Do game engines support multi-sub objects?

#1

The question is pretty direct, i’m just curious as to whether multi-sub objects are acceptable in game engines, or whether an artist would have to split the mesh inorder to have more than one diffuse, or color map per object. An example i can think of is a character with two color, diffuse maps, one for the head and one for the body. Now do i have to split the mesh so the engine can recognize both color slots, or can i not split the mesh and use multi-sub object? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

#2

either

It more dependes on how the engine handles a mesh object and how it is exported from the modeling program to the engine format.

So, in other words just check the documentation on the engine you are using, or by trial an error if the engine has no docs :frowning:

#3

This totally depends on the engine. Check the documentation of the engine you’re working with.

#4

ok, thanks guys so then yeah it is possible, it just depends on the engine. Can anyone think off the top of there heads any good examples of any engines that might support multi-sub object texturing? Torque, Unreal, Jupiter?

#5

what you need to be careful of for sanity 's sake is nested multi-subs…where a material in a multi sub slot is another multi-sub.

Every project I’ve been on has had support for multi-subs

#6

Hey Hugh_Jass, thanks for the response… ok, so obviously the more sub objects i have under sub objects the more of a headache for the programmers, and artists alike? Out of curiosity, and learning reasons…have you had the need for multi-sub objects when working on games, say like terrain, or maybe a large object…or do you try and stay away from that as humanly possible? Thanks again.

#7

If you can cleanly slap one texture on an object then do so…

however consider this example

three characters esseentially the same with different heads

separating off the head to a separate texture means you load only one body texture as opposed to three if they are all in the scene, plus the heads. So you are loading one body texture plus three head textures , as opposed to three body textures that include the heads…now extrapolate that out with modular accessories and clothing variants…

You want to complteely avoid a nested multi-sub- just don’t do it. there’s no good reason to have one and they are nightmares to track down, especially if you get files from someoone else to troubleshoot. regular multi sub s with standard materials in the slots are okay.

At the end of the day its about how much texture you are allowed and how different assets on screen at once can share or not share. Large objects almost always need them

Everything depends on the pipeline for the engine you are using. You just need to try to be efficient.

oh and be careful that your multi-subs are clean (don’t dupe the same material twenty times) they can get real sloppy as objects get attached and the material is expanded

#8

Unreal definitely supports multi/sub-object materials. I think Torque does as well.

#9

Awesome, thanks Hugh_Jass and ffjnosliw, i have a good idea where to go from here. I really appreciate it! :thumbsup:

#10

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