Looooong carpet, how should I make it ?

GlowingPotato

Hi!
I'm currently working on a scene, a corridor and I want to have a carpet at the center of it, running from the entire length of the corridor, I'll put some references below. I also want this carpet to have small folds and wrinkles and maybe some torn fabric parts at the edges. 

My references are
 I thought about modeling the entire rug, and separating it into segments. But it seems inefficient to me...

I also need to make them modular, meaning they allow me to cover other hallways of different sizes and layouts.

Would you have any suggestions on how I can approach this task?

Neox

how about you play wit vertex colors for ripping edges, add stains, dirt and such?

similar to how you would do things on walls?

poopipe

I agree with Neox
and
i don't think you'll get any performance benefit from modularising it over just modelling it in place and splitting it up every 10-20m to aid with culling unless you're planning to put thousands of carpets in your level (there'll come a point where you save some static memory on meshes ). 

I suggest you do whatever makes things easiest for you from a workflow perspective

Alex_J

i feel like i just read something here about using a second uv channel for mask. like edge mask, wear mask, etc. 

I have no idea if that is major difference in terms of workflow or optimization, just mentioning because it wasn't already.

poopipe

the downside to using textures for masks is that you have to do a bunch of UV manipulation and mask blending if you want to avoid repetition.  
in this instance I'd be inclined to go with vertex color as a base since it allows the artist direct control over where the wrinkles etc.  happen. 

I'd use a shader solution  if I couldn't be arsed vertex painting a lot of stuff though