Modelling Best Practices for use in Xplorer
When creating models for 3D training it is important to first think about what the model will be used for. What do you need to do with it and what platforms does it need to perform on. Below are a few considerations when preparing a performant model for use in Modest Tree Xplorer.
Models
- Negative Scales: Make sure your model has no negative scales. Negative scales can break animations in Xplorer.
- Assign Relevant Pivots: Every object and group should have a pivot/rotation that makes sense for its purpose. For example, nuts and bolts must have a proper pivot to rotate correctly.
- Polycount: Keep polycounts within gaming standards and adjust based on target end-user devices. High-end PCs can handle higher polycounts due to more powerful GPUs and CPUs. On Low-end devices, keeping polycounts low is crucial for maintaining good performance. Use techniques like baked lighting, simplified models, and LOD’s to improve performance.
Importing into Unity
- Adjust Import Settings: In Unity, adjust import settings according to your needs. Pay particular attention to Read/Write Enabled (must be enabled), Generate Lightmaps, and whether to import animations.
- Use Compatible Formats: Common formats include FBX and OBJ. FBX is often preferred for Unity due to its support for animations and materials.
- Setting Consistency: If your model changes scale position or rotation when re-imported into Unity your export settings may be inconsistent. Once export settings have been chosen export with the same settings consistently.
Baked VS Realtime Lighting
- We recommend using baked lighting as it is better for performance. Xplorer has some real-time lights included by default but they have limited adjustable settings. Any other real-time lights will not be adjustable once in Xplorer.
Colliders
- Interactivity: Make sure that every object you want to interact with has a collider.
- Box vs Mesh: Use box colliders over mesh colliders where possible as they are more performant.
Texture Size
- File Size: Texture files will often make up the majority of a scene's file size. Make sure to use reasonable texture sizes and try to limit the number of textures used.
- Platform: Adjust texture size based on the target platform. Textures for use in mobile platforms must stay below 4k.
Animation
- Xplorer can only play a single animation at a time. Because of this, we recommend that animations be created in Unity where possible so that animations from multiple models can be combined into a single animation.