The developers of Train Sim World 2 met Skyhook Games, creator of the future Cane Creek road in development. The opportunity for Lewis McDonough, Environment artist, to talk about his technique for creating sets.
"We caught up with Lewis from Skyhook Games and discuss how the spectacular environment of Cane Creek is meticulously recreated for Train Sim World 2." introduced Dovetail.
What are you doing at Skyhook Games?
Lewis McDonough: “I am Lewis McDonough and I am an environmental artist at Skyhook Games, I take care of all the art related tasks on the route. I'm involved in all of the art planning and do a lot of design and leveling work. "
What was your involvement with Cane Creek?
LM: “I have been working on this route from the start. I started by blocking the scenes and gathering references, trying to break down the areas that we would need to focus on, like Potash where there are large canyons. I aim to break it down into its simplest form and figure out what assets we were going to need. "
Was it difficult to be so precise on this route?
LM: “The Potash area and towards Moab where the main canyon areas are where we spent a lot of time at the start. We knew this was going to be the main feature of the route so we spent a lot of time getting referrals and getting videos. We tried to figure out how to break down rocks.
The scaling was perhaps the most important part, they're so big you don't realize how huge they are at first glance. The scaling is weird, when you are there in real life the rocks appear to be only 3 miles away, but in reality they are 16 miles away.
When we started to insert the elements, they didn't look correct. We did not get the correct details of the rocks. So we broke it down layer by layer to figure out how we could show it and make it work. "
Where do your reference documents come from and how do you collect them?
LM: “Google Earth is usually the first place we go. Since this place is popular, there are a lot of references around, and it is possible to drop by and take a look. We also found many scenic photos for the route. Having a 360 ° view is really helpful. I will also be watching Youtube videos of people actually on the train, or people coming to visit the area. I try to collect as many images as possible.
It's a time consuming part of the project, but that's when it really starts to get exciting. We'll see some areas or some rocks and we'll think, “Oh, I have to do this, and make these canyons look great”. The challenge can be a little intimidating at first, but that's what gets me excited. "
Did you encounter any challenges when creating Cane Creek? How does it compare to other projects you've worked on?
LM: “It was completely different. I certainly hadn't anticipated how difficult the scaling would be. When reusing some assets, it was difficult to make them as unique as possible. We used Quixel megascans, they are photo-scanned assets that gave us a lot of detail.
Due to the types of rocks we were using they were too small, and when we enlarged them to the right size the detail was relative to a smaller rock and so it looked wrong. We solved this problem by using a lot of different rocks and techniques that got mixed up. "
What do you expect as a reaction from the community?
LM: “It will look like a big change from other routes the community has taken, when you drive in first person you really feel the scale of the canyons. You walk through what looks like the canyon corridors.
My favorite part of this route is probably Mohab. There's a tunnel for about a mile, obviously it's really dark in the tunnel, but when you come out of it it opens up to this really detailed and open landscape.
There is a bit of everything in this area, we have canyons on either side, the water reflects the rocks which are really beautiful, especially at certain times of the day. "
What is unique about this route?
LM: “The color palette. As artists, we try to look at everything from a distance to get a sense of the big picture. In other routes there are traditionally very green pallets for trees and the like. Cane Creek is a big change though as we have very orange and red colors. It is a contrast with the natural bushes that stands out very well. "
Cane Creek is in development for Train Sim World 2. No release date announced at this time.