Update and expand conventions and guidelines

README.md

@@ -4,10 +4,18 @@ Asset/art files for Hook, Line and Axe
 ## Naming Conventions
 Naming conventions are important for project organization and tooling.
 
-### Material Maps
-[IronPress](https://github.com/arocull/IronPress) requires naming conventions for texture maps to be properly used. IronPress is important as it enforces proper bit-depth, performs channel-packing, and for allows bulk texture resizing.
+For automation, **it is heavily preferred that all folders and file names are kept lowercase with no spaces**.
 
-All materials and material maps should start with the prefix `mat_` and followed by the material name, such as `mat_stone`. Lowercase is required.
+- **Characters** - Please store all character models, textures, rigs, etc in its relevant subfolder within the `characters` directory.
+- **Props** - Please store all within the `props` folder, within its relevant subfolder.
+    - When uploading models, please use either FBX or OBJ formats.
+- **Animation** - Character *animations* should instead be stored in the `animations` directory, within its relevant subfolder.
+    - Depending on who is animating, please start your filename with `anims-alan` (or `anims-tommy` or `anims-shelby`, etc) for batch-export automation purposes. Iterative saves are okay.
+
+### Material Maps
+[IronPress](https://github.com/arocull/IronPress) requires naming conventions for texture maps to be properly used. IronPress enforces proper bit-depth, channel-packing, and enables batch-resizing of textures.
+
+All materials and material maps should start with the prefix `mat_` and followed by the material name, such as `mat_stone`. **Lowercase is required**.
 
 Texture maps should be followed with specific names. Examples are provided
 - `mat_example_basecolor` - Basecolor/diffuse/albedo of material. If the material is transparent, alpha is stored on this as well
@@ -19,8 +27,29 @@ Texture maps should be followed with specific names. Examples are provided
 - `mat_example_opacity` - Opacity map, only use if necessary
 - `mat_example_mask` - Mask, only use if necessary
 
-## Animations
+Please store all textures under one folder in the relevant directory, named `textures` (in all lowercase).
+
+Additional notes:
+- If multiple materials use the same textures maps, please only store one copy of said texture map.
+- Export normal maps to 16-bit if possible for maximum quality
+- IronPress can be avoided with a customized Substance export setup
+
+## Animation Guides
 Guides for animation:
 - [Setting Up a New Animation](docs/animation.md/#setting-up-a-new-animation)
 - [Finalizing an Animation](docs/animation.md/#finalizing-an-animation)
 - [Editing Existing Animations](docs/animation.md/#editing-existing-animations)
+
+## Asset Guidelines
+Guidelines for asset making:
+- [Topology](docs/assets.md#topologydetail-density)
+- [Texturing](docs/assets.md#texturing)
+- [Scale](docs/assets.md#scale)
+
+## Automation
+If you need results from an automated process, see the `pipeline` directory. Each shell script should export the corresponding textures to a folder within the `export` directory.
+
+For animations, please include the `pipeline/export_anims.py` script in your Blender file. This allows one-click exporting of FBX animations (may be fully automated with a script later).
+
+## Questions
+If there are any questions or feedback on these guidelines and conventions, please poke Alan with a sharp, pointy stick.

docs/assets.md

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Asset Guidelines and Considerations
+
+When making assets for games, there are many technical requirements and considerations that must be factored in to making said assets.
+
+## Topology/Detail Density
+When working on a model, there are a few questions you must ask yourself:
+- How close to my camera will the model get?
+- What proportion of my screen will this model take up?
+- How many of these will be present at any given time?
+- When, where, and in what context will this model be shown?
+- Does this model need to deform? Where?
+- Does the model move in-game? How fast?
+- How will the topology impact shading?
+- How will the topology impact the sillohouette?
+
+Use these answers to your advantage:
+- If a prop never gets close to the camera, it doesn't need much modeled detail!
+    - Contrarily, if a model takes up lots of screen space, it probably needs some extra detail to properly fill it out
+    - If the model is static and non-deforming, Unreal Engine may make some use of LOD to hide the unnecessary stuff for you. This is not guarunteed.
+- Enemies need a low polycount since many are on screen at once
+    - Contrarily, we only have one Insurrectionist, and he is close to the camera, so it is okay if he's a bit more detailed
+- If there is topology that does NOT impact the sillohouette, it is not necessary in the low-poly
+- There is no need to keep and texture topology that will never be seen. Delete it!
+
+## Texturing
+The same questions as above also goes in for texturing.
+- If a model takes up a lot of screen space, it's likely going to need a higher texture resolution to accomodate, or it'll look low-quality.
+- If a prop is exceptionally small (like the size of a character's fist), you could likely use a 512px map and be fine.
+
+If you are uncertain what resolution you should use, go straight for 4K or 2K, and we can painlessly resize the textures with IronPress
+(assuming that you followed the proper [Naming Conventions](../README.md#material-maps)).
+
+Ideally, even if a prop is broken into separate "parts," **keeping all related-parts on the same material map**:
+- Reduces file-system overhead
+- Reduces how many textures we have to import and manage
+- Optimizes rendering
+
+## Scale
+As we are working with asset packs grounded in realism, keeping scale consistent is important to the player's immersion and believability of the scene.
+In some cases, however, we may be required to push this in one direction or another for gameplay purposes specifically.
+
+Here are cases where we would want to exaggerate scale for gameplay purposes:
+- **Doorways** - Do not want the player's camera to bump against it as they move through
+- **Walkable platforms** - Players may accidentally stumble off of thin platforms
+- **Objectives (buttons and such)** - Player should be able to easily spot things of interest
+
+
+Regardless of if scale needs to be exaggerated or not, doing research on what conventional sizes for objects may be helpful.
+Context is key in these cases as well.
+
+For example, some pine trees may have an average height of 10 meters, whereas most oak varieties may have an average height of 20 meters.
+What does this mean for the size of our models when we're in a taiga versus a savanna?