Quick question about modeling techniques Thread - UT40K: The Chosen mod for Unreal Tournament 3

Hey guys i was recently working on a building when i sort of stumbled upon a question.

I was making a window sill for my building, and was wondering what the best method was for creating this window sill. Would it be to add edge loops all the way around the building and extrude it out from the walls? Or would it be best to create the sill as a seperate piece of geometry and just move it into place (as shown in pic below)?

(Click to enlarge)

Thanks

can't see the pic but if the sill goes all the way in or just sits in front of the wall you can do it as a seperate piece

Ok from the pic in my other thread about the calderis buildings, that is an example of adding edge loops and extruding the sill out from the wall. Is this the best method for game design?

maybe not but atm it's whats eaasier for you to work with, a few extra polys won't harm it

Hmm well i could do a seperate piece if you would like me to? Its probably even easier than the edgeloop extrusion method. I dont know i just thought it was better to have as much of the model as you can as one piece.

might be easier to uv map if its sepparate

So in future i should do pieces like this as seperate pieces?

thats the way i do it

Also, for the purposes of our mod, should i add a floor to this building? Coz wont it look weird if you walk into the building on the maps terrain?

yes

Ok will add a floor, and will then probably begin the process of unwrapping and normal mapping the model. If thats alright with you geo?

yep sure go for it

Um yeh was just about to start unwrapping when a question hit me. I remember ministry told me a while back to split the mesh up into seperate parts as it greatly helps with the normal map, then you can just join the normal map back together in a paint program later on.

So how would u guys suggest i split this mesh up? What parts would u say i should split it up into?

Thanks

split it up into walls roof floor doors and windows

Ok thanks, and also, im having some trouble with the floor. I am completely lost with this Should i have it so that it sits just under the base of the building? Or should i have it so that it intersects with the base of the walls?

so it fits inside the walls, like a slightly raised floor boards

Yeah thats what i was originally leaning towards, ok thanks for the help. Ill go fix the floor, and then unwrap it.

Ok started uv mapping today and have hit a little snag. I was unwrapping the window, and came across a bit of a puzzle in trying to achieve no seams while making sure that the checker pattern is not distorted.

As you can see in the pic below the outside faces of the window sill (far left uv's) have been done, with seems only at the very ends, which is where i wanted them.

But is there a way to make the front faces(the one selected in the picture below is one of the front faces, just so u know which ones im talking about) without seams and also without distorting the checker pattern?

As you can see in order to weld the vertices together to remove the seam i would have to shift the vertices upwards, which would create distortion. Is there any way to do this? Should i just leave that seam where it is?

Thanks

leave it as it is, with square forms you will always have seams

Ok just finished modeling the high poly, posted a pic for comparison. What do you guys think? Decided to post here to avoid clogging the forums.

(Click to enlarge)

How does it look?

looks ok to me

Hmm ok, so what size should i make texture maps(normal, spec, diffuse etc) for environmental models such as this?

2048 is the standard size now for texture maps, if your system can handel 4096 the do it at that size and then scale down for export

Nah i think ill keep it at 2048 for now, or should i go to 4096? coz my system can definitly handle it i just won a new computer which is very good

Off topic, but seriously, biggest? That's awesome

you'll make me jealous.

if you can goto to 4096 cos this game isn't going away so we might need textures that size in a few years, it's nice to plan a head