Normal map generation question

Kratilim

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a personal scene in my free time after work hours. And I'm wondering the following. I was modelling a medieval wooden cart and was using textures I already used in the environment its for to keep the scene clean. But what do you guys generally do? Do you model each object in detail and use RTT'ing (render to texture) to generate the normal maps? or do you use a few maps you're already using?

So in short, how much do you actually model out in high detail when creating a prop or something for an environment vs using a few shared textures? I can understand wanting to model out everything but that takes more time, although it does look better.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

gsokol

So in short, how much do you actually model out in high detail when creating a prop or something for an environment vs using a few shared textures? I can understand wanting to model out everything but that takes more time, although it does look better.

Depends on how much detail is needed for the prop..how large it is..how often its seen..if its important... If its an important prop, I would spend the time to make it nice..

Usually I model the major props, uniquely unwrap them and use RTT, but if its a super small prop, or I'm in a time crunch at work...I'll use tiled textures more often.