TOR! I don't know if you've seen this, but since your scene is all about optimization technique, I figured it would benefit you GREATLY.
In the latest UDK version (January), you are able to combine static meshes, therefore reduce draw calls, therefore add to the purpose of your exercise here.
Especially because your meshes use the same texture, the new tool allows you to combine meshes, and it regenerates the UV's for that particular "combined" mesh. It is meant to be used only for meshes with like textures....and I'd say that is just what you have here ;]
TOR! I don't know if you've seen this, but since your scene is all about optimization technique, I figured it would benefit you GREATLY.
In the latest UDK version (January), you are able to combine static meshes, therefore reduce draw calls, therefore add to the purpose of your exercise here.
Especially because your meshes use the same texture, the new tool allows you to combine meshes, and it regenerates the UV's for that particular "combined" mesh. It is meant to be used only for meshes with like textures....and I'd say that is just what you have here ;]
this would actually create unique textures for every group at whatever resolution you specify. Every UV will have it's own space, no overlap. That would look much worse and take MORE space. it will make it possible for mobile UDK to render the scene with little trouble though.
tristamus: Actually, combining meshes that share the same material is already simple. For bulletstorm we could simply select identical meshes then combine them to a new one and repack the lightmap UVs, that is part of the reason why I insisted on keeping one material per prop etc. : )) So if I wanted to, I could easily make the scene into even fewer objects if needed, however, the object-count isnt that high anyway, so I didnt bother.
Also the combine wouldnt work that well for my scene anyway, I dont have a regular UV-layout, or a typical texture, so it would basically ruin all of it. : ))
-> Snefer: style of this video, and method of creating remind me some sort of project demo-scene
This is fantastic work - very inspiring me
ps. And I think the limit could be pushed even further
some modular geometry can add a lot of variability (like your table) [like lego]
and many other stuff can strengthen life in scene
I wish good luck for you ¦ ]
.
Fantastic work, I have to say this is all very inspiring and you've done a really good job of answering most questions (which for somebody who's just come accross this thread is good because means that by the end of it I pretty much understand the whole process).
Really look forward to getting my hands on the scene [if you're still planning on releasing it that is] and have an even more in-depth look at it.
I just wanted to stop by and say that this thread has been so inspirational for me that I had to register to thank you (and everyone else for asking excellent questions, too).
This thread actually started around the time I needed to begin work on my thesis, so I ended up adopting/integrating a lot of the technique presented here (and reverse engineering a lot of the material, though I don't think it has all the same functionality yours probably does).
Hey Tor, do you export your models directly from Modo? What file format do you use? What grid units do you use in Modo and what are they equal to in UDK? Do you do smoothing groups in Modo as well? Do you have 2 UV maps per object 1 for texture 1 for light map? Everything exporting correctly for UDK? I'm just curious of your overall workflow from Modo to UDK (if there is one) and any problems you may have had that other Modo users like me would bump into. Thanks!!
That's simply amazing. I don't understand 1/10th of the stuff in this thread. Im currently making a sci-fi space station and i just cant understand how you've used such little texture space. Blowing my mind
Thanks for all the comments! And I havent forgotten, the scene will be released for download, I'm just waiting for some stuff to clear before releasing it.
coots7: yes I do. For this scene I was using the ASE-exporter that is floating around the net, but nowadays I just use the FBX, since that is much better (much better support for smoothing groups etc) For this scene I actually have 3 UVsets. : ) I actually havent had any problems at all working with modo and UDK, and every problem Ive had Ivefigured out in a few minutes or so.
Noob question here concerning merge the maps and the RGB channels. Does each map that goes into the R, G, B channels have to be a grey scale texture sheet? I only ask because somewhere along the lines someone brought up the idea of adding even more maps, 8 grey textures I believe. Color me impressed by the way. Inspirational is an understatement.
for a regular color diffuse texture with 3 channels, each pixels' color is made up of 3 values, stored in the R,G,B channels respectively. 255 in R, 255 in G, 255 in B make a full white pixel, for instance.
in mix- or mergemaps, the final color output you get by using non-related grayscale maps in the various channels doesn't matter (and usually looks pretty funky). Basically you just use the color texture's channels as a container for 3 varying textures which you use separately. Say you only need a gray specular map, have a gloss map, and maybe an alpha for your asset. instead of importing each of these as a regular dxt diffuse texture, you cram 'em into the channels of a single texture and reduce you video memory footprint.
