Modelling guidelines

This is a draft.

I started this page with the intention of creating some sort of guidelines for our models. This should eventualy replace some of the texts in our 3d modelers portal. Feel free to add/modify. (please leave a comment in the talk page for radical modifications).

Definitions

• Model = the file (need some fancy definition here)
• Object/Mesh = part of the Model file. The Model can contain several Objects.
• Texture = image file (.rgb, .png, .dds) (need some fancy definition here)

Modelling guidelines

• Vertices are free up to a point - use as many as you need
• Use different unique names for each of the Objects in a Model file. (even more so when the different parts need to be animated)
• Combine all different parts of the Model into one single Object/Mesh. (with the exception of parts that need to be animated, or transparent parts)
• Make all faces of the objects single sided (method varies with modelling software used, examples for each of the major ones: Blender, Ac3d, Sketchup)
• Split transparent parts into their own objects, and place at the end of the object list

These are guidelines, not rules. You may need 2 sided surfaces, or use duplicate object names - but be aware that you are sub-optimising, and the results can be uncertain.

Texturing guidelines

• Combine as many parts of a single Model to a single texture as you can - the maximum texture size is 4096 x 4096.
• Don't use different parts of a single texture for different models. Split the texture into smaller parts then.
• If using the same texture on multiple models, use a single file, don't make different copies.
• Prefer texture replacing animations to textranslate for models that spend large amounts of their time in one state (day/night animations).
• Avoid transparency like the plague, it kills frame rate like nothing else: remove the alpha channel from textures if they are non-transparent.
• Hive off transparent parts of textures into their own textures.
• Use power of two dimensions for textures. Don't worry if your image would get stretched in the texture, you can fix that with the mapping on the model.
• Don't have textures with the image in one corner and the rest unused.
• Supported texture formats are : .dds , .png, .rgb.

Animation guidelines

• <AndersG> The hierarchy of range animation is also an issue. It is common to have one for each instrument where one could as well has used one for all instruments (by loading the instruments in a submodel XML file). Testing one range animation ought to be cheaper than 47.