[Big Tutorial] Making Modular Environments in UDK
polycounter lvl 16
Hi Everyone,
I've finally finished that tutorial I've been promising since forever: Making modular environments in UDK.
In this tutorial I go over a lot of techniques that I learned when creating Zest Foundation. Although I used UDK for this tutorial the concepts can easily be adapted to other engines.
Let me know if you have any doubts or suggestions for topics that i didn't cover!
LINK: http://www.thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html
Some pics:
I've finally finished that tutorial I've been promising since forever: Making modular environments in UDK.
In this tutorial I go over a lot of techniques that I learned when creating Zest Foundation. Although I used UDK for this tutorial the concepts can easily be adapted to other engines.
Let me know if you have any doubts or suggestions for topics that i didn't cover!
LINK: http://www.thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html
Some pics:
Replies
I see too many people doing unique unwraps for every object and in actual production that is insane. a couple trim sheets and some tiles should easily be able to get 80% of a level in place with unique props added to detail it. wicked tutorial man!
indeed, this is something i learned when i started doing modular scenarios. unique uvs might look nice, but for actual stuff its unbearable. a whole building can be done with a single uv set, including some props like signs, doors and stuff.
Thanks for the tutorial. Imma read it over tomorrow morning with a very large, strong coffee in hand.
Obrigado Mino!
You know your shit sir!
Definitely. A good environment artist must be efficient with his resources and time. If you look at current-gen console tiles you won't see much uniquely mapped stuff. Red Dead Redemption is a good example for this: They use tiling textures and modularity everywhere but they hide it so well that only trained eyes are able to spot.
That's a good point. Yeah, I use 2 materials for each object. Not a big deal though, because I'm not working with very small chunks. I'll add a paragraph or two about performance later today.
Yes, but the trim set only need to tile in one direction, while the walls need to tile vertically and horizontally. Trying to put them together on one sheet would mean you couldn't get large vertical spaces of wall.
You could "force" a second axis tiling where needed, and use a single sheet, by manually cutting and repositioning UVs... but then you'll have lighting/normal seams everywhere--which might be hidden in the 'visual seams' of this particular texture, but probably isn't a great habit to get into. A downside to using the two materials is that every object using using both has a larger draw call cost, but that's probably not a huge concern for the tutorial author.
You need to use a multi/sub-object material. It's pretty simple. Here's a quick tutorial:
[ame]
Try not to use more than 2 sub-materials for pieces that will get used heavily. The more materials you use the more expensive the unit will get.
Yes it does. Check this if you haven't yet: http://www.hourences.com/tutorials-ue3-modeling-1/
Really nice work, thanks for taking the time to put this together, such a great resource.
Only thing is i hate the bend modifier, i prefer to use ffd to do curved parts that snap to a grid.
Thanks for the breakdown! I was waiting for it!
Parab