UV layout for a long sword

fattkid

Hey team,

this is a bit of a general question, but how would you guys go about laying out UVs for a long, narrow asset, like a sword? I'm sure there are multiple solutions based on whatever variables, but generally, what have you guys done in this situation?

Since it will basically only take up 1/4 of a square texture, what would be some possible approaches. And let's assume that it needs to be a higher fidelity model, say 1500 tris, with detail/writing/etching on the blade, maybe an ornate hilt etc.....
(FYI - tiling detail maps are also an option for this model)

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

ZacD

use a 256 x 512 or a 512 x 1024 for it

an aggressive napkin

you can make your maps elongated ie 1024 x 512 or even 2048 x 512 if you need it.

Vailias

Break it into logical sections both in UV's and in polys. Also take advantage of symmetry as much as you can.

For the hilt, see what you can get away with via easily tiled patterns, then break the hilt into sections that use that tiling. Same goes for the engravings.

However if you want the engravings to be unique, or semi unique, but have a stricter geo budget, you can texture the blade to take advantage of stretching and or tiling the texture, and use alpha masked close floating geometry for the engravings. Have them separate from the blade part of the texture.

If the sword can get its own texture then the above suggestions are good, if it must be part of an equipment set or a character with all their equipment on the same sheet, then creative texture placement and usage is in order.

As a small example I built this very low poly sword a couple years back


The whole thing is textured in very small parts of a 512, the rest being devoted to the character herself.


The whole thing is mirrored 4 ways, except the basket/guard which is basically 2 ways. in addition the sword blade takes advantage of UV stretching/interpolation to fill in what would essentially be a long repeating texture.
Whole thing is 44 triangles.

Snader

Personally, I'd add a cut across the blade (halfway between the tip and the guard) and then split it in separate UV islands.

If you have an extravagantly shaped blade you probably have enough cuts in there already, if it's a simple sword it depends on your limitations. With 1500 polies an extra 25 wouldn't hurt much.

renderhjs

just combine the texture with other objects, that's the most practical use for games.

THE 5

I did worry about this too when doing that sword.
Since you already said you might want ornaments on the hilt, just use the spare space for a highly detailed one. For a FPS sword this would actualy be all right I think.
This is by no means a advice for a professional artist (I'd go with renderhjs' suggestion then), but for a hobby artist like me I think it's all right.

fattkid

Awesome!

Thanks everyone. All these different suggestions is exactly what I was hoping for. I posted this question for my coworker, but looks like I might be doin some swords/weapons in the near future as well, so this really helps.

Thanks again, and I'll be checking back to see if anyone else has any suggestions/ideas/etc....

Ghostscape

rectangular textures are the best. I wouldn't combine textures with other weapons unless you know for sure they're going to be loaded up at the same time, since wasting memory is always a pain. Tiling and stretching the UVs are also options, but I would personally avoid them if you're doing a lot of engraving or fine details in the texture, as tiling wear or stretching etchings is going to look bad.

As long as each side is a power of 2, you can use whatever aspect ratio you want. I've built a long, thin sniper rifle that used a 256x1024 and it was aces to work with.