Tank treads out of individual components: How to best tackle texturing?

Alfax

Hey there! It's been a while since I've posted here and I've come with a very overly specific issue. I've been working on a tank model for my portfolio using some new techniques I've picked up with my last gig, and I've come across an issue texturing tank treads. I know that tank treads in old games were modelled as a singular belt with projected normals that made them look like they're made out of individual components. For this portfolio project, I made a complete belt using interlocking plates and chains in Maya, and as such, the mesh count and polycount is pretty nutty, but I'm not too worried about it since this is more an exploratory project for renders.

While I'm satisfied with how they interlock, and I'm not particuarly stressed about rigging or the polycount going bananas, the texturing part is starting to trouble me. I could texture a single segment of the tank treads in Substance and simply use those textures for each iteration along the chain, but that would make the repeating texture pretty easy to spot. I did some research into UDIMs but I'm not entirely sure if that's the way to go, as I'd still end up having to create several materials in Marmoset to apply them to the tread segments.

tl;dr: I'm struggling to find a way to texture the tread segments in a way that won't seem repetitive, and won't require me to set up 5 tread materials to alternate between in Marmoset. Would baking and texturing in Marmoset be a better alternative in this scenario? Or is there a way to use a singular segment texture and somehow create randomised damage throughout the chain with masks in Marmoset? I've never had to model something with multiple, repeating identical meshes (beyond bullets), so I would genuinely appreciate any ideas you may have!

Alex_J

Correction to the strikethrough text: Wouldn't be a good idea for any model that would move, since world aligned textures won't move with model

Not sure you could do so in toolbag without authoring some shaders, but in a game engine you could relatively easily use similar techniques like enviro artist use to blend between multiple materials based on height (or any sort of mask). This way you can just paint mud / dust / wear over the entire thing and it is projected in world space, so it disregards UVs.

Could also experiment with just seeing how much resolution you really need for the track parts. Like if you had one 2k texture that has like 4-5 treads layed out in it, that might be enough? Because unless tank is turned upside down we don't see the long part of tracks. Most we ever see is about 3-4?

Just tossing some ideas, I never made tank tracks

Alfax

Those are interesting approaches! I actually did consider something similar to the second approach, by essentially combining 4-5 track segments, getting a nice highpoly out of them, and then baking a texture map that's large enough to accomodate for 5 track segments at a time. I'd simply reapply the material every 5 segments, making the repeating material less noticeable. That'd limit it to just the one material, and like you said, you don't see that many segments from the front at any given time, so at that point it'd be hard to notice unless you really focused on it.

Klunk

just create 4 or 5 ish separate link textures.... slight hue shifts and dirt layer overlays with randomized masks should make authoring pretty simple and painless then either set up a multi mat and randomise each links mat id or have 5 separate materials and apply these randomly to the links.

something i did back in 2003 (max)

Toy Tiger - YouTube
though if static the same material for each track link should be ok, it's when animating that you need some variation as it can look like the tracks are not moving

Alfax

I think I'll go for a mixed approach and create two different link textures for 5 combined segment meshes each, that should create more than enough variance so keep them looking different. Thanks a lot for the help! I'll report back with results

Alex_J

Just noting that I gave bad advice regarding world aligned mask to get around the UV problem - that won't be good for any model that moves. Could use it to "cheat" for a portfolio but probably not a useable idea for any sort of game / animation.

Alfax

Ah, good to know. And it's alright, for this sort of thing a cheat would have been just fine

okidoki

What's about using vertex colors to mix some different track part textures ?? Maybe even just using some lower resolution to just change the colors.. (more rusty, muddy, oily ??) and not to fake some other details like scratched, moss, thick mud..  or just that.. vertex colors for breaking the repetition.. ??

poopipe

okidoki said:

What's about using vertex colors to mix some different track part textures ?? Maybe even just using some lower resolution to just change the colors.. (more rusty, muddy, oily ??) and not to fake some other details like scratched, moss, thick mud..  or just that.. vertex colors for breaking the repetition.. ??

we have a winner

since you're clearly not trying to make this cheap :
4-5 links on a single textureset , a second set that's more worn, nicely painted masks using the same UVs for blending and use vertex color to modulate the intensity of the masks .

Alfax

Hey there fellas. I'd like to thank you all for all the advice, I haven't ignored any of it. In fact I ended up creating a 4-segment sequence for the texture map, meaning the tread links texture only repeats every 4 segments. Not the cleanest solution, but it gets the job done for the time being. The tank project kinda got pretty big and its mounted machinegun became its own portfolio entry with how much detail and work went into it. I'll be getting back to the rest of the tank in a few weeks once the MG entry is finished and uploaded. Again, thank you so much. I'll be reporting back then again for sure! Here's a preliminary render of the whole tank for now, with only basic test tread textures applied.