Next Gen Environment Art - To Bake or Not to Bake?
polycounter lvl 6
Good afternoon,
Looking at all the new screenshots coming out for upcoming games (Rise of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4 etc) I find the line is getting blurred as to being able to detect enviro assets uniquely baked or modelled with tiling textures. Is everything getting baked now? Before it was props and "hero" assets but now it looks like every rock formation and broken arched doorway is a uniquely baked asset.
Does anyone have any projections on how to balance this decision? Obviously use tileables when you can as they save incredible amounts of time and can be used on multiple assets. However working on a portfolio and staying productive often pushes me towards making unique assets as it's much easier to plan and get right into producing the asset.
My question is: From building a portfolio standpoint. What should an environment artist focus on who wants to get his work up to par with upcoming games. Should one build a environment using mostly unique baked assets to "show off" artistic ability? Or use mostly tileables to show one is good at pre-planning and being efficient.
I know this is a tough question to answer. I'm just looking for more an open discussion. And possibly from people working in the industry who know where their studio pipeline is headed.
My own thoughts on this matter is: it is much easier to stay creative creating unique assets as you can just build and texture and import into a game engine. However carefully planning a project on what should be tileables and how far you can push that texture etc. can be stagnating.
Looking at all the new screenshots coming out for upcoming games (Rise of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4 etc) I find the line is getting blurred as to being able to detect enviro assets uniquely baked or modelled with tiling textures. Is everything getting baked now? Before it was props and "hero" assets but now it looks like every rock formation and broken arched doorway is a uniquely baked asset.
Does anyone have any projections on how to balance this decision? Obviously use tileables when you can as they save incredible amounts of time and can be used on multiple assets. However working on a portfolio and staying productive often pushes me towards making unique assets as it's much easier to plan and get right into producing the asset.
My question is: From building a portfolio standpoint. What should an environment artist focus on who wants to get his work up to par with upcoming games. Should one build a environment using mostly unique baked assets to "show off" artistic ability? Or use mostly tileables to show one is good at pre-planning and being efficient.
I know this is a tough question to answer. I'm just looking for more an open discussion. And possibly from people working in the industry who know where their studio pipeline is headed.
My own thoughts on this matter is: it is much easier to stay creative creating unique assets as you can just build and texture and import into a game engine. However carefully planning a project on what should be tileables and how far you can push that texture etc. can be stagnating.
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