modeling/texturing LARGE scale environments for UDK

n8lugo

Hello everyone,
Im still fairly new to designing levels for UDK. I have modeled/textured/build small scale interior levels in UDK before but i want to try something new here with much LARGER scale for a class assignment. It is a large Cathedral-like space ship built on the hand of a giant.







I am wondering how i should break this down for texturing, and what the poly limit for the assets should be. I have a break down of the indivitual modular assets i plan on using in UDK and building the scene here by instancing them. I mean, is this even possible?? And am i approaching it the right way??

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/show4.jpg?w=94362c2a

Also, the little cube you see by the bottom of the arch is for scale comparison as it is the default UU measurement for a player model in UDK. So um..... This place is BIG.



Any suggestions, crits, comments, help would be awesome. For now i am simply trying to build a scene in UDK for a still render for a class using the composition like in the 3rd image. The ship will be floating in space with surrounding by nebulous clouds and some other spacey assets floating around the environment. Ultimately though, the long path you see there will lead in to an entire level. Its kind of vague, and i have no ideal if it makes any sense, but again any help on how i should approach this project is MUCH appreciated!!.

sprunghunt

I'd try making it quickly in some placeholder meshes. You say you have modularity planned so make the pieces you want really roughly to see if it works out well.

iconoplast

I'm going to second placeholders. That will let you set up the lighting and camera at least somewhat in advance and make it a lot easier to tweak them to make sure you can capture the sense of scale well.

I can't see your image, though, I just get an error telling me I don't have permissions for it.

n8lugo

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. You know i occasionally get the same "you dont have permission" too but im not sure what causes it. I can see the images fine, can everyone else?? My next question is how should i approach breaking it down for texturing?? Unwrap and use tiling textures?? Or use like 6000x6000 txt maps for the larger assets??

Shiniku

Howdy Nate.

Kevin Johnstone posted up a powerpoint on his site recently which has some great tips on making efficient and modular assets/textures.
http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/Help/Modular%20Environment%20Design.rar

Some of the descriptions are kinda scant but the images should give you some ideas I think.

Basically 6000x6000 textures is not the way to go. Make some very good and also very versatile textures, and be really clever with your UV mapping.

But yeah, it sounds you're on the right track I think. Like the others said, use placeholders to prototype it out and make sure it's all going to work.

ParoXum

I going to get back to a very large scale environment too, after the Brawl, and I intend to have around 10km of draw distance, I think that since it'll be a limited to an area demo the far details wont be as detailed as the playable area, but still.

I think I will stick to static meshes for close and far range. Leaves me the option to lightmap or vertex light the items far away with less details, and also do selective LODs on terrain parts.

Psy-UK

n8lugo wrote: »

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. You know i occasionally get the same "you dont have permission" too but im not sure what causes it. I can see the images fine, can everyone else??

Put the images in your 'Public' Dropbox folder then right-click and copy the public link so we can see them.

n8lugo

Ok so hopefully ive fixed the image issue. Please let me know if it still doesnt work. I built i block out in UDK using just static meshes and it all runs just fine, and the scale and proportions are all present where i want them. The last image is a break down of all the assets that compose the entire scene. Again, my main question is how should i approach this for texturing?? That power point provided was really helpful for efficient UV ussage, im just concerned that because of the scale of the geometry the i would lose txt quality. All comments, crits and suggestions are welcome!!

n8lugo

And I apologize for my apparent spelling and grammatical incompetence.

Razgriz

Nate, I forget if you were in the final presentation at Evolve with Josh Noble, but I would guess that his workflow might give you a decent idea for using tiling textures to create a lot of the large structures, especially if they are going to be quite far off in the distance. For your buttresses, tile most of them, and do all of your decoration with small modular pieces.

I know I had mentioned this before, but for the roof, you could sculpt three or so tiles, unwrap and texture them, and then make large roof pieces/tiles in max out of your three roof tiles. Very similar to what Josh was doing to make environments, although you would be making flat roof planes out of it. For things of this scale, tiling is definitely the way to go. I remember mentioning tiling textures when you were working on your mech hanger for the wall (as opposed to unique unwraps) - for that project you got away with it, here it would almost impossible, and have insanely low texel-density.

This is starting to look cool man, I really think you're going to sell the scale pretty well if you figure out what to do above and below the walkway. If you can convince the player he's on a sky-cathedral-walkway then then it's going to be sick.

EDIT: This tutorial is exactly the method I was mentioning to you in class, right down to the asset type you might want for the scene. Hope that you find it useful.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84561

Serp

Also you can use udk materials as placeholders. That way you can try and match that standard of quality.

sprunghunt

n8lugo wrote: »

Again, my main question is how should i approach this for texturing?? That power point provided was really helpful for efficient UV ussage, im just concerned that because of the scale of the geometry the i would lose txt quality.

The scale of the geometry is irrelevant. Your level mostly consists of narrow walkways where the player can walk and big geometry far away. Because the geometry is far away it doesn't need as much texture resolution as the geometry close up. So there's no real issue with the size of the geometry.

Try this:

- put this texture on all your surfaces : Material'EngineMaterials.DefaultMaterial'
- adjust your UVs until you're satisfied that all the blue squares are the same size when you walk around the level.

You'll notice that since you never get near the really large pieces you don't need as much texure resolution.

Otherwise just reuse and tile as much as you can.