TGA

2017-07-09T21:40:20Z

JacRossiter: Added info regarding TGA exporting

TGA is a common bitmap format used in game development. For more information see the Wikipedia page [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truevision_TGA Truevision TGA].

This format is an intermediary format for use outside a game engine, it is not an [[:Category:TextureFormatRuntime|in-game format]].

== Exporting out of Photoshop ==

TGA images can be exported out of Photoshop in a few different ways.

<blockquote>
'''16 bits per pixel'''

Exports 3 Channels, Red, Blue and Green. Each Pixel within a channel is broken down into 5 bits per channel. The final 1 bit is unused.

'''24 bits per pixel'''

Exports 3 channels, Red, blue and Green. Each pixel within a channel is broken down into 8 bits of information.

'''32 bits per pixel'''

Exports 4 channels, Red, blue, Green and Alpha. Each pixel within a channel is broken down into 8 bits of information.
</blockquote>

This in conclusion tells us that 16bit/pixel TGA gives us a more compact but lower quality image. 24bit/pixel gives us a larger file size but has a higher quality image. 32bit/pixel gives us the same image quality as 24bits/pixel but with the added bonus of an extra 8bit channel. This can be used form masking transparency, metallic maps or roughness.

'''Compress (RLE)'''

When exporting there is also the option for “Compress (RLE)”. RLE stands for Run Length Encoding. It’s a type of Lossless Encoding which means you get to save space without any loss to the quality of your image. It works by grouping values together and reading them a little differently.

Example:
<blockquote>
Without RLE: 3,3,3,4,5,5,6,6,6

With RLE: (3,3),(1,4),(2,5)(3,6)
</blockquote>

If you tally up how many digits of data there you can see that RLE saves us some memory. This technique should always be on due to it’s lossless nature.

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[[Category:TextureFormat]] [[Category:Glossary]]

Modular environments

2017-05-23T13:20:55Z

JacRossiter: Fixed GlynnSmith's Modular Brick Wall links

Modular means pieces are made to fit together according to a common pattern, so just a few pieces can be reused multiple times to create a bunch of variety.

== Modular Design & Workflow ==
How to plan out the development of modular environment pieces, and the workflow for creating them. The design of modular pieces is closely linked to game design; see [[:Category:GameDesign]] for more.

[[Image:ThiagoKlafke_boundingboxes1.jpg|150px|link=http://polycount.com/discussion/170819/modelling-buildings-with-interior-question]] [http://polycount.com/discussion/170819/modelling-buildings-with-interior-question Modelling Buildings with Interior (Question)] Polycount Forum thread with advice on creating buildings.

[[Image:JacobNorris_UDKModularBuildingSetBreakdown.jpg|150px|link=http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144838]] [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144838 UE4 Modular Building Set Breakdown] - by [http://www.purepolygons.com/ Jacob "jacob07777" Norris]. Gritty urban city modular system. [[file:JacobNorris_Building_Breakdown.pdf]] (1.5 MB)

[[Image:PaulMandegarian_GearsofWarInspiredEnvironment.jpg|150px|link=http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130848]] [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130848 UDK Gears of War Inspired Environment - Modular] - by [http://www.paulmandegarian.com/ Paul "Ahniketos" Mandegarian]. Gears of War themed modular palace environment. Latest art is [http://www.paulmandegarian.com/projects here on his website].

[[Image:TorFrick_UDKModularMasterclass.jpg|150px|link=http://eat3d.com/udk_modular]] [http://eat3d.com/udk_modular UDK Modular Masterclass - Efficiently Creating and Entire Scene with Tor Frick] - ($) an Eat3D tutorial by [http://www.torfrick.com/ Tor "snefer" Frick]. Abandoned warehouse modular workflow in UDK, using Modo and Photoshop.

[[Image:HelderPinto_PostApocSceneBreakdown.jpg|150px|link=http://www.helderpinto.com/post-apoc-scene-breakdown/]] [http://www.helderpinto.com/post-apoc-scene-breakdown/ Post apoc scene Breakdown] - by [http://www.helderpinto.com/|Helder "HP" Pinto]. Details about the creation of a modular abandoned warehouse.

