Peter Cimino
3D Artist I at Hyp Games
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PGA Tour Pro Golf - TGL "Caverns" Environment

This environment has been my favorite that I've ever worked on throughout my years at Hyp Games, and I felt I just had to show it off. The team at TGL had tapped us to port some of their golf simulator environments over into PGA Tour Pro Golf on Apple Arcade, and I took an interest in this cavern space in particular.

Coming into the hole, I was given an unoptimized terrain mesh from TGL's Unity project to serve as a sizing and dimension guide, as well as unoptimized versions of the cave ceiling and stalactite assets. Using Maya, I created streamlined and optimized meshes for the cave floor and the play elements (tees, fairway, water, etc.) while my coworker Martin DeWitt (https://www.martindewitt3d.com) worked on optimizing the cavern ceiling and stalactite meshes.

From that point on, I took full control of the process. I UVed and lightmapped each object within the scene, and created textures for each asset used. I should note that the existing textures from TGL for the stalactites were usable, so I simply applied post-processing and color correction to them within Photoshop. I also placed lights and rendered out baked lightmaps using Maya's Arnold rendering plugin, as well as ensured that the hole translated and was playable within our established gameplay systems, as opposed to those used by TGL.

Shot capturing the entirety of the hole, as well as the cavern opening to the night sky.

Shot capturing the entirety of the hole, as well as the cavern opening to the night sky.

Tee boxes, where play within the environment begins. The water uses a proprietary shader which I had never used before, and it was quite satisfying tweaking the caustics and ripple effects to finally get it looking how I wanted it.

Tee boxes, where play within the environment begins. The water uses a proprietary shader which I had never used before, and it was quite satisfying tweaking the caustics and ripple effects to finally get it looking how I wanted it.

A bit further on, showing off the cool blue lighting illuminating this middle portion of the cave. As our past golf holes have all been set outside in the open, it was a first for the whole team that a hole was being lit using entirely point lights.

A bit further on, showing off the cool blue lighting illuminating this middle portion of the cave. As our past golf holes have all been set outside in the open, it was a first for the whole team that a hole was being lit using entirely point lights.

Low shot of the curve of the cave, showing the rock peeking through the rough grass. Those splatters of rock are all painted in Photoshop by me, not actually procedural.

Low shot of the curve of the cave, showing the rock peeking through the rough grass. Those splatters of rock are all painted in Photoshop by me, not actually procedural.

Landing on the green, we see the dark night sky outside, and some fog creeping over the ferns dotting the opening. The lighting composition of this hole is quite a ride; we start orange, hit a blue patch, go back to orange, and finish off with violet.

Landing on the green, we see the dark night sky outside, and some fog creeping over the ferns dotting the opening. The lighting composition of this hole is quite a ride; we start orange, hit a blue patch, go back to orange, and finish off with violet.

A shot of the green from within the crack in the cave walls, showing off more of the dimmer, more muted violet lighting of this portion of the environment.

A shot of the green from within the crack in the cave walls, showing off more of the dimmer, more muted violet lighting of this portion of the environment.

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