Applying materials to an editable polly

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!I created this baseboardand the plan is to import it to Unreal engine 4 for a project I'm working on.The baseboard will be wooden and I want to make it look really nice.So if I am to apply the materials in 3ds max what would be the steps to make it look nice?Can anyone describe the steps I need to take(like using normals,bitmaps etc.)?I want to complete it in 3ds max,so when I import it in UE4 all I'll have to do is just place it in my level.

[Brock_Lafond · Accepted solution]

Step 1: Gather photo reference.

Step 2: Unwrap the UVs.

Step 3: Paint texture maps.

Step 4: Link maps to an appropriate shader.

Step 5: Apply shader.

Depending on what you'll be seeing of the baseboards, you could probably get away with planar UV mapping. Consider using realworld map size.

Getting a wood texture is easy enough. You'll probably want one that can be tiled horizontally so that it can fit the object properly. Bump maps can help and will depend on the look that you're after. If the baseboards are brand new, sanded and varnished there won't be much in terms of bump. You possibly use some drawn out stroke lines of a brush or rag to simulate the application of the varnish. If it's old and weathered, take your wood colour texture map into a photo editor, apply a high-pass filter and desaturate it; use that as a bump map.

For the shader, determine the overall shininess that you want, as well as the roughness. A standard shader with Blinn shading should suffice. Set the colour map in the diffuse colour slot and bump map in the bump slot. Try to use small bump values; .3 is usally enough, if not too much.

As for normal maps, this would benefit you in providing polygonal reduction. You could create a more simple shape with fewer polygons, generate normals from your baseboard object and apply it to the lower poly object. This would provide the illusion of the baseboard shape, but would not change the silhouette of the lower poly obect.