What would be more optimized textures/material setup for this model?
Hi. I was doing this vehicle and kinda stuck because I'm not sure how to set up materials the right way. So I am wondering how it would be best to approach material setup for this vehicle. Right now for the main body it has 2 texture sets: lights and the main exterior. This main exterior texture has alpha for the windows so the vehicle actually has 3 materials where the additional material is for windows, which just reuses the same main exterior texture but has a different blend mode. But I'm not sure if it's correct approach though.
Should I create a separate texture for transparent window material? How would it be better if terms of optimization if it's Unreal Engine, for example? Will it still be an additional draw call even if 2 materials use the same texture? And if so, in case I create a separate texture for windows, will it add even more draw calls?
Replies
Yes, you want to keep your material count down to limit draw calls, but you also want to avoid using transparency anywhere except where it's absolutely necessary. Even opaque areas of a asset with a transparent material will have sorting and quality issues.
Unfortunately cars are one of the assets where you're likely going to have to use 3-5 different materials. Clear coat, opaque, glass, interior, possibly lights, etc. Of course you can reuse textures with different materials, it can save memory, but it isn't going to save draw calls or anything. Also might help with LODs if you get rid of transparency or the interior at further distances.
Thank you for the explanation! Really helpful