game geo vs. product render geo?

Tai

Hi all, 
recently I've been working on a high res project hoping to create a realistic render of an old camera. I have only created game assets before so I don't have much experience in ultra high res realistic modeling / render. Besides keeping everything hi-poly and bevel everything, is there anything else I should keep in mind?

Also, Does high poly geo used in product render use normal map / baking pipeline at all besides surface detail? I kind of want to use substance painter to generate texture but I'm not sure if I can take full advantage of painter's edge wear generation without a normal map that provides edge information. 

Any tips are welcome, thanks!

JordanN

When I model for CG, I take into account both polygons and materials. I try and recreate as much hardsurface information like individual holes and objects, and have shaders recreate all surface variety (dirt and paint get their own materials, yay!!). I've also been experimenting using particles sim to recreate tiny but physical detail like water or dust as opposed to painting them in a texture. 

Bump/normal maps are mostly the same but I don't really think about baking them. I prefer to use displacement maps when possible.

Final renders, I save out multiple light path expressions and composite them in photoshop.

kanga

Except for JordanN's information there is no difference really, unless it is production specific. I dont know how high poly goes in substance but a quick way would be ZBrush to Keyshot, dont worry about a low poly version if there is no animation involved.

Eric Chadwick

Yeah, no baking.

Moving this from General Discussion to Technical Talk.

throttlekitty

Also, no high poly just for the sake of being high poly, but you don't have to worry about removing or shifting geo details for a low poly like you may be used to. Using subdivision in renders is also viable, so you can retain the flexibility in having the midpoly cages to work with.