

Once the modeled scene was just about ready, what was the starting point of the texturing/lookdev phase?

Michael Borhi, Head of Texturing: Due to the sheer size of the Las Vegas environment and the quantity of buildings that required textures, materials and shader work, it was crucial that it be approached in a practical, efficient manner. Not every building required high-resolution textures, though most, if not all, required some level of texture or shader coverage. There was no way that we could devote the same amount of attention, work or time to every building; nor was this necessary in some cases. As a result, we outlined 3 main phases for the texturing and look development of Las Vegas:

Phase 1 - Procedural Texture Library

Phase 2 - Generic Shader Library

Phase 3 - Defining Hero Buildings

This was done in order to provide quick coverage on all buildings, reduce or eliminate the need to overwork assets that would never benefit from the additional texturing and shading, and quickly identify the hero buildings that needed the most attention, texture, and shader wise.

Arnaud Saibron, Lead Lookdev/Lighting Artist: We needed to work as broadly as possible for quick turnarounds and to be able to deliver work-in-progress render frames that were readable from a client's point of view.





Phase 1 - Procedural Texture Library

Michael Borhi: The decision at the outset to build a procedural library of textures was the obvious choice, as this would give us maximum texture coverage on all buildings before devoting any time to doing specific texture work. This also enabled us to quickly visualize what the city was going to look like without having to burn through too many artist hours. Models were still in progress, constantly changing and developing in their look and complexity, so it made perfect sense at this stage to hold off on doing anything too specific or unique - work that would likely have to be redone once models were finalized.