I was just confused when I read "gray scale" because I thought that meant every texture literally had to be gray. I didn't know how a Normal and Diffuse could be gray when it needed color haha.
I don't want to get off topic, but I feel like it's relevant to this texturing process. If not I'll delete and create a separate thread. I've been confused about combining multiple unwraps into one UV space as well as sharing texture space by combining textures sheets into one:
Let's say you have a few props and a building such as this
and everything unwrapped into one UV space like this
What happens if I wanted to export the ladder and drainage pipe to UDK? Does anything happen even though they are tied to the same UV space as the building and everything else? What happens when I apply the textures in UDK to just the ladder and drainage pipe since there are other model unwraps in the UV space?
The same goes for splitting up texture sheets to save memory. If there are separate meshes that I want to import yet they all share the same texture sheet, how do you separate the meshes when creating and importing into UDK?
Are you confined to the one UV space or can you quick planar map, pelt map, anywhere outside it and UDK will know you're doing this? I don't know how often you would want to use this workflow from the example below, but the texture was created first, then modeled off of allowing you put various pieces around and out the UV space:
I know that's a long winded question so thanks for taking the time to help. I really appreciate it!
this i crazy amazing, didn't know you could work with channels like that!
already learned a lot so a big thanks for that!
can't wait to explore it more when you realease it!
Hehe, only discovered this thread trough kotaku. Spent the last hour reading trough the thread amazing work! Love the lighting and the colours and the props look ridiculously good when taking the texture sizes into account and how fast you made them.
Only one question left... when is your DVD out? :poly121:
I absolutely love this environment! It's quite amazing!
I've been trying to learn a bit from it, and I had a question about the main material. I'm hoping someone can help me with this.
I was looking through the main material, and what I was most curious about was the Diffuse Color 2 parameter. I was mostly wondering how that is implemented. On the model and UV side of things I mean. It's obvious HOW it is done cause it's right in front of me, but I'm just curious as to what I would need to do to my UVs and texture to utilize the diffuse color 2 parameter.
I was assuming it was a decal, but that doesn't seem to be the case since there is a separate decal color. Then I assumed it was just another UV channel for colorizing random parts of models, but that didn't seem to be the case either. Diffuse Color 2 isn't used extensively in the scene. I noticed it on the desks at first. The top part is red on those.
Just really wondering how this has been implemented.
hollaAtMe: The second color comes by offsetting the UVs for those polygons one step to the left : ) Simple as that its then masked out with a black/white mask in a lerp-node.
Replies
In the latest UDK version (January), you are able to combine static meshes, therefore reduce draw calls, therefore add to the purpose of your exercise here.
Especially because your meshes use the same texture, the new tool allows you to combine meshes, and it regenerates the UV's for that particular "combined" mesh. It is meant to be used only for meshes with like textures....and I'd say that is just what you have here ;]
Mesh Proxy Tool - http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MeshProxyTool.html
this would actually create unique textures for every group at whatever resolution you specify. Every UV will have it's own space, no overlap. That would look much worse and take MORE space. it will make it possible for mobile UDK to render the scene with little trouble though.
Also the combine wouldnt work that well for my scene anyway, I dont have a regular UV-layout, or a typical texture, so it would basically ruin all of it. : ))
pls
Jesus half of this shit is over my head but damn fantastic work.
This is fantastic work - very inspiring me
ps. And I think the limit could be pushed even further
some modular geometry can add a lot of variability (like your table) [like lego]
and many other stuff can strengthen life in scene
I wish good luck for you ¦ ]
.
Really look forward to getting my hands on the scene [if you're still planning on releasing it that is] and have an even more in-depth look at it.
Again fantastic work, purely inspirational
I just wanted to stop by and say that this thread has been so inspirational for me that I had to register to thank you (and everyone else for asking excellent questions, too).
