Hello! I’m new to Blender (and 3D in general) and am hoping to get some advice on the proper way to model the structure of house interiors (with an ultimate goal of using them as game assets).
This is a very basic modeling question: Is it better to use multiple pieces of geometry to represent a room’s structure (e.g. multiple cubes for each of the walls, etc.), or is it better to represent it in as few pieces of geometry as possible, but with potentially more vertices (e.g. starting with a plane to get the floor plan correct then extruding up for the walls.)
By “better” I am referring to best practices as it relates to performance in game engines (Godot specifically). Currently, I’ve been using a plane to get the general shape of the floor plan correct and then extruding to create the walls / adding faces for the ceilings. But I’m wondering if this will get me into trouble down the line if the “lines” of the floor plan become too complex between rooms. Hoping to get some guidance from the more experienced folks here. Thanks in advance!
This depends very strongly what engine is used… some are able to use planes as walls others are better with cuboids as walls… so in general there are some best practice -manual pages for every game engine describing this exact topic… or even some tutorials about this showing the “intended use” for this…
So even if here are some godot users you might get better answers in the godot community about this…
Think modular, model modular. Rinse and repeat. You can always merge later, but it is way easier to keep consistency and sanity in check by breaking everything into its smallest logical subsets.
Thank you! I am actually trying a new approach by starting from an actual 2D floorplan. I was going follow this approach. Instead of using planes, you’re suggesting I use actual cubes for the walls?
No, stick to the plan and follow through with this approach.
It is not as modular as I recommended, but it doesn’t really matter.
You need some practical experience actually doing it so keep at it and then maybe try a different approach for the next building.
Modular modelling is more useful for bigger buildings with many rooms as it gives you more flexibility.
Also, you do absolutely want the walls to have thickness because not only is this realistic, but game engines have a nasty tendency to cause light bleeding if there is no thickness (even if the pieces are aligned perfectly with no gap).
Thanks for the helpful insight! I am actually building a larger map with multiple rooms but I’ll continue along this path this time around. Appreciate the help and tips!