FLORIAN OKWU
July 7th 2025
Today I figured out how to use the biomes feature in WC. Ended up creating one large base (surrounding brown cliffs) which I terraced, and a large canyon valley interior. Inside, I eroded a few large sections with some filters to create the valley floor and after some noise deformation experiments on a small scale biome, created a semi-artificial structure (seen in white. Kind of interesting to consider it as its own unique biome). This structure sits in a small simulated crevice. Although the in-software rendering is quite atmospheric, its capped at 1920 x 1080p, which is no good for bigger work. Will look at Blender moving forward.
July 6th 2025
I had a lot of fun today after discovering how to manually sculpt landscapes in WC (main reason for the switch from Gaea). Went off my intuition to create a cliff like landscape and also managed to work out some slightly more complex texturing. Had some fun with the pre-rendering system and water option; Still just screenshots for now. Curious about a mixed Gaea -> WC workflow, looking to scale up out of the 1k square and start introducing multiple environments.
July 5th 2025
Its been difficult determining a workflow that makes sense for me. Since I’m not fixed on one outcome I feel a little overwhelmed with how many possibilities there are. With so many softwares to choose from and so many new things to experiment with, I’m reminding myself that I am learning a system. I need to move slowly, with small bites. One thing I know is that I eventually want complete control over my texturing, no presets. UE5 might be better for me when I am ready to sit down and learn how to create my own procedural textures. For now I’ll be working with Blender. I didn‘t have much time to explore any complex terrain generation in WC but I wanted to port something over anyway. Mainly testing the quality of the landscape and doing some beginning tests to interact that landscape with a structure I made a couple years ago in Rhino.
July 4th 2025 (Day 2)
I think Gaea has a lot to offer but artistically it seems a bit limiting to my workflow (lacks any sort of intuitive landscape sculpting tool). I spent some time this evening introducing myself to World Creator instead which has been a lot more friendly. Ended up playing around in the viewport and composed a small experimental animation + tested some material texturing to create some alien landscapes. (No renders yet, just screenshots)... Very excited!
July 3rd 2025 (Day 1)
I spent a couple hours this evening watching a tutorial on lush landscape generation in Gaea. Halfway through after some frustration I realized it was outdated from the newest version of the software. I ended up exploring height/slope masks + landscape blending instead. Modified some satmap color data in an attempt to create a lush mountain range bisecting a desert. Super shabby texturing, but opening my eyes to how much Gaea has to offer.