distribute rocks
02:23 

02:23 across surfaces.
02:25 

02:25 Snow nodes can generate snow coverage.
02:30 

02:30 Vegetation nodes add fine natural
02:32 

02:32 details. For example, if you export
02:35 

02:35 vegetation masks, you can use them
02:37 

02:37 directly in Unreal Engine for both
02:39 

02:39 materials and PCG.
02:43 

02:43 professional output. This is one of the
02:46 

02:46 most sensitive [music] stages. If you do
02:48 

02:48 this wrong, your entire environment can
02:50 

02:50 be ruined. You should set your export
02:52 

02:52 resolution to 2K or 4K. And after
02:55 

02:55 marking the export, set the format to
02:58 

02:58 PNG for best quality. In software like
03:01 

03:01 Unreal Engine, remember that textures
03:03 

03:03 are compressed by default. You must go
03:06 

03:06 into the texture settings and change
03:08 

03:08 them to grayscale when needed. For
03:10 

03:10 example, when working with landscape
03:12 

03:12 patches, if your settings are correct,
03:14 

03:14 everything will blend smoothly and
03:16 

03:16 accurately. If not, you'll see visible
03:19 

03:19 stepping artifacts.
03:21 

03:21 Other ways to make money. You can also
03:23 

03:23 earn money with Gaia by selling
03:26 

03:26 ready-made terrains, selling height
03:28 

03:28 maps, selling Unreal Engine blueprints,
03:32 

03:32 recording and selling tutorials. All of
03:35 

03:35 these are valid and proven income paths
03:37 

03:37 for environment artists. And that's it
03:39 

03:39 for this video raising hands. Thanks a
03:42 

03:42 lot for watching. If you enjoyed it,
03:44 

03:44 don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit
03:46 

03:46 the bell so you don't miss the next
03:48 

03:48 tutorials. See you in the next one.