3D Book Example Notes

I recently made a 3D object that a friend needed for a project. This was to serve as guidance for junior artists, and to provide a benchmark example for team leads. I was given an existing file to assess and rework, so some of these notes speak to that, but most of it is about my process and choices I made for this item, based on what I knew of the intended use, which is up-close viewing in VR, where different covers and text would be applied.

Geometry

• Object scaled and oriented correctly (ie: matches your game environment).

• Pivot centered.  If multiple elements, elements should be parented, or pivots should match each other, so that when imported, they line up automagically.

• Object at 0,0,0 so that when imported, it's not floating somewhere in outer space.

• Naming convention (PREFIX_NameVariant_SUFFIX or whatever is appropriate)

  • Elements (geometry, materials, textures) named to match each other.

UVs

There are lots of UV tools now, but as I don’t model/unwrap fulltime anymore, I haven’t kept up, so I do mine old school (ie: I start with an automatic unwrap, cut the seams where I want them, snap other edges together wherever possible, and line up by hand whatever else is needed).

• UVs use space efficiently and are oriented appropriately for the object.

• Seams are in places least likely to show, and/or most convenient for texturing.

• Texel density is preserved wherever possible, with exception of areas that can be crushed down to solids or gradients.

• Stretching is 0 in high priority areas, minimized in low priority areas.

• Expect that UVs will change a bit once texturing begins.

Textures

• PSD is set up with folders for each texture, and contains all layers needed for this object.

• Layers are named appropriately.

• I block in with colour first, so that I can be sure my UVs are in the right place.

• Adjust UVs as necessary.

Choices & Notes

• General

  • Overlapping/reversed UVs are avoided.  As this book will be seen up close, keeping most UVs on their own space allows for fine detail like wear and tear to be added to the cover/pages, without it being repeated or flipped.

• CoverPlate

  • Cover image and spine text is separate, and has it’s own texture, to provide as much real estate as possible, and to allow re-sizing for cover images with different dimensions, without changing the dimensions of the book itself.  

  • Changing the dimensions of the book itself WILL result in stretching everywhere.  If you want a book that’s shaped very differently, you’ll need new UVs that accommodate those changes.

• PageTops

  • Again, these were made to have the most area as possible.

• PageSingles

  • These actually could have gone on one texture, as the area hidden by the upper pages could have been reduced in size.  

• Pages

  • Be mindful when merging vertices - the page edges were narrow enough that when merging the horizontal seam, it was easy to merge more verts than intended.  Even if it doesn’t look very visible, it needs to be fixed so that textures stay straight and it doesn’t catch the light weird.

Time Breakdown

• assess existing models & UVs - 15 mins

• edit/rebuild geometry - 2 hrs

• UVs - 3 hrs

• block in textures / readjust UVs - 1.5 hrs

• adjustments & cleanup - 30 mins

• documentation - 30 mins

  • Total 7hrs, 45 mins (admittedly, I do mainly VFX these days and am out of practice with models/UVs… kids these days are faster than I am now!)