When is best to apply textures?

RDLOVER777

Aka, WestRail42fan
Hi, when building a model from scratch in Blender or Gmax, when is it best to apply the textures? Before or after testing in game?
 
Besides the obvious "its a matter of personal preference" I'd say it depends on the part.

A single (unique) part can be textured at any point in the process.

A part that will get copied many times would be best UVW mapped and textured right away. Then when you copy it (either individually or using some sort of array command) all the rest get made with the UVW mapping and texture pre-applied.
Think of it as only having to invent that particular wheel once, lol.

Ben

Ben
 
I often give a model a simple notex material so I can view the asset in game. Takes only seconds to add or remove and no "painting" is required. This is useful for checking visual aspects including animation.

Choose whatever process suits you. There is no particular "best" way of making models.
 
My approach, using Blender, is to completely finish the modelling first. Then assign your material, and then unwrap. Doing it this way means that you can judge the space needed on your textures much better than doing it as you go along, IMO. Because I use baked Ambient Occlusion (AO) textures, this means that I need to find space on my texture for virtually every face on my model. However, some faces are either not prominent or invisible, so I scale these to take up the minimum space possible and allow more space to be devoted to the important bits. Example: in a cab it's important to be able to read the dials but it usually doesn't matter if the rear bulkhead is a bit fuzzy, so devote space on your textures accordingly. Give the dials loads of space, and the rear bulkhead a lot less. Baking AO gives a good basic shadow effect so IMO it's worth doing for just about everything. If an object is duplicated on the model, and has the same light/shade as the other one, then bake and then duplicate the object.

Good unwrapping and UV mapping is one of the most important aspects of 3D modelling, and it would be possible to write a book about how (and how not) to do it (I'm sure it's already been done, before the links come flooding in...)

R3
 
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