Hey,
I'm currently debating an issue I am having here. I am in the process of making a small building for an environment that I am working on:
![render3v.jpg](http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1002/render3v.jpg)
Here is my question: For buildings, is it worth it to make a high poly version of the building first, then baking it to a low poly?
Or is is best/easier to just use xNormal to generate a normal map from a Grayscale map?
I'm not sure how well I'll be able to replicate a nicely done high poly sculpt of this building: (Note, the following image was a reference, I had no intention of making an exact replica.
![Shinto%20Shrine%20small.jpg](http://www.jsnw.org.uk/Images/Shinto%20Shrine%20small.jpg)
I won't be putting in the latticework, but how would I go about sculpting the roof tiles, then matching the diffuse to the roof tiles afterwards? Same goes for the roof tiling on this:
![3620034892_2fcef9401c_b.jpg](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3620034892_2fcef9401c_b.jpg)
This is why I was considering simply generating a normal map from a grayscale. The results are nice, but for some things, a sculpt just does the job better, don't you think?
Thanks!
Replies
And please highpoly model it and stay away from generating from grayscale
This allows you to have a HUGE amount of variation and re-usability with your modular pieces as opposed to trying to sculpt one single building.
Looking at either of your references I could think of any number of modular pieces that could be reused to build variations of either of those buildings.
http://wiki.polycount.net/CategoryEnvironment#EW