LogInMatthew Trevelyan Johns explained how the use of baked-bevel-trims in TLoU: Part I helped the team free up texture memory.
Matthew Trevelyan Johns, a Principal Environment Artist at Naughty Dog, continues showcasing the behind-the-scenes of the studio's renowned The Last of Us franchise with one more comprehensive breakdown post shared on ArtStation.
This time, the creator offered an exclusive look at the Trim Pipeline in The Last of Us Part I, a 2022 remake of the original 2013 game, explaining how the usage of baked-bevel-trims helped the team free up texture memory and "reduce the amount of uniquely baked props as well as other existing trims that didn't follow a shared layout".
With a series of WIP screenshots, the artist thoroughly explained the nuances of the workflow, provided some commentary regarding each step of the pipeline, showed how Substance 3D software was used during production, and demonstrated the working process behind some of the materials created for the game.
"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 3D Designer templates, example assets, and tutorials that would help to encourage adoption by the team," commented Matthew.
"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to build on this pipeline and as such, this particular layout and method has since evolved so that what you see here, no longer represents our workflows," he added. "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."
You can find the full breakdown by visiting the author's ArtStation page.
Earlier, Matthew also demonstrated the ice and snow shaders created for The Last of Us Part I, sharing tons of details on how the shaders were made, explaining how the illusion of depth was set up, what layers they consisted of, how the realistic-looking cracks and chips were set up, and more.
And prior to that, the creator offered a closer look at the textures and shaders created for TLoU: Part 2.
Back in 2017, Matthew also joined 80 Level to tell us more about the development process behind Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a standalone expansion to Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and explain how its gorgeous environments were made. You can read the full interview here.
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