Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 1
This course will look at the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. We'll look at what makes a good model in Maya and why objects are modeled in the way they are.
# 1 10-06-2010 , 10:34 AM
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3d building for game environment

Hello everyone,
I’m quite new to creating buildings for game environments as I usually build characters, a few weeks ago I made my first building (https://srv01.simply3dworld.com/showt...threadid=34110) and it was ok but the UV layout was totally wrong.
I have recently created a new building with UV’s that are layed out better then my previous attempt, for repeated parts of the model I have reused the textures (windows, walls and doors).
At this point I will do some more editing to the geometry to save more polygons.
Anyway please check out my screen grabs and share any suggestions.
Thanks

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# 2 10-06-2010 , 12:19 PM
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looks good to me but I must admit I do not know a lot about game environment are you going to bake norm,texture map to a low res mesh to reduce the poly count, just a question..........dave




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# 3 10-06-2010 , 01:48 PM
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Hi Dave, at the moment I'm going to just use colour map and spec map.

# 4 10-06-2010 , 09:30 PM
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for something that is for a game environment i'd say that's a lot more faces than you need
the main building itself you could get away with by just straight out transformed cubes and then if the windows need to be indented then do that by normal maps, provided the game engine you're porting to supports that




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# 5 11-06-2010 , 12:42 AM
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Looks nice mate, but yes. You have far too many polys. If you get rid of the faces by the windows (I know, it's a pain with texturing without them) but it will drastically change your poly count.

Also, a little trick. Some games get rid of a lot of polys by making the stairs sloped, with no individual steps, and then texture map them to look like steps. This also helps a lot with collision detection.


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# 6 11-06-2010 , 08:46 AM
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Hey guys, your right I could save lots of polys by getting rid of the window face's. I will create a new texture map which as more of the repeating windows and the bricks between the windows.
What do you think?

At the moment I have also experience this problem when I save my file as MA format.
Please help user added image

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# 7 13-06-2010 , 10:39 PM
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Hi Guy's, I still don't know whats going on with saving my work in MA format, I not had this problem before but when I find out I will deffo make a post on the subject.

Anyway I have recently made some adjustments to the building, cutting down the tri's from 3900 to 2000.

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# 8 14-06-2010 , 07:15 PM
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Looks better, but you can still do more. Here's what it could come down to.

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# 9 14-06-2010 , 10:44 PM
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Thats really cool man I will give it a go.user added image

So far this is my texture map, I am totally unsure if this is the right way to map a building for games. However it has been surgested that I should title the bricks onto a single map, if so should windows, doors, panels and boarders be on a single map?
user added image

# 10 14-06-2010 , 10:46 PM
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Texture map

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# 11 15-06-2010 , 03:27 AM
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Hi Anthony. If the faces only have brick on them, then just use a small tile-able brick texture map. This will open up more space onto your main texture map for things like doors and windows. This means that you can get more texture data, in an even lower resolution texture.


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# 12 15-06-2010 , 11:36 AM
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# 13 15-06-2010 , 12:26 PM
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Hi mtmckinley,

user added image
That’s an excellet piece of work you have and I love the detail of the boarders. Man I wish I had mad skills like you.

If you don’t mind me asking how did you layout the texture for your building?

The building I am creating will have some more basic detail for the silouette of the building which I provide in the geometry.

The problem I have is understanding how it should be textured for the Uv’s.

However my plan is to create a single tiled texture for the bricks (128 x 128) followed by a single texture for windows (on top of the bricks) railings and boarders will be on another single texture.
Please correct me if I have this wrong.

Here is the building I am inspired by.

( https://www.flickr.com/photos/74805783@N00/2280914840/ )

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