DUMY 101 - ENVIRONMENTS AND NPCS
Tutorial // Environment and monster prep for Dragoon. Desert overworld mesh, displacement terrain, black sand texture, skybox, s&box import, fog/post, then gargoyle/imp retopology, rig reuse, and idle pose cleanup.
CHAPTERS
0:01 Desert overworld map file
0:36 Environment mesh setup
0:59 Displace modifier vs geometry nodes
1:24 Loop cuts / tri budget / scale
3:22 40k-100k terrain test
5:02 Displace / Musgrave terrain
6:42 Weight paint distant mountains
7:06 Stacked displacement textures
9:19 Vertex-group mountain mask
10:21 Waterline / valley test
11:08 Height-map shader mockup
12:39 Doom / Slade reference search
20:12 Doom sky / black sand refs
21:42 Image displacement pass
24:56 Dynamic topology reduction
25:50 Black sands texture prompt
26:34 Skybox test
28:25 Skybox horizon prompt
29:03 Emissive sky / fog tests
35:36 PNG vs EXR note
37:19 Distant mountain mix
39:20 Terrain decimation
43:54 Side mountain vertex groups
46:29 Sculpt decimation / camera detail
51:25 10k terrain target
54:08 Export overworld FBX
55:14 Export black sand texture
56:02 Texture resize / normal map
57:22 Skybox EXR export
58:13 s&box overworld model
59:23 Sky material setup
1:00:19 Working skybox material
1:01:58 Sun / fog / lighting
1:05:20 Organize overworld objects
1:12:05 Camera far distance / exposure
1:16:11 Post-processing tests
1:26:46 Monster file search
1:29:18 Save gargoyle monster file
1:30:45 Retopology / mesh density
1:32:17 Chibi scale / head size
1:35:32 Foot simplification
1:37:20 Reuse rig / constraints
1:41:39 Body cleanup / weights
1:43:08 Hunched offset pose
1:50:23 Dragging hand motion
1:55:04 Gargoyle movement check
1:57:02 Wings / tail notes
2:00:01 Body topology cleanup
2:02:16 LoopTools circle pass
2:05:04 Big feet / chibi proportions
2:08:40 Retopology workflow
2:10:28 Hand and claw reduction
2:14:41 Body at lower tri count
2:21:22 Wing optimization
2:31:34 Head simplification
2:45:14 Final body/head/wing counts
2:47:30 Mark seams
2:51:16 New imp / gargoyle pose
2:55:33 Wrap-up: modeled / rigged
MANIFEST
ENVIRONMENT MESH
PLANE / LOOP CUTS
Large overworld plane divided for terrain shape, then reduced.
TRI BUDGET
Terrain starts high and gets pruned toward low-poly use.
SCALE
Overworld size tested against player scale and camera distance.
TERRAIN GENERATION
DISPLACE MODIFIER
Texture-driven terrain deformation with stacked layers.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/la...
VERTEX GROUP MASKS
Weight paint controls mountains, flat space, and playable center.
DYNAMIC TOPOLOGY
Sculpt density removes far-detail while preserving camera-facing detail.
TEXTURE / SKY
BLACK SANDS
Doom-style black sand reference becomes the ground texture direction.
SKYBOX
Distant mountains are mixed into a wide horizon image.
PNG / EXR
PNG works for Blender preview; EXR used for engine skybox output.
NORMAL MAP
Ground texture gets generated normal depth.
S&BOX DOCS
COMPONENTS / GAMEOBJECTS
GameObject/component setup for map models, lights, fog, renderers, colliders.
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/scene/compo...
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/scene/gameo...
MODELDOC / MODEL EDITOR
Overworld and monster model import, material assignment, compile, preview.
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/editor/mode...
MATERIAL / ENVMAP
Black sand material, sky material, texture assignment, environment maps.
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/rendering/s...
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/rendering/s...
FOG / POST PROCESSING
Gradient fog, sun, far camera distance, exposure, AO, bloom, tone mapping, pixelate, vignette.
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/rendering/s...
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/rendering/p...
TERRAIN / NAVIGATION
Related engine-side terrain and navigation docs for later overworld work.
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/gameplay/te...
https://sbox.game/dev/doc/gameplay/na...
MONSTER PREP
GARGOYLE / IMP
Old monster mesh reused as first flying enemy base.
RETOPOLOGY
Mesh simplified by sliding, merging, dissolving, rebuilding faces.
LOOPTOOLS
Circle / bridge tools restore cleaner loops.
RIG REUSE
Blank rig reused; offsets changed for hunched monster pose.
WEIGHTS / SEAMS
Automatic weights reapplied; IK/grab/root influence cleaned; seams marked.
PROCESS
1. Create desert map file.
2. Build terrain plane and displacement layers.
3. Mask distant mountains with vertex groups.
4. Mix black sand and skybox references.
5. Reduce terrain density with sculpt tools.
6. Export overworld FBX and textures.
7. Create s&box model, material, skybox, fog, sun, post effects.
8. Pick gargoyle / imp enemy mesh.
9. Simplify feet, body, hands, wings, and head.
10. Reuse rig, reweight mesh, adjust idle pose.
11. Mark seams.
12. Leave UV, texture, flying, hit, and combat animations for next pass.