Character LOD tutroials

[zzz7net]

Are there any tutorials or something else for the game character modelling in Level of Details?

[kanga]

Yeah there are great ones for UDK, just google UDK dumpster. A good set of vids that deal with LOD are also to be found on the UDK site, something like 3 videos link.

Cheers

[zzz7net]

Thanks for answer. The purpose why I've asked about LODs is there are no tutorials about this at all. (
Not on the web, not on the youtube. I mean not hard surface LODs modelling and how to attach LOD meshes to the game engine - it's all clear and simple.

But character modelling LODs. Expecially questions about LOD uv-mapping.
For example I have 4 LODs meshes for my game character: high, medium, low and ultra low.
The high detailed single mesh has 2 separate textures for the body and head. 2 materials of course.
So it's not even the problem when you come down to lower LODs and you don't need 2 materials (for more detailed head texture reasons) any longer and you can't change it to 1 mat.

But there's no way to fully preserve the shape of the highest LOD UV Layout on the lower LODs (
On the low I have less uvs and I can't dovetail LODs UV-mappings so this is why it's gonna be the texture seams on the lower meshes (
What should I do ?
Please help me to solve the issue !

[kanga]

I havent done too much char LODs but I found the info for the UDK engine on their forum where one of the unreal riggers was explaining how it worked in that engine. Also there is a free set of tutorials for the unity3d engine that deal with getting your character up and running. If noone can help you here you might try there.

[Benjammin]

I'm not a character artist, but I think you might be overthinking it a little. Ideally you want to minimize texture seams and if possible build your texture map with the lowest LOD in mind (with enough spacing around UV islands to allow the LOD geometry to fit correctly) - that applies to all kinds of modelling - but do consider if any seams etc are actually going to be visible when the LOD model is being used in-game, ie: when it's occupying less pixels on the screen anyway.

[zzz7net]

Yeah it seems it is the only way