1 texture per asset or 1 texture for more than 1 asset..?

[meshcarver 12]

Hi guys,

I'm at the start of modelling assets like signposts, barrels and telegraph poles etc, and right now, it's more or less 1 texture sheet per asset.

So, my telegraph pole has a single 1024*1024, the barrel has a single 1024*1024 etc.

Is this the best way to go..? Is it efficient?

Or, would it be best to make a texture sheet, say 1024*1024 have all the images for the barrel, the signpost and a bucket say?

These are models that will be used across the new map/terrain, not just in special areas.

Thanks for your help guys,

Marc

[Macser_old 0]

If you know a certain number of objects will almost always be present in game

then get as much of them as possible onto a single texture.Or a small set of textures.

For objects that may only make an occasional appearance try a separate,but slightly

smaller texture.As small as you can get away with without destroying the quality.

This should cut down on drawcalls.And help to make sure textures are being used

more efficiently.

As far as I'm aware these principles are common to most game engines.

So there's no reason they wouldn't apply here. :)

[meshcarver 12]

Aye, good advice man.

Atm, I've modelled a destroyed tyre, all battered like, and the way I've done the texture image is so I can have three model variations, all using the same texture image. One model plain tyre, one model without rims, one model with extra gunk.

I take it that's good for engine in ARMA 2, these three objects using same texture image?

[Macser_old 0]

I'm not an expert on the workings of the arma series,by any means.

But those principles should work well in any game engine.

Hardware is more advanced these days.But that's not a reason to be untidy.

Though you could make the different tyre objects separate entities.I don't think it would

cause major concern.It may even be beneficial.

Think of it this way.You could have four objects of the same type,like the tyre,using

a single texture to represent different states of wear.Maybe each version uses a quarter

of a 1024 or 2048 texture.If only one of the objects is present for the duration of a mission,

you'll be pulling that whole texture into memory.When all you needed was a 512x512 or 1024

x1024 texture for that particular version.Which would probably be half the size on disk.

But if you included the vehicle they were attached to in the texture,then that may be more

useful.As the vehicle is likely to be present regardless of the state of the wheels.

I'd say it really comes into it's own when applied to an environment.Where most of the objects

using that texture would be present for the duration of a mission.

Now.As I said,I'm not an expert or an industry professional.So I'm certainly open to correction.

:)

If this is an Arma 2 question you should ask a moderator to move the topic.

[Robster 11]

lol

Hey MM1!

You're posting into A1 threads... anyways, you might consider to take a look into BIS textures (.paa files which can be saved as .tga files using BIS tex2view tool), so you can save some extra image files and only work on meshes... of course, this apply for generic stuff but I've been making some experiments with very good results on 41 KB total file size...