In preparation for a potential exhibit we took a look at developing a pipeline for bringing 3D models with very high resolution textures into the MIDEN. Our subject for this test consisted of several rooms a gorgeous 3D model of Oplontis (a town near Pompeii), which was provided by John Clarke as part of the Oplontis Project.

We found that setting up a second set of texture coordinates (UVs) that represented an entire room instead of separate UVs for each surface allowed us to easily project the existing textures and materials into a  single image of any size we chose. This gave us great control over the performance and detail level. Projecting the textures was done with 3D Studio Max’s “render to texture” function similar to the tutorial found on our YouTube channel.