This article covers a not so common but very effective approach while making normal maps of 3D Assets for a Game.
After all this love for 2D art it was time to optimize some 3D Art. Luckily I was able to use some concepts learnt from 2D optimizations for 3D too. First was the texture sizing process still held good for textures of 3D models. If the model never renders more than quarter the size of the screen, there was no need to have a 1K texture size for any of its maps. As a matter of fact I noticed a better results with a lower sized normal map.
If you size your Normal Map according to the screen pixels on which it would render.
You actually get more details from a lower resolution Normal map VS a larger map.
The larger map has to compress to screen’s max pixels and looses details.
I noticed this while optimizing a 3D model of a voodoo doll in a game a couple of year’s back. The doll was made of this weave cloth pattern that we never noticed till I optimized it at the end of the project. I have only met a handful of Artist’s that would see their art all the way through into the Game Engine. These Artist’s would change their Art to look good in Unity and not in the software they are making it in.
So, many at times as the TA implementing the Art I am not well versed with how amazing the Art is suppose to look.
I hope to sharpen my Spidey senses about this with more experience and time.
The Take-away: Cheaper is probably better!!
I also optimize the actual mesh based on the camera viewing the mesh. I know back face culling is a thing. But I been told some nightmarish stories of it not running like its suppose to. So, what do I do? I delete all polygons not visible to the camera. I say, generally I can half the polycount of a mesh. But again depends on the artist modelling it.
Lastly, anything that can be shown on a normal map is almost always cheaper than making polygons for it.
Which also means if you can’t see it then DON’T model the inside of a car! or the Engine or the AC controls of the dashboard!
It only looks amazing, if someone can see it.
Refer to this article for more details about this. https://shahbazsekhon.com/optimization-meshes/
