Do you combine all the props into a single texture sheet instead of making separate ones for each?
polycounter lvl 4
I'm working on a diner model and I'm curious about your approach to
texturing. Would you recommend placing all the props on a single texture
sheet instead of creating separate sheets for each item? I have various
items like plates, bowls, glass cups, glass bottles, and salt shakers,
each requiring their own materials. I would really appreciate any
insights on this!
Replies
But also, with modern spec game art, resolution can become problematic; for instance, loading a 4096x4096 texture isn't the end of the world today, but if half of those props aren't used in a game map, or aren't in view throughout much of it, you're probably wasting vram vs loading in 8 2048 textures, or 16 1024 textures, or even 64 512x512 textures...
In the specific example of plates, bowls, salt shakers, it could very well make sense, if none of them require much resolution and you feel like combining them. It could make file organization a bit easier too. I imagine a single fairly small texture would be enough space to contain things of that ilk.
I worked on a mobile game a while back, where each map had allowance for 2 2048 textures, one diffuse and one normal map; we called it a texture atlas, and all the textures used in the levels I worked on had to be in that atlas texture. I'm not sure why they decided on that, but it actually was really easy to judge how much space I had left, vs keeping everything separate.
If props are different and used in different locations then you might want to separate them so it can be streamed properly.