Architectural PBR Texturing - Need advice please :)

edwardsomatic

Hey everyone.

So, I've modeled this mansion below and unwrapped it (it's unwrapped in such a way that's best for a texture atlas)



I want to use PBR materials and make a scene out of it by putting it into UE4.
However, I've never used a PBR workflow before, and don't really have much of a clue on the best way to texture it using PBR materials.
- I'm struggling to find decent PBR workflows for architecture tutorials.

Would creating a PBR texture atlas be a sensible approach? Or should I create master materials and apply them using material I.D's? Or something else entirely?

Thanks!

jfitch

So how would you normally do it? An atlas with diff/normal/spec? I'd keep it the same way, you just have albido, normal, rough, and metal instead.

EarthQuake

How you uv your asset has no bearing on whether the materials are physically accurate or not, so do whatever you think will work best for the uvs.

edwardsomatic

jfitch wrote: »

So how would you normally do it? An atlas with diff/normal/spec? I'd keep it the same way, you just have albido, normal, rough, and metal instead.

I've always made a texture atlas for this sort of thing, but looking through the UE4 projects, texture atlas's don't seem to be all that common anymore...
From what I've seen, materials applied using I.d's (with UV masks) are the way to go.
Using an atlas would be easier for me, but if another method is more common in industry, I could do with learning that instead.

EarthQuake wrote: »

How you uv your asset has no bearing on whether the materials are physically accurate or not, so do whatever you think will work best for the uvs.

I should have stressed it better in my post, I was looking for an answer to what the best texture creation workflow would be - whether it be material I.d's, an atlas for most of it or something else.

AdvisableRobin

There is no best way to do it. If you are in a development environment, you would normally work out the best way that your team would do it based on specific project needs.

If you are just doing a portfolio piece then use whatever method you prefer.

edwardsomatic

AdvisableRobin wrote: »

There is no best way to do it. If you are in a development environment, you would normally work out the best way that your team would do it based on specific project needs.

If you are just doing a portfolio piece then use whatever method you prefer.

This is good news, I'll make a texture atlas... thanks for your input!

The material i.d workflow does seem to yield better results from what I've seen though, but this project is for a University module, meaning I can't really afford to screw it up by playing around with new workflows so.

CarlCraft

I was told you're supposed to do the screwing around while in school as opposed to doing it when getting paid for it
Might be different from school to school, though

edwardsomatic

callebo wrote: »

I was told you're supposed to do the screwing around while in school as opposed to doing it when getting paid for it
Might be different from school to school, though

I'm in my final year! Meaning very little time to do a LOT of work, work which dictates what that piece of paper will say this summer. Eek.