Converting an Old Scene To Modular

superdenny707

To help improve my portfolio I plan on going into an old scene I made and vastly improving on it. The idea is to not only improve the visually but technically as well.

I have a few Ideas as to some Modular assets I would need (wooden walls, fencing, crates, barrels), but that's about as far as I know how to go with modularity. I would love some feedback as to how to re-create the scene modularly (i.e. what can be modular, what should be unique, how to handle textures for unique pieces, etc)

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the original scene in unity:




Figured this would be the best place to post since this is neither pimping nor preview.

ivanzu

Ground texture is way too big compared to everything else.

GeeDave

A scene like this should be fairly simple to convert into modular assets.

I would start by literally removing any geometry that is similar to any other piece. It also depends on how far you want to push the modularity, for example that centre piece (can't remember its name for the life of me) could be made up of 1 piece duplicated 7 times (open piece would need to be modified slightly, but could still have the same UV's and texture):

(crude example)


Or you could break it down even further so that you were only texturing one of those banister planks and duplicating it 3 times for every side, over kill in my opinion but it's just an example.

I think... for now, just start breaking things down and keep posting progress. We know what you're aiming for so just plough through it and check-in to see if anyone can spot problems.

superdenny707

GeeDave wrote: »

A scene like this should be fairly simple to convert into modular assets.

I would start by literally removing any geometry that is similar to any other piece. It also depends on how far you want to push the modularity, for example that centre piece (can't remember its name for the life of me) could be made up of 1 piece duplicated 7 times (open piece would need to be modified slightly, but could still have the same UV's and texture):

(crude example)


Or you could break it down even further so that you were only texturing one of those banister planks and duplicating it 3 times for every side, over kill in my opinion but it's just an example.

I think... for now, just start breaking things down and keep posting progress. We know what you're aiming for so just plough through it and check-in to see if anyone can spot problems.

Thanks That helps a lot. I hadn't seen that possibility before. I'd thought of doing it the second way you mentioned, breaking apart everything, but you're right, it's overkill.

I'll definitely want to start working soon, but I don't want to run into the problem of doing a lot of work too fast, only to discover someone knows a better way of doing it. I know that's its going to happen eventually, I'd rather avoid it as much as possible tho.

BARDLER

Look at Red Dead Redemption for inspiration. Honestly I think your town is to big to be an "old west" town. Old west towns tend to be on one straight through dirt road with some other smaller buildings around it. I don't think the lamps nor the train in the background fit the scene well at all considering the time period. Also the towns were build on flat ground so that big wall of terrain in the back doesn't make much sense.

example:

superdenny707

Thanks for the ref. Where'd you find this one? I have a folder full of Red Dead Redemption art (most of which I found after I completed this level) but I've never seen this pic before.

I get why the high terrain doesn't fit, but why do you say the train doesn't? Also, do you have any suggestions on modularizing the scene? even when I look at the RDR refs, I can really only see one or two places where assets other than windows and doors could be reused.

BARDLER

superdenny707 wrote: »

Thanks for the ref. Where'd you find this one? I have a folder full of Red Dead Redemption art (most of which I found after I completed this level) but I've never seen this pic before.

I get why the high terrain doesn't fit, but why do you say the train doesn't? Also, do you have any suggestions on modularizing the scene? even when I look at the RDR refs, I can really only see one or two places where assets other than windows and doors could be reused.

For the train I meant the concrete tunnels and supports you have built around the tracks. Those would normally be all wooden beams held together by steel bolts. The actual train isn't close enough to see what is actually going on with it.

superdenny707

Aha! I get it. Thanks for pointing that out.

Scozzi

I'm struggling with this same scene from a modular standpoint.. i'll make sure to share what I find. If you haven't make sure to watch the modular workflow video on 3dmotive.com. If nothing else it will help you learn how you can consolidate your textures to minimal sheets. And the way he made his models was from modeling from the sheets. It's kind of a different way of thinking, but i think you can get a lot of stuff out of it.