The path into game development really depends on where you're starting from. Some people start with an idea or thing they want to see in a game and learn skills as they go. Others master art or programing first and either find a counterpart or eventually branch out into the other discipline while working on different…
I meant that AO is usually done as a separate texture or texture channel. Because you shouldn't see any AO on pixels illuminated by direct sun light for example , only in shades . So it's not included into base color texture usually. Cycles , same as any ray tracer in general doesn't need AO because same effect occurs by…
I was using unreal back when it was version 2.0. Sockets existed in the engine back then. And the base skeleton didn't look like this. It had no twist bones - for example.