normal maps for game characters

jyandel

hey everybody, i just have a few technical questions for you, if you'd be so kind to help me out. I've always used zbrush to generate normal maps for my characters and used separate maps for different parts such as armor and such. My question, since I'm new to modeling for games, is how one would go about generating normal maps for a complex character using one texture sheet. For example, say we have a soldier, such as in gears of war. You have organic parts that you zbrush the hell out of, and hard surfaces such as armor that I have as subtools. Since zbrush can only generate normal maps for one subtool at a time (as far as I'm aware of), what is the usual method that you folks in the gaming industry use? Just a quick overview of workflows would be much appreciated, or at least links to tutorials. Thank you everybody for your time!

arrangemonk

iif you use max, you can merge the objects togehter , save the uvwmap, switch to uvchannel2, put the parts in place, save and save the uvmap again, then r2t the textures with padsding 64 tothe new map and load the uvwmap in uvchannel1 and you'll be fine (this is pretty rough desgription tough)

bluekangaroo

I came across these slideshows from Chris Wells on Epics art asset pipeline not too long ago. Its pretty rough, but basically goes through the whole process, and gives you a launching pad to further investigate their techniques

http://www.slideshare.net/pixellab/1-pixellab-gamesedu-chris-wells-epic-games-art-asset-pipeline

http://www.slideshare.net/pixellab/2-pixellab-gamesedu-chris-wells-epic-games-art-asset-pipeline/

http://www.slideshare.net/pixellab/3-pixellab-gamesedu-chris-wells-epic-games-art-asset-pipeline/

Slingshot

oooooh thanks EricV

jyandel

sweet, thanks! I've never heard of "intersecting" or "double chamfering" techniques--anybody have any links that I can use to learn more? Thanks!