[[Image:Halo4_Article.jpg|150px|link=http://polycount.com/discussion/159954/the-environment-art-of-halo-4/p1]] [http://polycount.com/discussion/159954/the-environment-art-of-halo-4/p1 Polycount Article: The Environment Art of Halo 4]. Modular workflow for Halo 4.

[[Image:PatrickSutton_TheEnsignTavern.jpg|150px|link=http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79177]] [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79177 the Ensign Tavern] - by [http://www.patricksutton3d.com/ Patrick "PatJS" Sutton]. Breakdowns for a modular multi-floor 19th century building.

[[Image:TylerWinlass_ModularBuildingWorkflow.jpg|150px|link=http://3dmotive.com/series/modular-building-with-udk.html]] [http://3dmotive.com/series/modular-building-with-udk.html Modular Building with UDK] - ($) a 3dmotive tutorial by [https://www.linkedin.com/in/twanlass Tyler Wanlass]. Covers planning and workflow for modular buildings using Photoshop, 3ds Max, and UDK.

[[Image:JoelBurgess_SkyrimsModularApproachtoLevelDesign.jpg|150px|link=http://blog.joelburgess.com/2013/04/skyrims-modular-level-design-gdc-2013.html]] [http://blog.joelburgess.com/2013/04/skyrims-modular-level-design-gdc-2013.html Skyrim’s Modular Approach to Level Design] - Transcript from GDC 2013 talk on Skyrim"s Modular Level Design. An excellent in-depth article on Bethesda"s environment art system.

[[Image:KevinJohnstone_ModularEnvironmentDesign.jpg|150px|link=http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/Help/Modular%20Environment%20Design.rar]] [http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/Help/Modular%20Environment%20Design.rar Modular Environment Design.rar] (12 MB) - by [http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/ Kevin Johnstone]. East Coast Game Conference 2011 slides of the talk "Modular Environment Design, Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the grid". More workflow explained in the threads [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=678052#post678052 Lack of Environment Artists], [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=924231#post924231 Gears2 Environment Art] and [http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?69232-Gears2-Environment-Art-%28step-by-step-page-5%29&p=552991&viewfull=1#post552991 Gears2 Environment Art Step by Step (ZBrush Central)].

[[image:TorFrick_SciFiLab.jpg|150px|link=http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89682]] [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89682 An exercise in modular textures - Scifi lab UDK] - by [http://www.torfrick.com/ Tor 'Snefer' Frick]. Extreme [[Texture atlas]]ing and [[ChannelPacking]].

[[Image:ScottJones_InvestigationIntoModularDesignWithinComputerGames.jpg|150px|link=file:Investigation_into_modular_design_within_computer_games_v1.0.pdf]] [[file:Investigation_into_modular_design_within_computer_games_v1.0.pdf|Investigation into Modular Design within Computer Games]] (8.6MB PDF) - by [http://www.polycount.com/forum/member.php?u=37149 Scott Jones]. Research paper on modular workflow. Definition, benefits, history of modularity, usage, methods, case studies, UDK and 3ds Max. See the Polycount forum thread [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78444 Modular design within games].

[[Image:EpicGames_UsingWorkflowTechniquesAndModularity.jpg|150px|link=http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/WorkflowAndModularity.html]] [http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/WorkflowAndModularity.html Workflow techniques and modularity with Unreal game technology] - by [http://www.epicgames.com Epic Games]. A guide to setting up your art-to-level-design pipeline and designing modularly.

[[Image:BenHale_ModularEnvironmentArtAppliedFromPlasterTabletopSets.jpg|150px|link=http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116526]] [http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116526 Modular Environment Art applied from plaster tabletop sets] - by [http://www.polycount.com/forum/member.php?u=14498 Ben "Makkon" Hale]. Polycount forum thread with great visual breakdowns of modular tabeltop models.

[[Image:ChristopherAlbeluhn_VisuallyAppealingBuildingGuide.jpg|150px|link=http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html]] [http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/Building_Layout_Guideline_Tutorial.html Visually Appealing Building Guide] - by [http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com Christopher Albeluhn]. An excellent breakdown of how to create visual interest with game buildings. [http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/3D_Tutorials.html Additional tutorials here].

