Number of materials on assets?

jordank95

When does the number of materials on an asset become an issue? For example, if I have a bunch of different modular sets that I then combine together to make certain assets, sometimes those new assets have 2 or 3 materials assigned to them, sometimes more. I could go and make all of these assets unique, but then Id have to resculpt wood pieces, etc. Having premade modular kits to combine in either a blueprint or a new imported asset saves time, but ends up having more materials assigned to them. Is there a good workflow for this?

Eric Chadwick

It becomes an issue when it impacts performance. A good workflow is to kitbash your game level using similarly constructed (but visually ugly and unrefined) blockouts, then profile the game to find bottlenecks. Once the blockouts are all ironed out, then you refine the art to make it pretty.

To Frick has some nice tips in his GDC22 talk about The Ascent.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FodXp5BkENk&feature=youtu.be

https://polycount.com/discussion/227450/the-ascent-damn-its-pretty