Are there any problems with doing an exploded bake? If there are no significant disadvantages I can't see why you wouldn't explode the mesh for baking because you're going to get cleaner results, the gun I recently did required to be exploded for the cleanest bake. If there are reasons however to avoid exploded bakes then…
Don't worry about Texel density right now anyway because it doesn't technically exist unless there is a corresponding texture applied within 3d space. Texel density isn't going to be your problem for a bit. Focus on maximizing used space for the object. These are two different concepts and will confuse you a lot if you're…
Skills to acquire for environment art; - Sub-D modeling - Sculpting - Retopologizing - UV Mapping - Baking - Material creation - Texturing - Set design in a game engine - Lighting - Post processing You won't be able to learn all these in one go. Material creation, set design, lighting, and post processing can wait a bit…
I have to say, 10/10 on your OP! It's very easy to help you because of how you laid all of this out. I can't help you with the maya stuff as I'm a Max guy myself, but: Hard edges and smoothing groups are pretty much the same thing, but each attack the situation from a different standpoint. Smoothing groups say which…
This is good stuff! I love seeing these kinds of threads, and the inquisitive minds behind them. It seems you are interested in technical art. This is exactly how many tech artists get started, by researching topics, trying to figure out how they work, and trying to improve on them with their own work. I'm thinking of…
I guess the first thing to consider when getting a degree is "where are you from?" The industry in general doesn't look for people with degrees and you can get a job without one. However there are a few instances where a degree might be useful or worthwhile getting: * if you are in a country that is not a game development…
1. I've seen artists use ZBrush to create the low poly geometry of a game character using mostly ZSphere retopology. Personally, I think ZBrush's retopo tools (ZSpheres and Topology brush) are a good option for cleaning up individual parts or retopo-ing smaller meshes but for everything more complex I prefer either Maya…
With tiling textures, you still keep your shell within the 0 to 1 space because the texture tiles. There's no need to go outside, it'll just be the same texture. Tiling just means repeating in a direction. Tiling textures repeat in U and V directions. Trim textures usually repeat in one direction, either U or V or Harry…
Hey everyone, I've been working on this project for a while and decided that it would be very beneficial for everyone if i keep track of my progress here. It's about making modular characters for the game we are working on: Knights of Azariah. The idea is to have an army of customizable characters using Blueprints to…
I would definitely recommend using tileable textures for the floor and walls. On large objects, tileable textures generally allow for a far higher texel resolution than is otherwise possible. You can add variation to a tiled surface by multiplying the tileable texture with a dedicated texture containing colour variation…