I have been working on a number of decor/prop sets for realistic interiors (wall decor, lights, furniture, etc) and I was curious which method you all might prefer:
The first is more customizable with the models UVs and their texel density setup so that you can swap out just about any material for that section of the model. Most of these have 3-5 areas that can be swapped out. (simple example- a picture frame with gold trim and a dark flat metal base by default, but you can easily drop in other materials you have to make it a brushed metal trim with a wood grain base)
The more efficient method is 1 material with a pre-made map that sets out sections for changing color, metal and roughness. This means you can still change those 3 values easily, but no more detail swapping (e.g. anything that looks like wood will always be wood)
A third option would be a combination of the two, where they get parameters added to that one material above for all sections detail and normal maps. With that you can change the detailed patterns (wood to brushed metal, etc) but that would mean a whole lot more textures hooked up to that one material and maybe too complicated a setup for some users. It would also limit models to only 3 or so changeable areas (limited by the number of areas that can be masked within the texture)
I’ve been leaning more towards the first option for general decor, largely because the models work well with multiple material types and its pretty quick to setup and experiment with a variety of looks. I like the second one with things that are meant for a very specific type of material (e.g. something meant to always be metal)