help on modeling and texturing large scale objects
polycounter lvl 9
So im working on making a general cargo boat for a fps game where the player will walk on the deck but i need help. how do i go about modeling, do i make a high poly or do a model the mesh to look smooth? do i make the props of the ship like doors and stairs a separated texture? the engine that i will use is the unreal engine 4
this is the type of ship im making
this is the type of ship im making
Replies
Will it just be a "platform like" object that you will only play on for a few seconds before jumping off? Or will it be an entire game play level unto itself?
If the former, then yes, model, optimize and build out what you need on a case by case basis.
If its an entire level, then in all honesty, I wouldn't start with modeling, but start by using your game play editor to flesh out the playable space and block out a rough list of what you will need from that.
If its an entire level, its going to be a huge undertaking and the "best practices" way of doing it is going to be to build out a list of all the individual props you need based off of a greybox mock-up and just start knocking them out one by one based on priority. Fleshing out the level first should help get you what you need. (who cares about the outside hull if the player character is never going to see it?)
That should allow you to streamline and prioritize the individual tasks if its a full level.
Speaking about modelling, i would probably use one large mesh for hull and accommodation, separate meshes for hatch covers, and working my way down the scale from large props to small ones. There should be plenty repetition to allow for use of models. Frames, portholes, modular pipe sections, hydrants, fire hose boxes, stairways, ladders, doors and other stuff can be modeled and textured only once and re-used all over the place.
I think the key here is to re-use texture space as efficient as possible. I would probably make one metal master material with tiling texture and detail maps and use vertex painting with some masks to variate its color, add rust and dirt. Looking at the picture, it should cover at least half of texturing needs. Maybe even two materials. One for outside surfaces and the other one for decks, because the paint used for hull is way different from the one used for decks.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/MultiTexture
We use this kind of an approach to do massive spaceships on Fractured Space, the entire ship is just a couple of 1k textures. It holds up pretty well even close, though if you want to walk on the deck in FPS you'll want to use higher resolution textures than that.
Example wireframe
Ingame: