In recent months, my colleagues and I have been working on a project in Roblox. One significant change we made in the project was transitioning from using the SurfaceAppearance instance to Mesh Texture. This change surprised me, as the PBR (Physically Based Rendering) capabilities of Mesh Texture make the experience more realistic.
Nonetheless, I recognize the importance of optimizing experiences to enhance gameplay. I’d appreciate any insights from anyone who can help me understand which approach is better.
It can be this, but I believe it would be best if someone who has texturing experience to answer my question… Though, I still appreciate your message, mate!
I generally like to use mesh + textures but depending on whether the lighting is fighting against me with the materials or I can’t get the effect I’m looking for I’ll use surface appearance.
One build lately I am working on I’ve ended up using surface appearance for items that I want to have a very high shine, I made a kitchen sink that needed to have a high shine but I wasn’t getting what I was going for with a colored mesh. I ended up using surface appearance with a color map + 0,0,0 roughness map and got the exact shininess/glossiness I needed.
In that same build I made some linoleum that needed to look like it had depth and areas that had both shine and dullness in the pattern. For that one I needed surface appearance with color + normal + roughness map. A flat texture would not have given the same effect.
For me it truly is a case by case basis. It depends on what outcome I need for a given piece that fits in the build that I’m working on.
I do find that for the more realistic builds I tend to use surface appearance more often than not.
