Like many others, I’ve been looking around stations and hangars using the new camera mode, and it’s fairly clear that the artwork was not intended to hold up under such close scrutiny. Much work will have to be redone, and I think there is a chance here to do it in a different way.
Despite all the procedural planets, most of the 3D artwork is still static meshes and textures. Basically the standard pipeline from 3ds max and Photoshop to in-game asset. This post is a call for embracing procedurality and parametric modelling on a far greater scale.
First, drop Photoshop wherever possible. The engine supports procedural textures on the planets. So why not use this everywhere? Infinite variety and greater detail. Basically all tiling textures should be procedural: metals, pavements, walls, dirt textures, etc. Just set an overall colour scheme and dirt level, and textures would go from clean and shiny to rusted and scratched.
So if you have, say, a filing cabinet, instead of assigning a 512x512 texture map or whatever, you could assign “metal, painted”. A texture would be generated that fits the local colour scheme. If the system is really clever, this could generate impact sounds, effects, and physics info as well.
Second, drop 3ds max. This is harder. Make models as parametric/modular as possible. The filing cabinet could have a range of dimensions instead of a fixed size. Apply one of 3 types of handles. In chaotic situations, one or several handles could be dangling, and drawers could be more or less open. Again, aim for as much variety as you can get with each model.
We’ve already seen a bit of this kind of modularity in space stations, but I think it could be taken much further. Spore from 2008 had fantastic parametric modelling for creatures, plants, etc. It wasn’t a great game, but it had amazing diversity!
Despite all the procedural planets, most of the 3D artwork is still static meshes and textures. Basically the standard pipeline from 3ds max and Photoshop to in-game asset. This post is a call for embracing procedurality and parametric modelling on a far greater scale.
First, drop Photoshop wherever possible. The engine supports procedural textures on the planets. So why not use this everywhere? Infinite variety and greater detail. Basically all tiling textures should be procedural: metals, pavements, walls, dirt textures, etc. Just set an overall colour scheme and dirt level, and textures would go from clean and shiny to rusted and scratched.
So if you have, say, a filing cabinet, instead of assigning a 512x512 texture map or whatever, you could assign “metal, painted”. A texture would be generated that fits the local colour scheme. If the system is really clever, this could generate impact sounds, effects, and physics info as well.
Second, drop 3ds max. This is harder. Make models as parametric/modular as possible. The filing cabinet could have a range of dimensions instead of a fixed size. Apply one of 3 types of handles. In chaotic situations, one or several handles could be dangling, and drawers could be more or less open. Again, aim for as much variety as you can get with each model.
We’ve already seen a bit of this kind of modularity in space stations, but I think it could be taken much further. Spore from 2008 had fantastic parametric modelling for creatures, plants, etc. It wasn’t a great game, but it had amazing diversity!
