1 large uvw maps or multiple small maps
polycounter lvl 5
Hi all,
I have basic question, I say basic because I think its basic for an artist in the game industry., which I am not.
When making uvw maps for Unreal is it better to have one large map, say 2048x2048, that has multiple meshes in it or have the mesh broken out into multiple pieces and the maps are a smaller size like 512x512. So for example 3 meshes broken out at 512x512 or one mesh at 2048x2048.
Hope that makes sense,
Thanks
Alex
I have basic question, I say basic because I think its basic for an artist in the game industry., which I am not.
When making uvw maps for Unreal is it better to have one large map, say 2048x2048, that has multiple meshes in it or have the mesh broken out into multiple pieces and the maps are a smaller size like 512x512. So for example 3 meshes broken out at 512x512 or one mesh at 2048x2048.
Hope that makes sense,
Thanks
Alex
Replies
If you're making a relatively small environment it probably makes no difference. If you're making a large world with lots of stuff in it then you're usually best to use smaller maps as that will tend to fit with streaming a bit better - for consoles I'd recommend avoiding maps bigger than 1024square due to there being bugger all memory to play with
A good rule of thumb is to put sets of related objects (that are likely to be used together onto a single texture page (Eg. A bunch of girders)
There are a multitude of caveats attached to this - every project is different and needs assessing individually, ideally by someone who knows how to profile a game properly..