How do I create Efficient Game Art?

boone0694

Hey guys, I recently started working on a project myself and I had a few questions. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be super thankful. ( I am using Unity and 3ds max)

So I really have no problem creating 3D geometry using 3ds max, and I can do UVW mapping decently well...the problem I am facing is I guess theoretical things. I want to design a large floor for an aircraft hangar, with like arrows point to parking spaces, the hangar name, etc. It is a long rectangular plane, so a very basic unwrap. Should I render the UVW template and go into gimp/photoshop and design it? In that case, should I use 1024 or 2048 or something else? What is the best file extension to use when making textures. OR, should I take the floor into substance designer and make it there? And the same goes for the wall or ceiling. Any direction would be great! Thank you.

codyaq2

Could create a nice tilable texture for your main hanger floor using PS/Zbrush/Designer etc.
And then you could use alpha decals for all your text/arrows etc.

musashidan

For large surface areas you either want to tile your texture or create it in modular pieces. Or you can mix and match and use decals or material blends for variation. 

You can create a 1 or 2k map and use it either as a straight tile on a single large piece of geo, or on your modular sections directly.
If you create modulars you can also create variations so you might have an extra draw call or 2 for textures but just 1 for the geo. Or you could also create some modular geo variations. With the decals added you can really vary things pretty cheaply.