New church dvelopment

Benjam

Hey guys i am currently updating my portfolio www.benhearndesigns.webs.com and am re-doing my church scene because of the errors in it the first time i made it last year.

My development shots are in the attachments not much in there so far because i have been working on it for a couple of days but its getting there

What do you guys think?

Snader

A scene like this, you wanna block out and build in an engine like UDK or Unity, not in Maya. Use Maya just for modeling the modular props like the pillars and such. Then use those 'lego pieces' to build the building in-engine. That way you can already implement decent lighting and such in the very first stages to see how your compositions work.

On compositions: you probably should go and sketch or find some decent concept art to follow, because right now you seem to be running blindly into a project without any planning.

Benjam

I have some concept art but its not anything professional, its just some crappy sketches i put together. Would you suggest basing it on some already existing awesome concept art? I was going to import it all into UDK when i have textured it all so that the lighting and stuff will look much better. Or should i texture it all in UDK and use the node based system to texture it rather than in maya?

Benjam

Snader i almost forgot i do have some concept art, its a project i took up last year and am re-doing it:

Rurouni Strife

You need to do what Snader says when it comes to building a scene like this for a game engine. Bringing it all in already textured will cause problems with lightmaps, materials, shaders...basically a giant cluster fuck. No one wants a giant cluster fuck like that. NO ONE!!!

Benjam

Rurouni Strife what should my plan of action be, i was pointed in the direction of a workflow like this on another thread:

1. In Maya or Max whatever you prefer, add a basic checker texture to the mesh maybe something with numbers to see the rotation of the uv's better.

2. Fire up your favorite image editing program and do the general texture stuff.

3. Import the Mesh, Textures into the UDK.

4. Create a Material for it and start building it up.

5. Apply it to the mesh.

Is this the kind of workflow i should be going with?

Also in UDK i would be using the same meshes for stuff like the roof beams etc. how would i do this. Would i make the scene in maya and export one instance of of each mesh i need,
1 x roof beam
1 x chandelier
1 x pew
1 x window
1 x roof
1 x railing etc.

And for the walls im not too sure how i would do this?? should i make one kind of wall block like Snader mentioned and build it up with a tileable texture, or should i make the entire interior out of one shape and export that?

Snader

"Would i make the scene in maya and export one instance of of each mesh i need"

No. You make one in maya, export it, and build the scene in UDK. Don't build in Maya at all.

Benjam

gotcha, cheers for the advice i will post an update of the progress i make with UDK in the next few days (need to get back to grips with it now!!)

Benjam

Hey Snader and everyone/anyone else who would be able to help, i have finally got the hang of the whole grid system and why its important to stick to it and building lego pieces etc. for use within UDK.

i was just wondering about the whole leaving objects open like deleting backfaces or undersides that wont usually be seen. I read somewhere not to do this should i stick to this advice and not do it for what ever reason??

Examples are in the attachments XD