When to Use Shader/Texture, Separate and Together
polycounter lvl 3
I know the general difference between what a shader and texture is. I'm confused on the standard way or most efficient way when using them together.
I'm working on a car. Below are hypothetical situations for the car body.
1A) If the car body is to be a solid yellow should I simply use a shader and disregard UV mapping and textures?
1B) If the car has one stripe down the middle should I UV map the body for a diffuse texture using yellow and a black stripe in the center accordingly? OR Use a shader only for the yellow and have a diffuse texture that is transparent with the black stripe?
2) Is relying on textures for diffuse, spec, gloss etc. better because it can be sent to whatever engine/renderer and the user doesn't have to mess with shaders each time? For example, if I made the car for multiple game engines, relying on the same textures is easier than messing with each shader in each engine.
I'm working on a car. Below are hypothetical situations for the car body.
1A) If the car body is to be a solid yellow should I simply use a shader and disregard UV mapping and textures?
1B) If the car has one stripe down the middle should I UV map the body for a diffuse texture using yellow and a black stripe in the center accordingly? OR Use a shader only for the yellow and have a diffuse texture that is transparent with the black stripe?
2) Is relying on textures for diffuse, spec, gloss etc. better because it can be sent to whatever engine/renderer and the user doesn't have to mess with shaders each time? For example, if I made the car for multiple game engines, relying on the same textures is easier than messing with each shader in each engine.
Replies
1B: yes you should UV and unwrapm to a black an white mask, that way it becomes easier to pick different colors for the body and stripe, through the shader.
2: It's a tradeoff. Portability vs specializing, quantity vs quality. You'll never get it to look awesome with only a set of simple textures, but you can not port the specific shader that would make it look awesome to another engine.
So if I did this for portfolio I'd do whatever makes it look the very best. If this is for a game, that game should have a system/plan for this stuff which surely relies on a car shader. However, if selling this on Turbosquid or something, you should go for generic textures. Engine-specific stores you can go specific again, like Unity or Unreal.
There's actually very little reason to go portable unless you want to sell it for as many engines as possible.
I never thought of this. Using a mask for a shader. This sounds like a way to make multiple paint jobs if many copies of the car are to be on screen.