Low poly modeling for baking textures

code7

Hello,
        I'm designing a low poly vehicle. I have completed the high poly model and now I'm modeling the low poly mesh. my high poly model contains separate meshes(front bumper, dashboard etc and planing to use them to create id map in substance painter). My question is, should I create separate low poly meshes according to the particular high poly mesh or create a single mesh while merging vertices(please look at the following two images)? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

code7

Anyone

FourtyNights

A good rule of thumb is that, if it's a separate piece how it was assembled or built, it's a separate piece. You can always bake with "match by name" or with just a traditional exploding method in the baker of your choice, to avoid baking artifacts.

code7

Thank you for the reply.