This video is awesome! It cleared up so many things I’d been wondering about for ages and explained everything so well. This tutorial deserves way more views than it has. Thanks for all the effort you put into making it!
Thank you for the incredibly informative video! I am still unsure about one thing though: What is the best way to tackle giving bigger objects (like a wardrobe or a bookcase for example) the desired high texel density, if they are not going to be using a tileable texture (and therefore you can't just scale their UVs out of the box)? Do you just upscale the map to 4k and above (I often hear that this solution is only reserved for hero models)? Or do you go and give the asset several different 2k textures (like 1 for the shelves, 1 for the sides, etc.) so that you can fit them within the box while meeting the desired pixel density? PS: I am aware that overlapping UVs would be a smart solution to the problem, but for the sake of this example let's assume there is going to be a bunch of ornaments and other details across the asset that would make overlapping impossible.
The honest answer is, "It depends." What it depends on is the context: Is it a hero asset? Is unique texturing across the entire surface area of the object critical? Are you and your team looking for strict or loose TD adherence? Is this for a game, animation, or static render? But to answer your question (missing the complete context), you can use a 4K or 8K map if that achieves your desired TD. Otherwise, you could split the object into multiple pieces and texture them individually (case vs shelves, for example). Or you can be tactical with where you adhere to TD targets. For instance, if the bookshelf is placed against a wall and is taller than the player (assuming this is for a game), the object's back, bottom, and top could have a low TD, leaving more UV space for the visible areas. But also, given that you'll never be able to see both sides of the bookcase simultaneously (assuming no mirrors), you could overlap those UV islands. You could also decrease the TD for the bottom of the shelves below crouch height, etc. There are many different ways to achieve the desired result :) If you have more specific examples or an actual model you want advice on, feel free to post the details on our Discord server, I'd be happy to help. - Tristan
@@HugeMenace Thank you a lot. I'm mostly self thought, so even though I know how to produce a high quality finished asset for animation or games, I lack common sense knowledge on industry practices like this. It is a relief to see that all the solutions you listed, I have already done in the past for various projects - now I can have the confidence in applying them in a company environment as well.
I have a (really big) tree, the 4k texture is not enough to get all the tree at 2.56 px/cm, I suppose need to distribute the UV islands in multiple UV maps, is it possible? and how? 've used UVPackmaster3 to distribute in different tiles but not sure if it will works in substance and game engine, have no idea how I should to proceed.
Hello. There are a few techniques for larger assets as they're not always ideal for a single UV unwrap. You can either split the model into smaller parts, unwrapping each part and therefore creating multiple textures, or use a tiling texture, tri-planar projected texture, vertex colors, or any combination of the above. There are quite a few ways to go about it depending on how that tree will be used. - Tristan
Cyberpunk used an interesting technique to create layers of materials.(I still think texture arrays are more useful in their case.) Anyway, this makes it possible to have almost ideal pixel density at all times. And save on texture size.
This video is awesome! It cleared up so many things I’d been wondering about for ages and explained everything so well. This tutorial deserves way more views than it has. Thanks for all the effort you put into making it!
Thank you! Glad you found it useful. - Tristan
I'm happy to just discover this pure gold channel. Looking forward for the UV unwrapping masterclass. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you very much for the video. You don't know how helpful it is. I'm looking forward to more videos on the topic🙌.
Happy to hear that! - Tristan
omg i watched this out of genuine interest and at the end I realized it's the ND guy! i love u man
Thanks for checking the video out :) I hope it was helpful! - Tristan
Can you do the UV unwrapping masterclass my goat, I'm really looking forward to it
Yup, I still have plans to create it. Just have a few other things in the pipeline to sort out first :) - Tristan
@@HugeMenace goat
This is such a great video on texel density! Can’t wait for the UV unwrapping video. You’ve earned a subscriber!
Heck yeah.
Thank you for this video.
Very informative and useful tutorial. I look forward to the release of the next Masterclass. Thank you!
Such a well structured video, thank you so much for the knowledge!
Thank you very much. That was a good one and corrected a couple of mistakes I do/did ...🙂🙃
Thank you for the incredibly informative video! I am still unsure about one thing though:
What is the best way to tackle giving bigger objects (like a wardrobe or a bookcase for example) the desired high texel density, if they are not going to be using a tileable texture (and therefore you can't just scale their UVs out of the box)? Do you just upscale the map to 4k and above (I often hear that this solution is only reserved for hero models)? Or do you go and give the asset several different 2k textures (like 1 for the shelves, 1 for the sides, etc.) so that you can fit them within the box while meeting the desired pixel density?
PS: I am aware that overlapping UVs would be a smart solution to the problem, but for the sake of this example let's assume there is going to be a bunch of ornaments and other details across the asset that would make overlapping impossible.
The honest answer is, "It depends." What it depends on is the context: Is it a hero asset? Is unique texturing across the entire surface area of the object critical? Are you and your team looking for strict or loose TD adherence? Is this for a game, animation, or static render?
But to answer your question (missing the complete context), you can use a 4K or 8K map if that achieves your desired TD. Otherwise, you could split the object into multiple pieces and texture them individually (case vs shelves, for example). Or you can be tactical with where you adhere to TD targets. For instance, if the bookshelf is placed against a wall and is taller than the player (assuming this is for a game), the object's back, bottom, and top could have a low TD, leaving more UV space for the visible areas. But also, given that you'll never be able to see both sides of the bookcase simultaneously (assuming no mirrors), you could overlap those UV islands. You could also decrease the TD for the bottom of the shelves below crouch height, etc.
There are many different ways to achieve the desired result :) If you have more specific examples or an actual model you want advice on, feel free to post the details on our Discord server, I'd be happy to help. - Tristan
@@HugeMenace Thank you a lot. I'm mostly self thought, so even though I know how to produce a high quality finished asset for animation or games, I lack common sense knowledge on industry practices like this. It is a relief to see that all the solutions you listed, I have already done in the past for various projects - now I can have the confidence in applying them in a company environment as well.
This cleared up so many of my doubts.🙏 Thank you.
17:41 How does this work ? Would love to see more videos like this.👍
Glad it was helpful! And definitely, we'll cover all those packing options in more detail in the UVs masterclass I'll be working on next. - Tristan
I have a (really big) tree, the 4k texture is not enough to get all the tree at 2.56 px/cm, I suppose need to distribute the UV islands in multiple UV maps, is it possible? and how? 've used UVPackmaster3 to distribute in different tiles but not sure if it will works in substance and game engine, have no idea how I should to proceed.
Hello. There are a few techniques for larger assets as they're not always ideal for a single UV unwrap. You can either split the model into smaller parts, unwrapping each part and therefore creating multiple textures, or use a tiling texture, tri-planar projected texture, vertex colors, or any combination of the above. There are quite a few ways to go about it depending on how that tree will be used. - Tristan
@@HugeMenace thank you for the help, I'll await for new videos
Awesome Video
Very informative! Thank you. I'm eager to see how to do texel density with UV Packmaster or perhaps ZEN UV.
We'll cover a bunch of that in the UV/texturing masterclass videos and the game asset pipeline series we have planned :) - Tristan
Cyberpunk used an interesting technique to create layers of materials.(I still think texture arrays are more useful in their case.)
Anyway, this makes it possible to have almost ideal pixel density at all times. And save on texture size.
Yeah it's quite an interesting technique! I might consider covering it if I end up creating a texturing masterclass video. - Tristan