Material usage, one per model or per object?

Posted by WSkid on Game Development See other posts from Game Development or by WSkid
Published on 2012-06-03T22:03:38Z Indexed on 2012/06/03 22:48 UTC
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3d

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textures

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Performance

Is it better (memory, time (of developer), space) to use single model that is unwrapped and uses a single material or to break a model down into appropriate bits, each with their own smaller texture/material?

Or does it depend on the target platform as to what is acceptable - ie PC vs tablet?

An example: Say you have a typical house with a tiled roof.

Model it, make sure everything is attached, unwrap the walls/roof so in your UV template the walls and roof would be in one texture file, side-by-side in say a 512x512 file.
Model the roof/walls as separate objects, unwrap them individually and have two UV templates. You could then have a 256x256 file for each one.

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