Art test, need clarification

Greg9891

HI all. was hoping to get some insight on an art test i have been given.

I need to create a scene and my texture budget is 10 - 12  2048x2048 textures 

now my question is, if i create a texture for a model in substance painter with a diffuse, normal, reflection and roughness map. would you consider that 1 texture? or 4?
i think im over thinking this and its putting doubts in my mind.

I personally think that would still be 1 texture as its for the 1 model. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Many thanks

poopipe

I would assume they're expecting sets of textures so you'd be correct. 

It'd be worth contacting them to make sure, it's a perfectly sensible question and won't make you look silly

MikeF

i wouldn't want do assume anything with an art test because that can lead to a ton of time wasted and an instant rejection over something that could be clarified by a simple question.

As poopipe mentioned, i'd contact them for some clarification. When dealing with applicants going through an art test i see inquisitiveness as a positive trait, so long as its within reason, ex: clarify this (good) vs. tell me how to do everything (bad)

musashidan

It's four textures memorywise, so either way you should channel pack to show you understand the concept of cutting down the memory footprint.

PixelMasher

I would simply ask them, just send an email asking for clarification. ask if its 10-12 2048 materials or 10-12 texture maps total. there is no shame in asking for clarification, I do it during production all the time.

Greg9891

Cheers guys. Will pop them an email after I get home from work. Much appreciated

danr

Bear in mind that some art tests intentionally give ambiguous (or occasionally downright weird) instructions or specs, to see if the candidate can think laterally around the problem (good), ask for clarification (good), or just plough on, uncritically taking the instruction word for word and producing something odd (bad). 

It speaks volumes about your first day working with new people, new pipeline and documentation which might not have been updated in ages.