Questions on a general overview of environmental modelling
polycounter lvl 8
Hi folks
This will be my first post on this forum and I would like to apologize on beforehand if it gets really long, oh and train of thoughty. I'm kinda writing this as things come to me.
Firstly.
I'm a 2nd year 3D college student and I really would like to break into environmental modeling.
I love to work with zBrush and Substance Designer, and would like to incorporate that into my workflow.
So.
For quite some time I have been wondering how to approach environmental modeling the best way. This has inadvertently held me back from just throwing myself into the fray.
I'm constantly thinking how I should break the different aspects down especially when it comes to textures and normal maps.
Let's take a forest scene with some old temple ruins.
How would I go about textures for fx. the ruins parts?
I'll create a wall, an end wall, and perhaps some ruin rubble. All of these 3 models must use the same texture so there is a coherency between them, but I would also like all of them to have individual nooks and cracks.
How should I go on about this? Should I create a base texture for the ruin parts. Sculpt the models in zBrush, and use individual normal maps from the sculpts along with the base texture (and the normal map generated from said texture)?
I guess that's one way to do it. But I'll need an extra normal map for each model in my scene. Which will add up.
The ruin walls (which could be a basic brick-kinda-wall) could also have that brick normal map directly from my texture. I'll probably create the stone texture in Substance Designer anyway so that would not be such a biggie. But I would loose the individual feel of each type of ruin part.
The big question is when should a model have an individual normal map (and I guess texture) and when is a tileable texture (with normal map included) suffice? When should what be used.
For the trees... I could use SpeedTree. But that is kinda boring and more importantly, I'll face the same questions. Should I create the normal map in zBrush or just do everything in Substance Designer.
I am having problems finding out when and where I should zBrush my way out of it and when I should Sub D it.
Lastly.
I should just do something, just for the practice. But I'm always thinking "is this the best way to do this" and do I waste my time on this workflow if the other is better or more frequently used in the business.
So if you have some kind of input on where to begin or how you would tackle this, anything really, please don't hesitate posting.
P.S.
If this is the incorrect section please move it to the right one.
This will be my first post on this forum and I would like to apologize on beforehand if it gets really long, oh and train of thoughty. I'm kinda writing this as things come to me.
Firstly.
I'm a 2nd year 3D college student and I really would like to break into environmental modeling.
I love to work with zBrush and Substance Designer, and would like to incorporate that into my workflow.
So.
For quite some time I have been wondering how to approach environmental modeling the best way. This has inadvertently held me back from just throwing myself into the fray.
I'm constantly thinking how I should break the different aspects down especially when it comes to textures and normal maps.
Let's take a forest scene with some old temple ruins.
How would I go about textures for fx. the ruins parts?
I'll create a wall, an end wall, and perhaps some ruin rubble. All of these 3 models must use the same texture so there is a coherency between them, but I would also like all of them to have individual nooks and cracks.
How should I go on about this? Should I create a base texture for the ruin parts. Sculpt the models in zBrush, and use individual normal maps from the sculpts along with the base texture (and the normal map generated from said texture)?
I guess that's one way to do it. But I'll need an extra normal map for each model in my scene. Which will add up.
The ruin walls (which could be a basic brick-kinda-wall) could also have that brick normal map directly from my texture. I'll probably create the stone texture in Substance Designer anyway so that would not be such a biggie. But I would loose the individual feel of each type of ruin part.
The big question is when should a model have an individual normal map (and I guess texture) and when is a tileable texture (with normal map included) suffice? When should what be used.
For the trees... I could use SpeedTree. But that is kinda boring and more importantly, I'll face the same questions. Should I create the normal map in zBrush or just do everything in Substance Designer.
I am having problems finding out when and where I should zBrush my way out of it and when I should Sub D it.
Lastly.
I should just do something, just for the practice. But I'm always thinking "is this the best way to do this" and do I waste my time on this workflow if the other is better or more frequently used in the business.
So if you have some kind of input on where to begin or how you would tackle this, anything really, please don't hesitate posting.
P.S.
If this is the incorrect section please move it to the right one.
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