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3D & Animation Some questions...

talikan

Member
Mar 18, 2006
24
0
As I'm getting into modelling SM with Maya, I'd have a few questions for you :

1) I understand that UnrealEngine speeds things up when using a grid to snap to powers of 2 coordinates, but is it relevant for SM created with Maya, as they are handled by the graphic card ?
In fact, I use a 8 uu grid under Maya, but when using scale tool, vertexes no longer snap to maya grid... Does it impact performance ? Can I use the scale tool, or must I do scaling "manually" by moving vertexes one by one to be sure they snap to grid ?


2) I'm putting my hands on UV mapping & texturing... How do you guys determine the size of the UV texture ? I've taken a look at some SM done on original maps, but I could find any kind of rule... Are there any rule/habit like some "128 pix <=> ~64uu" correspondance, or is it just by trial/error ?

Thanks for your help.
 
The snap to grid thing is mainly for BSP in the Unreal Engine, however you will find that keeping static meshes snapped to the grid will make life alot easier for whoever is mapping and has to use that mesh.

In maya if you double click the scale tool, options should come up at the right regarding snapping, etc. If it doesn't just move the vertexes out with move w/ snap on (can only really do that with a basic shape, like a cube, though).
 
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Yeah I gotta agree that with Smesh's, ensure it complies to the grid isn't as important.. esp performance wise..

the main reason you would want Smeshs to snap the grid is so you can tile your smesh (ie: walls, fences, etc..).. anything that you would snap several objects together..

..

as for the UVs.. the rule of thumb that I'm aware of is, make it the smallest size you can.

the average video card can only handle so much non-repeative textures..

if possible, you should make multiple UVs on one texture.. that is.. if you have several small objects in your map.. instead of making 5-10 128^2 textures for each.. it might be better to make 1 512^2
 
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