Modular workflow help

Asim7

So I got a few issues with modular workflow, mostly with ceilings, pillars and doorways. Im not sure how to design them.
Should my walls be boxes or planes?

And right now, my floor is just a ground plane. But how would I do the ceiling?

Im also stuck on the entrance ways, should i make 1 plane with a hole in it as an entrance? Or make some sort of pillar that connects with another to form an entrance?
This is what im trying right now

Im just having a hard time getting it all to fit, i've done modular environments before but always cartoony and top down. This time im it's a bit harder. Getting it all to fit the grid perfectly and line up etc.

Any help is truly appreciated.
Thank you.

Nizidranamitz

Level used to be done with planes but in this generation you should be able to use boxes easily without restraints. A problem that could arise and that I have had with planes is light blocking in UE4. Maybe I did something wrong, but I couldn't get the plane to block the light properly, even with a double sided shader. So I think you should just go with boxes. You can probably delete some ground or sky facing planes, but I suggest you wait your level is finished before you do that if you re not familiar with it because you ll need some objects to block the light coming from the sky, and you can't do that if you deleted top plane.
If you re modeling In maya thiago Flake has an awesome 40 buck tutorial for modular workflow. He is an environment artist at blizzard and he show you about everything you need to know about modularity and optimization. Actually, even if you're using max or blender I think you should give a try to maya cuz it's an awesome software, really like it better than max now that I got to know it.

Asim7

Thank you very much, I got a bit further and im using boxes as walls. And you're right, planes are pretty bad at blocking light in UE4. Same thing happens to me for some reason. I've heard about Thiago's tutorial, sounds very good so i'll have a look  

And yes im using Maya, started with Blender then Max now Maya  

Thanks again!

Kyle_butler

Try checking out this online on September 29 (tomorrow)
SANTA MONICA STUDIO - 2018 ZBRUSH SUMMIT PRESENTATIONS
Creating Modular Architectural Assets Using ZBrush
Featuring Glauco Longhi, Nate Stephens, & Rafael Grassetti 

HAWK12HT

You can have any kind of floor wall or roof as long as it fits on a grid even if its a curved geometry or at an angle / slanted. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxdjc2a7Toc


more details on environment art wiki mate!