Modular PBR Texture Workflow/ Demo AAA scene for unity? (Looking for advice)
polycounter lvl 3
Hello Guys,
I have been spending alot with research, surfing and reading many guides/tutorials on Modularity and it's workflow. Trying to grasp the technique and using it for creating my own Environment art while optimizing performance and quality. I have understood most of its part and I am getting the hang of it on how to break down Pieces and how to reuse them design wise (even though not yet perfectly). But what I am having most trouble understanding right now is how to connect Modular design with PBR texturing.
How do I create PBR Textures (with normals) that can be reused for these pieces instead of making unique textures for every modular piece?
I am working on a scifi Environment and I am kinda stuck right now, because I am not sure how to put everything together perfectly and make the most of it. I have started making the underpart of Column which I could use for other parts too, but I do not know how to make a PBR texture for it that could also be used for other stuff?
I have tried to find AAA Sample Project scenes for Unity 5 to have a look at the files and dissect the process of creating a modular environment in its integrity, but didn't find any. Most of them require me to buy them for 100€ which I would like to avoid by all means as I do not have the money for that.
If anyone would be kind to help me out here with a few tips or tutorial links or scenes they know that could help me out, I would enthusiastically appreciate your kindness.
Thank you very much for taking your time reading this, feel free to ask me anything, I will try to answer ASAP!
I have been spending alot with research, surfing and reading many guides/tutorials on Modularity and it's workflow. Trying to grasp the technique and using it for creating my own Environment art while optimizing performance and quality. I have understood most of its part and I am getting the hang of it on how to break down Pieces and how to reuse them design wise (even though not yet perfectly). But what I am having most trouble understanding right now is how to connect Modular design with PBR texturing.
How do I create PBR Textures (with normals) that can be reused for these pieces instead of making unique textures for every modular piece?
I am working on a scifi Environment and I am kinda stuck right now, because I am not sure how to put everything together perfectly and make the most of it. I have started making the underpart of Column which I could use for other parts too, but I do not know how to make a PBR texture for it that could also be used for other stuff?
I have tried to find AAA Sample Project scenes for Unity 5 to have a look at the files and dissect the process of creating a modular environment in its integrity, but didn't find any. Most of them require me to buy them for 100€ which I would like to avoid by all means as I do not have the money for that.
If anyone would be kind to help me out here with a few tips or tutorial links or scenes they know that could help me out, I would enthusiastically appreciate your kindness.
Thank you very much for taking your time reading this, feel free to ask me anything, I will try to answer ASAP!
Replies
Thanks for your reply!
Do you have any tutorials on making modular textures? Or do you know where I can find a scene file AAA level to look at for unity?
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Modular_environments
musashidan is right, there's not a difference in workflow for modular meshes in particular. You'll still do all the same modular things, except you're making the textures and materials using PBR methods instead of the old diffuse-specular methods.
@Eric Chadwick I have already checked that link I have seen it in another post, It is extremely good, but I did not really find anything specific on how to make modular textures or textures for the modular pieces!
Brb, will come with some pictures and explain in Detail what I am looking for!
@Bertmac Yes definitly, but I only purchased Substance Painter when it was on sale and did not grab the substance designer sadly which is way to expensive for me right now and I am looking for alternatives and a photoshop workflow maybe. I was also thinking about just using the smart materials of substance painter as a basis and make them tilable.
Screenshots of what I am currently working:
Here I tried to whitebox my Idea of what my level should look like as in Dimensions/Snapping, I made some basic shapes for the things I want to model out and that are going to be modular (Just for a general Idea and to get started, not finished at all)
In the next step, I immidiately dove into one of the modular pieces and started trying to create some shapes and break it into three pieces.
The bottom Part (cube shape), the pillar and the top part (which cannot be seen here).
Then I started to create a Highpoly of the bottom part to try out stuff (it's not done yet), as I was trying to get a feeling to see how I could use this piece also for other stuff. I just modeled out the front side and mirrored it 4 times. I left the middle section open intentionally since I have not figured out yet what I was going to make of it.
Next I wanted to create a texture for it, which is where I am stuck at now. I tried to make one in substance painter (5 minutes try out), but then I got confused because it feels like it would get too unique and I would not be able to use it for other things (I want to put more colors and make some self-illumination lines and put some hyroglyph shapes etc.
This is where I am confused at, because the maps just feel too unique and I am not sure if this is modular at all.
Here I put two Maps for you to look at (how the Uvs look like):
Like either I make a modular Texture and Model Assets according to this Texture by placing the Uv's on top of the Texture sheet OR I make Modular Assets that will have a unique Textures including Normalmap.
As of this weekend SP/SD are now free for students if you qualify.