[[Image:ThiagoKlafke_CreatingModularEnvironmentsInUDK.jpg|150px|link=http://www.thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html]] [http://www.thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html Creating Modular Environments in UDK] - a tutorial by [http://www.thiagoklafke.com/index.html/ Thiago "Minotaur0" Klafke]. Covers the techniques used to make [http://www.thiagoklafke.com/zestfoundation.html Zest Foundation.]

[[Image:ModularMountAndBlade.jpg|150px|link=ModularMountAndBlade]] [[ModularMountAndBlade|Modular Mount & Blade]] - by [http://wypierpapier.blogspot.com/ "gutekfiutek"]. Modular workflow for the mod "Polished Buildings" for the game Mount & Blade.

[[Image:GlynnSmith_ModularBrickWallTiling.jpg|150px|link=http://polycount.com/discussion/comment/1101338/#Comment_1101338]] [http://polycount.com/discussion/comment/1101338/#Comment_1101338 Modular brick wall tiling] - by [http://iamglynnsmith.com/ Glynn Smith]. Tips and screenshots for sculpting modular brick walls.

[[Image:BramEulaers_GenericWallTutorial.jpg|150px|link=http://www.brameulaers.net/tutorials/generic_wall_tutorial/generic_wall_tutorial.html]] [http://www.brameulaers.net/tutorials/generic_wall_tutorial/generic_wall_tutorial.html Generic wall tutorial] - by [http://www.brameulaers.net Bram "Peris" Eulaers]. Using 3ds Max and Mudbox to sculpt tilable modular sections for a stone wall.

[[Image:RyanGreene_SegaRallyRevo.gif|150px|link=http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=50160]] [http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=50160 Rock modeling approaches] - a [http://boards.polycount.net/ Polycount] thread. A variety of approaches for sculpting individual rocks and tilable cliffs.

[[Image:OwenShepherd_CreatingPerfectlyTilingMeshes.jpg|150px|link=http://osart3d.wordpress.com/home-page/tutorial-creating-perfectly-tiling-meshes-in-zbrush-for-use-in-videogame-environments]] [http://osart3d.wordpress.com/home-page/tutorial-creating-perfectly-tiling-meshes-in-zbrush-for-use-in-videogame-environments/ Creating Perfectly Tiling Meshes in Zbrush for use in Videogame Environments] - by [http://osart3d.wordpress.com/ Owen "SHEPEIRO" Shepherd]. Using ZBrush"s 2.5D canvas to tile stamped meshes, then using Maya to model tilable geometry.

[[Image:PhilipKlevestav_WorkingWithModularSets.jpg|150px|link=http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_sets/modular_sets.html]] [http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_sets/modular_sets.html Working with Modular Sets] - by [http://www.philipk.net Philip "PhilipK" Klevestav]. How to design and texture modular sci-fi wall panels.

[[Image:PhilipKlevestav_ModularRocksTutorial.jpg|150px|link=http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_rocks/modular_rocks.html]] [http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/modular_rocks/modular_rocks.html Working with Modular Rocks] - by [http://www.philipk.net Philip "PhilipK" Klevestav]. How to design, model, and texture modular rock assets, using Crazy Bump, Photoshop, and 3ds Max.

[[Image:AidyBurrows_ModularityAndOddAnglesOnBlendersGrid.jpg|150px|link=http://www.cgmasters.net/free-tutorials/gamedev-4-modularity-odd-angles-on-blenders-grid/]] [http://www.cgmasters.net/free-tutorials/gamedev-4-modularity-odd-angles-on-blenders-grid/ Modularity & Odd Angles on Blender’s Grid] - by [http://www.cgmasters.net/cg-masters-artist-galleries/aidy-burrows/ Aidy Burrows @ CG Masters]. Getting more natural-looking angles in your modular kit.

== More Information ==

* [[ChannelPacking]]
* [[:Category:EnvironmentModeling]]
* [[:Category:EnvironmentModularity]]
* [[:Category:EnvironmentTexturing]]
* [[:Category:GameDesign]]
* [[Level Design]]
* [[MultiTexture]]
* [[Texture atlas]]
* [[Units]]

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[[Category:Environment]] [[Category:EnvironmentModeling]] [[Category:EnvironmentModularity]] [[Category:EnvironmentTexturing]]

polycount - User contributions [en]

TGA

Modular environments