This thread actually started around the time I needed to begin work on my thesis, so I ended up adopting/integrating a lot of the technique presented here (and reverse engineering a lot of the material, though I don't think it has all the same functionality yours probably does).
So, thanks again!
coots7: yes I do. For this scene I was using the ASE-exporter that is floating around the net, but nowadays I just use the FBX, since that is much better (much better support for smoothing groups etc) For this scene I actually have 3 UVsets. : ) I actually havent had any problems at all working with modo and UDK, and every problem Ive had Ivefigured out in a few minutes or so.
for a regular color diffuse texture with 3 channels, each pixels' color is made up of 3 values, stored in the R,G,B channels respectively. 255 in R, 255 in G, 255 in B make a full white pixel, for instance.
in mix- or mergemaps, the final color output you get by using non-related grayscale maps in the various channels doesn't matter (and usually looks pretty funky). Basically you just use the color texture's channels as a container for 3 varying textures which you use separately. Say you only need a gray specular map, have a gloss map, and maybe an alpha for your asset. instead of importing each of these as a regular dxt diffuse texture, you cram 'em into the channels of a single texture and reduce you video memory footprint.
I don't want to get off topic, but I feel like it's relevant to this texturing process. If not I'll delete and create a separate thread. I've been confused about combining multiple unwraps into one UV space as well as sharing texture space by combining textures sheets into one:
Let's say you have a few props and a building such as this
and everything unwrapped into one UV space like this
What happens if I wanted to export the ladder and drainage pipe to UDK? Does anything happen even though they are tied to the same UV space as the building and everything else? What happens when I apply the textures in UDK to just the ladder and drainage pipe since there are other model unwraps in the UV space?
The same goes for splitting up texture sheets to save memory. If there are separate meshes that I want to import yet they all share the same texture sheet, how do you separate the meshes when creating and importing into UDK?
Are you confined to the one UV space or can you quick planar map, pelt map, anywhere outside it and UDK will know you're doing this? I don't know how often you would want to use this workflow from the example below, but the texture was created first, then modeled off of allowing you put various pieces around and out the UV space:
I know that's a long winded question so thanks for taking the time to help. I really appreciate it!
already learned a lot so a big thanks for that!
can't wait to explore it more when you realease it!
The lab is showcased on UDK.com,along with an interview, couldnt be more flattered. : ))))
http://udk.com/showcase-amazing-one-texture
and you can download the scene from here:
[size=+2]Download:[/size]
http://www.torfrick.com/ScifiLab.rar
Plz dont look too closely! hehe
You got even more promotions!
Congrats
Congrats Tor!
dude u need to do a tutorial like from start to finish. im a noob and im kinda lost lol
so inspirational!
Only one question left... when is your DVD out? :poly121:
Stop making the rest of us look bad.
^_^
aweomesauce! thx for the share.
gg
thx
bb
:poly121: WHAT?!?!?!
Also, internet commenters, why are you not all professional graphics programmers yet? GAH kotakus comments give me a headache. :thumbdown::poly117:
http://www.kotaku.com.br/voce-nao-vai-adivinhar-o-segredo-desta-tech-demo/
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to reading fully through your other posts. C:
I've been trying to learn a bit from it, and I had a question about the main material. I'm hoping someone can help me with this.
I was looking through the main material, and what I was most curious about was the Diffuse Color 2 parameter. I was mostly wondering how that is implemented. On the model and UV side of things I mean. It's obvious HOW it is done cause it's right in front of me, but I'm just curious as to what I would need to do to my UVs and texture to utilize the diffuse color 2 parameter.
I was assuming it was a decal, but that doesn't seem to be the case since there is a separate decal color. Then I assumed it was just another UV channel for colorizing random parts of models, but that didn't seem to be the case either. Diffuse Color 2 isn't used extensively in the scene. I noticed it on the desks at first. The top part is red on those.
Just really wondering how this has been implemented.
Would love any assistance anyone can give me!
Thanks!!
THANK YOU! I figured it'd be something simple. Haha!
Thanks again!