Trim pipeline --- The trim pipeline was probably the thing I pushed the most during the production of TLOU: Part I. I hoped that the use of baked-bevel-trims might help us to reduce the amount of uniquely baked props as well as other existing trims that didn't follow a shared layout. Our texture memory is always stretched thin in our TLOU games and so this was my effort to combat this. The goal was to create a trim layout that could be shared by the team, a functional replacement pipeline for the many uniquely baked 1-to-1 assets and to document and provide resources like substance designer templates, example assets and tutorials that would help to encourage adoption by the team. --- This work began over 3 years ago and this particular layout was the first of what would become three different layouts (others created to handle assets of different sizes and styles). One of which was presented by Ali Ghadami and Edgar Martinez and further integrated into our pipeline. Since the release of TLOU: Part I we've continued to build on this pipeline and as such, this particular layout and method has since evolved so that what you see here, no longer represents our workflows. However, it's development for TLOU: Part I laid an important brick in a foundation that we, as a team have continued to build upon. --- I'm very proud of the trim work, I pursued it's development and the creation of the Houdini tool for around a year during pre-production, finally landing upon a solid workflow with accompanying tool and thorough documentation. I'd also like to mention that this method is by no means new, rather it's quite an old technique. I first used a very similar method and automatic trimming tool, way back on 'The Lego Movie Videogame' (2014). The workflow and tools to support it on that game were developed by an incredibly talented technical artist called Neil Dorrington and i'm sure the methods were probably used on games prior to that too :-) --- This has been my third Naughty Dog title and it has been an incredible experience and as always, it takes a monumental team effort in order to make such amazing games. Without the hard work and dedication of the entire team, across all departments, none of this would be possible. Please do check out all of the posts from the other incredible Naughty Dog artists! --- Please enjoy this small gallery and stay tuned for more very soon! ---