[aldo_14]

Question...anyone think having 2 512*512 and 3 2048*2048 (excluding turrets) maps on a model is excessive (in terms of memory space use)?  
I'm having doubts myself, to be honest.

[Taristin]

3 2048s? Yes. Perhaps a bit excessive.

[Flaser]

What kind of model?

Destroyer? Jugernaught? Corvette?

Bomber? Fighter?

It depends on the ship. BTW not the sheer size, but the number of the textures is what worries me. Unless it's a very big ship I don't see the reason.

The less maps the better for HTL.

Baking is your friend.

[aldo_14]

1-15km long ship.  Custom Uv-ed, as for a fighter - only one part uses a tiled texture, the rest is 'properly' textured.  I need to have multiple maps / high res maps to get a decent detail level and sharpness on screen.  I have 4 templated maps because the model is about 3000-4000 polys, and it would be extremely difficult to texture it without breaking it into logical subobjects.

Max 4 doesn't have texture baking.  And I wouldn't use it anyways, because I prefer to work from scratch with my own templates.

[DaBrain]

If only one of these ships is used in a mission it should be ok (*.DDS).

If not, resize to 2*512², 3*1024².
Or reduce the glow/shine map size. But be careful withe shine map. It the size difference between the map and the shine map is too big, it will look weird.

[KARMA]

monstrousily excessive:)

I think that when you map such big ships you have to re-use parts of the textures whenever you can

[magatsu1]

Hurrah! Aldo hasn't "done a Nico" and jacked it in!

[DaBrain]

Originally posted by KARMA
monstrousily excessive:)

I don't think so...
Just tell me the texture sizes of mordern games, like Doom3. (In "utra-high" even uncompressed ... All three maps  )


Things would be different if we had somehing like detail textures. (Which might become reality soon    )

[magatsu1]

yeah but Doom3 doesn't use the FS2 engine...

[DaBrain]

Doom3 isn't the only game which uses large textures.

I'm just thinking FSO should evolve with the time.
The coders gave us the possibilities, we just have to use them.

If the game is to slow on your system, reduce the details, or upgrade your system, cause FSO has a modern engine and it's no old game you can run with all details on old systems.



P.S. A texture downsize option would be a great thing for low-end user. (Just set a maximum of what you like. I.e. 1024²)

[magatsu1]

FSO runs perfectly well on my system. Thanks for asking.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by KARMA
monstrousily excessive:)

I think that when you map such big ships you have to re-use parts of the textures whenever you can

Well, I'd rather go (and probably will do) with 1024 maps myself, it's just a question of getting the right level of resolution....I did compromise by using a tiled map for part of the model - but I don't think you get the right level of quality that way, in terms of details on the maps.

 It'd be piss easy for me to just jig together some custom tiled maps, but I think that mean I'd have to compromise on the model or the maps to get it to look right.... the more detailed the model gets, the harder it is to justify reusing the maps.

i.e. the Fenris vs the Aeolus.

NB: my aim is to start developing stuff which is usable in other games, BTW, in terms of detail level / quality.  I long ago realised this isn;t the sort of thing I could do for a living, but I'd like to at least have a decent level of ability to do stuff outside FS.

[KARMA]

I agree with you about tileing but I was thinking at something different
If you take the fenris as example, many parts of the textures (like the nose plating) are reused (probably a bit too much) in many different points of the mesh
Personally I unwrap the main groups of faces at first, then I draw the textures, then I try to unwrap the other minor and less visible groups of faces over parts of those textures.  If this can't be done then I draw new details.
In most cases you can't even realize that different group of faces use the same details.
This way, you can save a lot of texture space.
I guess you may do the same, to a certain degree.  

BTW I realized the same about doing this kind of things for living, I think that probably the only chance is to work on an indipendent project, hope to complete it, hope to sell it.
When do we start?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by KARMA
I agree with you about tileing but I was thinking at something different
If you take the fenris as example, many parts of the textures (like the nose plating) are reused (probably a bit too much) in many different points of the mesh
Personally I unwrap the main groups of faces at first, then I draw the textures, then I try to unwrap the other minor and less visible groups of faces over parts of those textures.  If this can't be done then I draw new details.
In most cases you can't even realize that different group of faces use the same details.
This way, you can save a lot of texture space.
I guess you may do the same, to a certain degree.  
 

I handle that when I uv it, yeah.  Tend not to reuse much, though - I tend to use the same principle as for fighters, and this is a first for me anyways.

[magatsu1]

I always figured FS was a good place to start modeling. Usually prefer FPS myself, but FS seemed liked a better place to begin.