Texturing levels..

VPrime

Hey guys I have just started creating some levels in 3d studio max for an iPhone game (with Unity 3D engine) and just wondering the best way about texturing?

I used to play around with Hammer/Worldcraft, Q3Radiant and various other BSP level editors from the past.. Because of this I think I am confused.
I used to just create a level, and then find/create tiled textures and basically just apply them and scale/ do what ever else is needed to make them fit.

Any ways, after searching these forums I notice a lot of people are no longer doing this (or at least they don't appear to be). It seems the way people are going now is similar to regular 3D models. Unwraping them and just placing/painting textures on the UV map.

So backt o my question. What is the best (or at least good) way of texturing levels for iPhone use (or just engines with out an actual level editor like hammer).

Thanks in advance for any guidance or tips!

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Shogun3d

Do a blockout and identify different materials with colored blocks. Then create an atlas texture sheet in respects to the colored blocks.

Similar to this http://chrisholden.net/tutor/modular.htm

Mark Dygert

Don't forget these too:
http://chrisholden.net/tutor/max_tiling00.jpg
http://chrisholden.net/tutor/max_tiling01.jpg
http://chrisholden.net/tutor/max_tiling02.jpg
http://chrisholden.net/tutor/max_tiling03.jpg
http://chrisholden.net/tutor/max_tiling04.jpg

http://www.vigville.com/forum_images/ModularMartins.jpg
http://www.vigville.com/forum_images/ModuleArches.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2336353/ModularSewer.jpg

http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_sets/modular_sets.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/WorkflowAndModularity.html

Terrain modeling is normally a plane pushed and pulled in various ways, with tile textures blending across it using either masks or vertex paint.

Eric Chadwick

Moar!
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryEnvironmentDesign#Modular_Design_and_Workflow

VPrime

Thanks for the links guys. Vig, those first ones are great.. I was trying to figure out how to tile textures like that.

The modular level ideas has me thinking.. But in a low poly game for iPhone, would it be a great idea? For example. If I have a long corridor, each side of the wall could just be 2 polygons with a single texture that scales across.
But if I were to do it modular, it would be a bunch of 2 polygon segments.

I guess I could make some things modular

Thanks again for the links guys!

keizza

you can still do it the old way you were mentioning. for example....i am currently workin in unity on some iphone games. i ususally create a couple of verticle textures on one half of a texture that will tile vertically. then i'll use the rest of the two quadrients of the map for more specific items. this is of course easier for sci fi environments because you can come up w/some really interesting things by playing with the scaling of the uv's EVERYWHERE on the map. dunno, guess it depends on the game. also, we have to work w/small textures as well....so i'm a little constrained.

VPrime

Ok so I started doing some texturing using a single texture atlas.

But because my level is extremely low poly (2 tris/1poly for a wall.......) I can't do tile the texture like this
http://chrisholden.net/tutor/max_tiling04.jpg

Is there any way I can tile the texture in my situation?

Keizza, I was reading up a bit and it turns out Unity likes the textures to be in a single texture atlas. I know it is still possible, but it doesn't seem to be the best way for the engine.

Ghostscape

VPrime, if you're tiling across a single dimension (ie, left to right, like a single-height worth's of wall), you can stack multiple tiles on top of each other, so your atlas tiles left to right but not up to down. Unless Unity is radically different, there is no reason to stick with a square texture, so you could do a bunch of single-axis tiling textures and make a 128x1024 texture atlas.

VPrime

Ah, never thought of that...

But I have a question about doing it that way vs individual tiled textures. At this point I am working on a VERY simple level (tutorial level for the game). This will have 4 textures. Right now the 4 textures are 64x64. In an atlas it is 128x128.

If my manually tile the textures in my atlas.. that will create a much larger texture than the total of 128x128.

As far as how the resources are handled, would tiling a single 64x64 texture across a single poly plain be any better/worse than using a larger texture atlas.. Or even a plane with more segments and a smaller atlas?

I get why it is good to use an atlas, but in a situation where there are so few polygons and so few textures... Would the "old" way of doing things be more efficient?