Texture pages - individual or mixed

grahamku

Hey all. This is probably a super basic question, but here I go. When I'm making a scene for a game engine (I'm using Unity), is it standard practice to make each prop I make have its own individual texture page, or to put many similar props on one single 1024x1024 page? I was taught it's best to cram as many textures for as many meshes as you can in one single page for the sake of efficiency , but now that I'm starting to get a lot of different props in my scene I find myself spending too much time searching for the right texture for it. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks!

musashidan

Group the props logically and set up your project folder structure so that all the props and the maps they share are in the same folders.

pixaeiro

I have seen it done in many different ways... one texture page per prop, one texture page for many props, many texture pages for one prop, and in every case it seems it was the right decision. However, the most common method is one texture page per prop.
I don't think one texture page for many props is the most efficient method... imagine loading a 1024x1024 texture for a single bolt that takes only 100 pixels!

doolally66

pixaeiro said:

I don't think one texture page for many props is the most efficient method... imagine loading a 1024x1024 texture for a single bolt that takes only 100 pixels!

It depends on what other meshes are on the texture. If that bolt is only ever seen by itself or is on the same map as one for trees and are never seen at the same time, then yes, that's not efficient. However if the bolt is loaded with other similar things then it's ideal. 
When you group props it tends to be things of a similar nature rather than a mashup of random things. 

musashidan

pixaeiro said:

imagine loading a 1024x1024 texture for a single bolt that takes only 100 pixels!

Ah, but then imagine if you had 1000 bolts and only 1 texture call.....  

musashidan

musashidan said:

pixaeiro said:

imagine loading a 1024x1024 texture for a single bolt that takes only 100 pixels!

Ah, but then imagine if you had 1000 bolts and only 1 texture call.....  

In any case I don't think you're ever going to have a single bolt on its  own. More than likely it'll be one of many attached to a larger asset.

pixaeiro

Yes, at the end it doesn't matter what rule we choose, there will always be edge cases.