Modeling bottles and other hollow glass items

Development Asset Creation
1

Hey everyone,

I’ve spent the last year learning modeling with Maya LT and other tools for game use, but there are some questions I’m having trouble getting specific answers to.

Today’s question is:

When modeling glass bottles, such as a wine bottle, are there best practices related to the inside of the bottle? Should I make the glass realistic so that the glass has thickness and the inside of the bottle is rendered, or should I just work on the outside surfaces? What if the bottle is empty, or contains liquid?

If you can give me tips on handling glass bottle-type items for game engine use, I would appreciate it. I plan to make a bunch of different glass container meshes, and I want to do it right the first time. :slight_smile:

Thank you in advance!

EDIT: I realize the poly count increases with the inside of the bottle being modeled, but I’m looking for a balance between appearance and performance in a modern game.

2

If you watch a couple of tutorials on YT over things such as wine bottles and glasses, most of the tutors end up modeling the inside of the bottle. UE4 can do some pretty great glass materials which handle things like refraction extremely well, so that’ll help for your rendering needs. As far as liquid goes, you’re going to want two separate meshes for the glass: One without liquid and another with a mesh made from the contours of the glass that has a liquid material applied to it.

Edit: I was looking at the glass modeling from an arch viz perspective, but if you’re going for a game, you can probably skimp out a bit on modeling the inside of the glass for performance if you really need it.

3

Thank you very much for the reply. I’ve created some nice glass and subsurface materials, so no problem there. I created some wine bottles with the inside modeled as well, and they look pretty cool in UE4. Right now I’m just curious about the best ways to deal with hollow glass objects in UE4. I suppose the decision is up to me at the end of the day. I was wondering if there was a good balance between performance and aesthetics in this instance.