Modeling Workflow

Madeline Dudley
Feb 18
2 min read

Before any modeling can begin, artists create conceptual art and find reference pictures about the model that would like to create. This helps to keep the models accurate and precise to our vision.

To keep the models to scale once in Unreal Engine, we must tweak Autodesk Maya’s settings so that there’s no additional scaling. Now we can start the modeling process. Our team utilizes the program Autodesk Maya 3D to create our 3D models. Models are created in proportion to the ‘size’ categories in our game. Modeling this way allows us to easily assign crumbs to the correct size while in the engine, and lets players recognize which crumbs they’re allowed to currently roll over.

Once the model is complete, we create a UV map. UV maps tell a program how to read a texture on the model. Take a paper cube, for example, you would start out with its six sides unfolded. A UV map utilizes the same concept. It’s ‘unfolding’ the model on a 2D plane. The important thing artists must keep in mind while creating UVs is that there is no obvious warping and seams visible to the viewer. If there is, then something may need to be looked at further.

To reduce strain in Unreal Engine and improve performance, we keep an eye on the polycount. Polycount is how many faces or ‘polygons’ a model has. The more polygons a model is made of, the more processing power it takes up. A good workflow for any 3D modeling artist is to keep the poly count as low as you can without impacting the overall form of the model. Another way to improve performance is a texture atlas. In our previous blog post "Refining Visual Style", Hayden Eshbaugh talks about how this process works in depth. During the UV process, several object’s UVs are put into the same UV map without overlapping. This way all of the textures can be created on the same file, saving space.

After all, would you rather download several separate images for your game or just download one? With both the model and texture being created, it can easily be imported into Unreal Engine. The last step is creating a material using the textures you’ve already created inside of the engine and linking the material to the model.

Now you’re ready to place your newly created model into the game!

-Madeline Dudley