At what point do I use more than one texture set(for a weapon)?
polycounter lvl 7
Hey guys, I'm almost done modeling an Uzi, now there is alot of parts on this weapon and I'm thinking keeping it all on one texture set would just result in low density textures. If it were a handgun I would definitely keep it on one texture set. What do you guys think? Is it justified? Might have the Magazine, Stock, Bullet and handgrip on one UV set and the rest on the other.
Replies
It is more efficient to use 1x higher resolution texture rather than 4 smaller resolution textures. For instance, 4x 1024x1024 textures use the same VRAM as 1x 2048x2048 but need 3 additional draw calls. One set is easier to manage when baking, texturing, etc too.
Now, if you have accessories that the user could swap out, like a scope, silencer, etc, it may make sense for these to be on separate texture sets so the resources are only loaded when they are needed.
Thanks so much for the advice. This will be a port folio piece. Would a 4K texture contain enough density once all these parts are UV-packed? I could always just go for 8K maps for the bake maps and output the final textures as 4K in Painter. Definitely easier with just one set too.
Even a 2k map will do it.
8K would absolutely be overkill, 2K should suffice. Downsampling your baked maps is not a bad idea though. Density wise I generally use 20.48px/cm as a rough benchmark for portfolio stuff, and never go below 10.24px/cm. It's likely more than you need but I feel it's useful to have that extra detail for composition flexibility.
4K should be fine, but if you want to author it at 8K, go ahead. It's a portfolio peice so it's not that important.
I would approach something like this a little differently than a production asset. For a first person weapon in production I would set up the UVs so there is more texal density closer to the camera, especially for any areas like a scope or iron sights that the player can zoom in on. Areas behind the camera or rarely seen can have lower density. This allows you to maximize whatever texture resolution you need for the project.
For a portfolio peice I would map it uniformly and use as high resolution of a texture as my machine was able to easily edit. Since you'll likely post renders from multiple angles, it doesn't make sense to prioritize one section over another in terms of texal density.
Thanks again :D
Thanks for the advice :D