What file formats and conventions should I support to make my game engine artist-friendly?
- by Avi
I'm writing a game engine, and I want to know what I should do to make it more artist-friendly. I don't want to be too limiting in terms of what file formats I support, etc.
Some specific questions:
Are there specific formats artists like to model in? Does it not matter because the 3D modeler abstracts the data storage away?
Is it okay if I don't support per-vertex coloration in my game engine? If I have to store a diffuse, specular, ambient, and emissive color value for each vertex, it doubles the size of vertices in the buffer. Is it reasonable to ask artists to do all these things in textures / maps?
Any other tips you have about making it so that artists have to adapt their style to my specific engine as little as possible would be nice.