Large scale building struggle

KirilZangagolev

Hi,

I am trying to do a huge 100 meter wall. I don't know how to go about texturing. I hava a triplanar projection function from a tutorial but it is really uncontrolable. I want to add details on the wall because right now I have a designer brick on the blockout mesh but the function can't read the plane changes that well. The main door piece works well for now but other pieces are a little squished and also the normal map isn't showing on some plane changes. How do I tackle this? Should I try unique uv's?

JamesBrisnehan

I would try modeling it in something like Maya, 3DS Max, or Blender. Possibly as multiple pieces. That way you could match up the uv's to your tilling texture and vice versa.

RacePeaceDay

I'd unwrap brick texture and normal map, but triplanar dirt, and vertex paint for brick color and dirt variation (more verts will be needed for vertex paint).

What if fortress needed to be rotated, triplanar brick would look bad here. But for dirt it's ok.

Unwrap with box projection all different parts with same box size (to have same texel density) but then move each box around to align texture of different parts better, with triplanar it's not possible. In 45 degree walls manually rotate unwrap so it's not distorted.

Combine different mask textures with different tiling or rotation to remove repetitivness in dirt. Some more dirt with PrecomputedAOMask: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Rendering/Materials/ExpressionReference/Constant#precomputedaomask.

You need to split it to parts to get better visibility culling: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-us/Engine/Rendering/VisibilityCulling

and to have more resolution for lightmaps.

but dont center pivot of all objects, so in UE4 you can put them in same coordinate and they'll be assembled as in 3d software.

Could also use decals for more dirt and cracks variation.

m_asher

Take a screenshot, do a paint-over in photoshop to get a feel for where you want unique details showing up, and then use that paint-over as a guide for figuring out the texturing techniques you'll use and the decals you'll make.

Echoing the other comments, definitely chop it up into smaller/pseudo-modular UV unwrapped pieces. Consider using texture bombing for your dirt/grunge, along with a few geometry and position-based masks (edge masks for wear, Z position masks for adding more dirt to the bottom of the wall, etc) to make things feel unique.

For decals, I'd start with basic drips, stains, and moss (if it's in a damp environment). I'd also model a few solo bricks (some whole, some damaged)  that match the material, to break up clear tiling patterns.