Need Update on Maya to UE4 workflow in 2017/Pbr/3d art programs

driftprincess_z

Hello, I am getting back into 3d art for games but I will be behind with the new workflow and new programs. I stopped at the end of 2014 and started again in 2017. The workflow I was taught before was to build the high poly model, make a low poly model, then uv, then move into texture, normal map, diffuse, spec and import into udk3 connecting all the material nodes. (At this time I used crazybump and xnormal)

I am now going into UE4 and I've seen other artists are using Substance designer, Substance painter, quixel and marmoset which I have never used. Can anyone explain the difference from regular textures and pbr textures?  If anyone can recommend anything that will help me so that I can make my portfolio up to date. I will also be doing my own research.

Thank you

CrackRockSteady

The overall workflow has not really changed dramatically in the last 3 years.  Substance Designer/Painter and Quixel Suite are just tools that make the job easier and faster.

If you're curious what specifically is different with PBR workflow I would recommend checking out the wiki http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/PBR

There are several articles there which explain the differences in texture authoring in relatively simple terms.

Kevin Albers

For me, it's:  
- use Substance Painter for baking instead of whatever else I would have used.
- use Substance Painter for most texturing stuff, sometimes not using Photoshop for anything at all. Use Substance Painter to automatically export final, properly named textures directly to the in-game destination (this is using Unity. Maybe you still need an extra workflow step if using UE4).
- I also use automatic topology (Zbrush) and UV mapping (Zbrush) and UV layout (Maya) much more often than I used to. This speeds up workflow when I use these shortcuts, but of course provides less optimized results. I'm working on my own Indie stuff currently, however, so I'm not concerned with super high performance AAA results. For portfolio pieces I would not use these shortcuts nearly as often.

The basics are still pretty similar to a few years ago, once you get used to using roughness maps instead of specular maps.

driftprincess_z

Kevin Albers said:

For me, it's:  
- use Substance Painter for baking instead of whatever else I would have used.
- use Substance Painter for most texturing stuff, sometimes not using Photoshop for anything at all. Use Substance Painter to automatically export final, properly named textures directly to the in-game destination (this is using Unity. Maybe you still need an extra workflow step if using UE4).
- I also use automatic topology (Zbrush) and UV mapping (Zbrush) and UV layout (Maya) much more often than I used to. This speeds up workflow when I use these shortcuts, but of course provides less optimized results. I'm working on my own Indie stuff currently, however, so I'm not concerned with super high performance AAA results. For portfolio pieces I would not use these shortcuts nearly as often.

The basics are still pretty similar to a few years ago, once you get used to using roughness maps instead of specular maps.

Thank you, those are some good points! I am going to aim for the AAA results, that's what most the jobs around here require.

driftprincess_z

CrackRockSteady said:

The overall workflow has not really changed dramatically in the last 3 years.  Substance Designer/Painter and Quixel Suite are just tools that make the job easier and faster.

If you're curious what specifically is different with PBR workflow I would recommend checking out the wiki http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/PBR

There are several articles there which explain the differences in texture authoring in relatively simple terms.

Thank you! Very helpful!!!