Modeling in Blender
- Grass Tuft Design: Modeled individual grass blades with simple geometry, then arranged them in varied orientations and sizes to form a natural-looking clump.
- UV Mapping: Arranged UVs such that the base of the blade aligns with the bottom of the texture map, allowing for wind-driven movement control.
Materials in Unreal Engine
- Base Color: Sampled the landscape's Runtime Virtual Texture (RVT) to inherit the underlying ground color; Multiplied the back-facing grass by an extra color to introduce variation.
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Wind Mask: Generated a wind mask using the Fibers filter in Photoshop and applied distortions to create irregular wind patterns; Used the mask to interpolate between the grass color and a wind-affected color, adding dynamic visual feedback.
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Lighting Interaction: Aligned grass normals to face upwards in world space, ensuring consistent light interaction and enhancing the stylized shading.
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Wind Movement: Implemented World Position Offset (WPO) to simulate grass swaying in the wind; Controlled the amount of movement along the blade using UV mapping, with the base of the blade moving less than the tips for a natural effect.