Creating Modular yet Broken Flyover ?

[nursalim]

hello everyone!

first of all, i want to say hi to all people in this forum. i am a new member

straight to the case. i am in the middle of modelling a broken flyover. i intend to use it as a game asset (a static mesh) for UDK. i use reference from real life flyover originated from bandung, indonesia.

here is the picture of pasupati flyover :



i intend to create an apocalyptic like scene with this flyover as a center figure. i want to create this flyover in half broken state. i am in the middle of modelling the street part.

i have questions regarding of this part.

this part of flyover will consists of several elements. including asphalt for road with white stripes, concrete like texture for the bottom part of flyover, and metal fence. in my mind, this will require a tileable textures combined with unique textures for each of broken parts.

my process starts with modelling a simple piece like this :



i believe you could imagine how the uv map will look like with tileable textures applied to this.

next step. i then uv unwrap the street to tile it, then modelling the "eaten" parts of the street, selecting those eaten parts and re-unwrap them so it looks like something like this :



here is the uv map after i re-unwrap the model (with lots of overlapping) :



i intend to continue my methods but i am thinking of asking questions and taking any suggestions for the sake of broaden my knowledge. i might use them, even recreate my model if i need to.

my questions are :

1. I intend to create the normal map using photoshop and crazybump, because i am not familiar with zbrush. with this kind of uv, will my method works? if you ever experienced a similar case, please share it.

2. is there any other methods or tips for creating this kind of modelling? if it is just a modular model or just a normal model i could tackle them. it is a new case for me and its confusing me.

3. if you have any tips, suggestions, links to related tutorials, please share it to me. i will really appreciate them.

that's all for now, i hope i wrote my question and explanation clearly. looking forward for your responses.

[Benjammin]

Firstly, thanks for making a detailed opening post rather than just yelling 'help, where's a tutorial for this!'

Yes, it will work. However what I'd suggest you do is use more UV space for the tiling road surface, and have a square/rectangular piece of broken concrete that also tiles. Given that most of your broken areas are long and narrow, you could have a strip along the bottom of the texture that tiles left/right that all your broken areas could use. The thinking behind this is you want to maximise versatility with your modular textures, so its easy to come along and make new segments without having to change your texture/UVs.
For the undamaged areas, break your texture up into the components of the road. At a quick glance, it seems like you need the barrier, the road surface, the metal rails and maybe some generic tiling concrete for trim and the underside. Again, the idea here is to maximise versatility so that the texture can be used for other assets within a game - I can definitely see those barriers and railings being reused elsewhere in an urban game level.
This 3dmotive tutorial taught me a lot about modular construction, and its principles can be applied to what you're doing here. (Seems like 3dmotive have changed their rates since I last visited, but Id still recommend them - pay for a month and watch as many tutes as you can in that time.)

[nursalim]

thank you for your helpful reply.

i am quite understand what you suggested. i really appreciate it. the problem is, i think i don't have enough knowledge nor skill to realize what i have in mind.

i am really thinking about taking 3dmotive course you mentioned. i think it will enrich my game modelling skill.

in the meantime, i will continue what i am doing with limited knowledge i have.

i will post my next progress once i have spare time to continue my progress.

i am very open to any suggestion or advice.