Re: Question about dealing with content creation for large worlds

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UV mapping buildings is not the bottleneck, in my experience. Keeping draw
calls within limits and keeping the memory from ballooning are the most
difficult parts. Having a clear idea how the buildings will be seen by the
player, and handled by the engine, are key determinants for how they should
be created by the artists. Do they need interiors? Does the player climb
them? Etc.

Once that's clear, creating the actual content is fairly straightforward.

Depending on the kind of game, buildings are often done in a modular
fashion. There's a nice visual breakdown here.
http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html

Modular UVs are pretty well understood by artists these days, and the tools
are fairly robust. Maybe the artists you're working with aren't very
familiar with UV tools or process?

This tutorial should help artists understand the UV process.
http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_sets/modular_sets.html

This one, although not free, is very good as well, and covers much more.
http://www.3dmotive.com/training/udk/modular-building-workflow/

We have a lot of articles here about modular workflow. This wiki has been
built for game artists in particular.
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryEnvironmentModularity

Hope this helps.
Eric


On Sat, Nov 24, 2012 at 3:50 PM, Juan Linietsky <[email protected]> wrote:

> This is a semi on-top and semi-offtopic question. I can't find much
> information on creating pipelines for creating 3D content for large worlds.
> I'm finding that artists modelling the "shape" of such words (primitives)
> of cities, buildings or even natural places such as canyons or valleys is
> doen pretty quickly, they usually do it in a matter of days. Artists
> painting texturing and detail to them is also done quickly in nowadays
> tools, but the absolute bottleneck is UV mapping.
> The guys modeling take a long time uvmapping everything and artists are
> often not happy with the resulting UVs. Unwrapping architetural geometry in
> most 3D apps produces suboptimal results. There is also the problem of
> texture streaming, for which to achieve a good quality, textures should
> somehow be split evenly around world areas like quadrants or octants i
> think.
>
> I looked into Carmack's megatexturing approach, but it seems too
> unnecesarily complex IMO, plus there are no tools available that artists
> can use commercially?
> So, I'm looking at some intermediate step, where a tool, (or at least an
> algorithm),  can take a giant world (like a city), untextured and either:
> a) Let artists paint directly on it (kind of like ptex?), then flatten and
> export to zoned models with textures and uvs.
> b) Just slice up the world in zones/octants, generate uniform uvs and
> export?
>
> In any case I'm really ignorant on how this works in large scale games, so
> hence my question.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Juan Linietsky
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sweng-Gamedev mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.midnightryder.com/listinfo.cgi/sweng-gamedev-midnightryder.com
>
>

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UV mapping buildings is not the bottleneck, in my experience. Keeping draw =
calls within limits and keeping the memory from ballooning are the most dif=
ficult parts. Having a clear idea how the buildings will be seen by the pla=
yer, and handled by the engine, are key determinants for how they should be=
 created by the artists. Do they need interiors? Does the player climb them=
? Etc. <br>

<br>Once that&#39;s clear, creating the actual content is fairly straightfo=
rward. <br><br>Depending on the kind of game, buildings are often done in a=
 modular fashion. There&#39;s a nice visual breakdown here.<br><a href=3D"h=
ttp://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html">http:/=
/www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html</a><br>

<br>Modular UVs are pretty well understood by artists these days, and the=
=20
tools are fairly robust. Maybe the artists you&#39;re working with aren&#39=
;t=20
very familiar with UV tools or process?<br><br>This tutorial should help ar=
tists understand the UV process.<br><a href=3D"http://www.philipk.net/tutor=
ials/modular_sets/modular_sets.html">http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modul=
ar_sets/modular_sets.html</a><br>

<br>This one, although not free, is very good as well, and covers much more=
.<br><a href=3D"http://www.3dmotive.com/training/udk/modular-building-workf=
low/">http://www.3dmotive.com/training/udk/modular-building-workflow/</a><b=
r>

<br>We have a lot of articles here about modular workflow. This wiki has be=
en built for game artists in particular.<br><a href=3D"http://wiki.polycoun=
t.com/CategoryEnvironmentModularity">http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryEnvi=
ronmentModularity</a><br>

<br>Hope this helps.<br>Eric<br><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><br><div cla=
ss=3D"gmail_quote">On Sat, Nov 24, 2012 at 3:50 PM, Juan Linietsky <span di=
r=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">reduzi=
[email protected]</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>

<blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1p=
x #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">This is a semi on-top and semi-offtopic ques=
tion. I can&#39;t find much information on creating pipelines for creating =
3D content for large worlds.<div>

I&#39;m finding that artists modelling the &quot;shape&quot; of such words =
(primitives) of cities, buildings or even natural places such as canyons or=
 valleys is doen pretty quickly, they usually do it in a matter of days. Ar=
tists painting texturing and detail to them is also done quickly in nowaday=
s tools, but the absolute bottleneck is UV mapping.=A0</div>


<div>The guys modeling take a long time uvmapping everything and artists ar=
e often not happy with the resulting UVs. Unwrapping architetural geometry =
in most 3D apps produces suboptimal results. There is also the problem of t=
exture streaming, for which to achieve a good quality, textures should some=
how be split=A0evenly around world areas like quadrants or octants i think.=
</div>


<div><br></div><div>I looked into Carmack&#39;s megatexturing approach, but=
 it seems too unnecesarily complex IMO, plus there are no tools available t=
hat artists can use commercially?</div><div>So, I&#39;m looking at some int=
ermediate step, where a tool, (or at least an algorithm), =A0can take a gia=
nt world (like a city), untextured and either:</div>


<div>a) Let artists paint directly on it (kind of like ptex?), then flatten=
 and export to zoned models with textures and uvs.</div><div>b) Just slice =
up the world in zones/octants, generate uniform uvs and export?</div><div>


<br></div><div>In any case I&#39;m really ignorant on how this works in lar=
ge scale games, so hence my question.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks!</div=
><span class=3D"HOEnZb"><font color=3D"#888888"><div><br></div><div>Juan Li=
nietsky</div>

<div><br></div><div><br></div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>
</font></span><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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s.midnightryder.com</a><br>
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htryder.com" target=3D"_blank">http://lists.midnightryder.com/listinfo.cgi/=
sweng-gamedev-midnightryder.com</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>

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