Making an air conditioner to be game ready prop

focus_method

Hi,
this doesn't have to be air conditioner it can be all kind of hard surface prop models, this is just as an example of course so lets stick with air conditioner.

So, i would like to know what is the best way to approach game ready props modeling? 
how to start?
1. should i do subd modeling or just low poly then texture it in substance painter ?
2. can i go straight ahead with high poly modeling ,chamfering all around what is needed and then texture in substance painter ?
3. is it ok if model is made of multiple parts or to be made of one single piece.

i can see a lot of examples on the internet but dont know what is right and what is wrong way

Neox

there is no clear answer here, this is all very dependent on the production you are in. any of these takes would be fine in the right production, any of them could be wrong when the project uses a different workflow.

and i assume we will see a fair bit of a shift on unreal productions for static environment props, thanks to Nanite

kanga

I had the exact same questions 15 years ago. Im pretty good at finding answers on the web but after searching for a couple of weeks I enrolled in an online course. What you are looking for is Texture Baking. The sort you described above is called Hard Surface Texture Baking. Click the Wiki menu item above and once you arrive enter : baking in the search bar at the top. That should get you started.

What Neox said above is correct, with developments what you learn today may not be relevant tomorrow.

SnowInChina

it really depends

from what you wrote i assume you would like to work from a high poly mesh and bake the maps to texture it in substance, so here`s a short breakdown. but keep in mind that i can not read your mind and guess what your final model should look like;

-model the high poly (subd)

-model the lowpoly + uv unwrap

-bake all the necessary maps from your highpoly to your lowpoly (like normalmap, ambient occlusion, curvature etc)

-texture the lowpoly in substance painter

this is just a basic workflow for assets, but keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way. its highly dependent on the project

for example:

if you were to make an airconditioner for minecraft, the workflow above would make no sense. you would propably only make a texture in photoshop and put it on a cube.

for other games you would only model a lowpoly and handpaint the textures

most of the time the workflow will even differ for the same project dependent on if this is some background prop or something more important

lets say you have an online platform selling air conditioners and people can inspect them close up in 3d. you would propably put a lot of effort into this prop

but for a racing game, where they are just a prop on a house where you drive past with 150km/h, not so much

Alex_J

You need to get in the habit of doing a test. 

Try each workflow. Do a fast, easy version just using a basic cube and simple textures to figure out the pros and cons of each workflow.

If it seems like too much work just don't be lazy and do it. Won't take that long and you'll learn to work faster. Then write down in notepad what the pro's and con's of each workflow was. If it seems like too many steps and caveats to remember, write down a step by step checklist. Will come in handy later. 

In order for you to answer your own question after doing the test though, you have to have an actual goal. There has to be technical and artistic requirements clearly defined, otherwise the answer can only ever be, "it depends." The only universal rule you need to memorize is "be as efficient as possible." Beyond that you have to just develop experience and make judgement calls from that.

If you are hung up, afraid of doing something wrong, stop thinking and just get started right away.

focus_method

i understand that model can be made from various parts/elements but is it ok if it has multiple texture sets ?

for example:
1 texture set for a wall of the house
1 texture set for air condition
1 texture set for propeller
1 texture set for the holder under conditioner

SnowInChina

it depends on the requirements...

technically it can have as many as you want it to have

the question is always do i NEED this many maps ? and can i afford this many maps, from a performance standpoint

Kanni3d

The goal, especially in games, is to make it look good with as little material ids/drawcalls as possible. With unique textures/bakes, it's pretty difficult to warrant having more than one or two texture sets on most environmental assets. It's heavy, expensive, and not reusuable/versatile at all for any other environmental/prop needs.

However, it's worth pointing out that when were talking about non-unique materials/shared materials, assets can have multiple IDs certainly. Stuff like generic, tileable plastics, metals, and wood trim sheets etc. Since it's already loaded in memory and used across the environment, having an asset with 4 material id's in this case is much lighter than an asset with 4 materials of unique bakes/texture sets.

But back to your case, anyone can make an asset look super sharp and nice with multiple 4k texture sets... but a better artist could make the asset look good, almost similar, with a single 2k texture set for example.

focus_method

Kanni3d said:

The goal, especially in games, is to make it look good with as little material ids/drawcalls as possible. With unique textures/bakes, it's pretty difficult to warrant having more than one or two texture sets on most environmental assets. It's heavy, expensive, and not reusuable/versatile at all for any other environmental/prop needs.

However, it's worth pointing out that when were talking about non-unique materials/shared materials, assets can have multiple IDs certainly. Stuff like generic, tileable plastics, metals, and wood trim sheets etc. Since it's already loaded in memory and used across the environment, having an asset with 4 material id's in this case is much lighter than an asset with 4 materials of unique bakes/texture sets.

But back to your case, anyone can make an asset look super sharp and nice with multiple 4k texture sets... but a better artist could make the asset look good, almost similar, with a single 2k texture set for example.

ok, so the goal should be (but its not a must bcz it all depends) aiming for one single texture set ?

Eric Chadwick

Yes.