Barriers - Optimisation

Optimisation

Materials

Materials should be combined atlases as much as possible to reduce draw calls. However unique barriers by collision type need to be separated. This means we can usually keep Fences, Armco and Concrete Walls all separate

Object Splitting

In order to optimise your barriers, ensure that they are split up into frequent groups. 

To achieve optimized splits we should do the following:

  • Attach all barriers of the type to a single object.
  • Repeat this for lods of the object and collision meshes for the object.
  • This may result in having Armco001, ArmcoLOD001 and ArmcoCol001 for example.
  • Select all 3 objects, add edit poly modifier.
  • Select the faces you wish to detach to unique objects.
    • How frequently to split up depends on the nature of the circuit.
      • On a tight street circuit we may wish to split around every 200m. On a big open circuit maybe closer to 400m.
      • We also wish to keep the tri count limited to around 20,000 per split maximum
    • Try to split objects where smoothing issues will not occur (so where there or natural breaks in the barriers, or where the barrier is flat and not on a corner)
  • Using the S397 Max Tools from 3ds Max Tools press "EPoly Face Unique Detach".
    • This will detach the selected faces into a new object, based on it's original name.
    • As you have all LODs and Collision meshes selected, it would create 3 new objects, and they will split at the same point.
  • Repeat the process until you have split up the entire object.
  • Set accurate lod values. For Armco barriers we probably want the LOD to come in at around 50-150m distance extra over the actual size of the object.