3D Asset Workflow: Naming the Asset

Summary

• From this page, you can find instructions of:

1. How to name your asset so it's naming stays consistent with the rest of the Trine 3D assets
   • How to name your textures
2. Where in the binary to put your asset and its' texture maps, so they're easily found
   • And, thus, how to name the folder the asset should be in, if one doesn't exist yet
     • Can't find a folder for your asset?

Naming Instructions

1. The asset's name is determined by it's intended location in the SVN folder hierarchy
   • As a general rule, start from the root of the hierarchy, and build your way towards top
     • Look at the folder names from the path the asset will be added to, and use those when naming the asset
       • As an exception to the rule, note that the blockset type (building/natural) should be left out, to reduce bloating
   • The SVN folder hierarchy is created to support easier locating for all related 3D assets
2. Every 3D asset should have at least a general name and a more clarifying name, in this order
   • In other words: "gameplay_barrel" or "prop_market_barrel", not just "barrel"
3. No capital letters
4. No spaces, use "_" instead
5. Double check your spelling!
6. All texture maps should be named with the same name than the 3D asset, plus a "_mat" suffix

Building the hierarchical name

• There can be more clarifying names that listed here, as long as they go from more generic to more specified ones
• Note that the blockset type (building/natural) should be left out, to reduce bloating

1. [Category]
   • What is the category of the asset:
   1. blockset (building / natural / general - note that these subcategories are left out of the final naming!)
   2. prop
   3. gameplay asset
   4. vegetation
   5. atmosphere
2. [General]
   • Intended general use within the category:
     • What kind of a blockset - library, castle, observatory, mountain, a type of terrain (like field, soil, snow etc)?
     • What kind of a general blockset - beam, platform etc?
     • What kind of a prop - furniture, textile, light etc?
       • Or where the prop is supposed to be used - library, observatory, farm etc?
     • What kind of vegetation - plant, flower, tree, mushroom etc?
     • What kind of a gameplay asset - ball, pressureplate, chest etc?
3. [Clarify]
   • Clarify the use withing the general use:
     • What kind of a manmade blockset part - house, tower, wall, pillar, roof etc?
     • What kind of a mountain - snowy, jagged, smooth?
     • What kind of a specific e.g. tree - maple, spruce etc?
     • If this is a background/billboard version of an asset, add the "bg"/"billboard" clarification here
4. [Clarify more]
   • Clarify even more by e.g. size or shape - s/m/l (small/medium/large), 10m/5m/2m, straight/crooked etc
   • There can be additional clarifications, as long as they go from more generic to more specified ones
   • Add first letters only for sizes small/medium/large = s/m/l
5. [Number]
   • If there are multiple versions of the same asset, use numbers at the end of the name to separate them from each other
   • Usually here shouldn't be need for more than three versions of the same asset
   • The number isn't necessary and can be left out if there's only one version
6. [Angle]
   • If your asset has set angles, they should be added as a last suffix
   • Use number+d, e.g. 45d, 90d

• Final name examples:
  • blockset_observatory_pillar_10m_1
  • blockset_mountain_bg_flattop
  • blockset_beam_wooden_2m_2_45d
  • vegetation_tree_maple_s_3
  • gameplay_ball_cabbage

Can't find a folder for your asset?

• If there isn't an existing folder in the project's SVN that fits your 3D asset, you can make one yourself
• Make sure that:

1. The folder is created to the correct place and depth in the hierarchy
   • If your asset is e.g. ballridable cabbage, it should go under ".../gameplay/ball/cabbage", because it's A) a gameplay asset, B) ball-shaped and acts like a ball in all manners that matter, and C) a cabbage
   • This is to ensure that no root folders will get bloated unnecessarily
2. The naming of the folder matches the existing names

• Note that it's not advised to move and/or rename assets once they're in the game!
  • Moving and/or renaming assets that are already in use will break them, because in the Editor, moving/renaming an asset means first deleting it, and then re-adding it
    • In practice, this means that the Editor views it as a new asset entirely, and won't know how to relink the existing, delete asset to the new one

Naming Conventions for Textures

• 3D Asset Workflow: Texturing
• Always remember to compress your textures when saving them as targa

Map type	Suffix	Example	Notes
Albedo		sample_asset_mat.tga	Basic color map
	_at_	sample_asset_mat_at.tga	Alpha test- Binary black&white transparency map in alpha channel. Suffix goes after filename and before other suffixes. Needs to be a 32bit Targa
	_ab_	sample_asset_mat _ab.tga	Alpha blend. Grayscale transparency map in alpha channel. Suffix goes after filename and before other suffixes. Needs to be a 32bit Targa
Normal	_n	sample_asset_mat_n.tga	RGB vector map describing surface orientation per pixel
Metallic/Roughness	_mr	sample_asset_mat_mr.tga	Channel packed map containing metallic in the red channel and roughness in the green channel
Illumination/emissive	_e	sample_asset_mat_e.tga	Self illumination map
Wrap	_w	sample_asset_mat_w.tga	Thickness map to determine how much light passes through e.g. a leaf
Tint mask	_tintmask	sample_asset_mat_tintmask.tga	RGB mask for color tinting. More info on usage in 3D Asset Workflow: Tintmask
Flowmap	_fm	sample_asset_mat_fm.tga	3D Asset Workflow: Flowmaps
Detail Albedo	_da	[material]_[clarifying adjective]_da.tga	3D Asset Workflow: Detail Textures
Detail Normal	_dn	[material]_[clarifying adjective]_dn.tga	3D Asset Workflow: Detail Textures