Asset variation guideline
Hi there,
I know it's probably not having a solid response but a common sense/way of approach.
I'd like to hear under what condition artists typically make variation for an asset, and how many variations. While I know it really depends on the asset itself and how it's going to be used, there are some specific examples where I doubt.
To begin with, each color represents a set of duplicated assets, there's basically 2 tankers beside each other that look exactly the same.
http://8pic.ir/images/x1t72pn4yxgqsifu4x2j.jpg
So taking each color into account, is that the correct approach? did they do a bad job? or it's fine as long as textures don't have big unique detail?
Think about it if you was to create an artillery shell and scatter it on the ground like this: http://8pic.ir/images/r0lr0ploe3uoqzrievps.jpg
With all the optimization and time constraints in mind, would you create 1 or 2 shells and texture it in a way you can duplicate around without making terrible repeat look, or you would make 5-20 variation on it so the game looks nicer?
If we say 5-20 256x256 maps for shell variation, if the target consumer have plenty of ram, would you still go for making that much variation for a shell inside a video game? so with other assets? or generally what do you think?
I know it's probably not having a solid response but a common sense/way of approach.
I'd like to hear under what condition artists typically make variation for an asset, and how many variations. While I know it really depends on the asset itself and how it's going to be used, there are some specific examples where I doubt.
To begin with, each color represents a set of duplicated assets, there's basically 2 tankers beside each other that look exactly the same.
http://8pic.ir/images/x1t72pn4yxgqsifu4x2j.jpg
So taking each color into account, is that the correct approach? did they do a bad job? or it's fine as long as textures don't have big unique detail?
Think about it if you was to create an artillery shell and scatter it on the ground like this: http://8pic.ir/images/r0lr0ploe3uoqzrievps.jpg
With all the optimization and time constraints in mind, would you create 1 or 2 shells and texture it in a way you can duplicate around without making terrible repeat look, or you would make 5-20 variation on it so the game looks nicer?
If we say 5-20 256x256 maps for shell variation, if the target consumer have plenty of ram, would you still go for making that much variation for a shell inside a video game? so with other assets? or generally what do you think?
Replies
Basically its really dependent on what your game is, right? In any game you'll have variation on repeating assets but you need to think--should we take the time to make variations on this asset? How important is it? How often is it repeated? Can we make major variations without adding too many materials and assets to the project? etc.
A lot of the time variation is just done in the shader, recoloring, swapping detail textures, etc.