I’ve been using UE4 for a few months, but this is a problem I’ve never really encountered until now. Basically, I am wondering what the proper way is to create a mesh that has multiple sub-components. I’ve included a couple of screenshots of my model in blender.
Currently, each separate component is a separate object. There is a base, a back, a top, the glass, and the pipe coming out of the top. I like having all of these objects separate because it makes editing them very easy.
However, it seems to be the case that its generally preferable to join all the meshes together into a single, contiguous mesh. Is that correct?
And what about UV unwrapping/lightmaps? If the mesh is contiguous, then the UVs are pretty self explanatory I suppose. But I’ve also learned that you can keep the objects separate if you use the “Lightmap pack” function in blender before exporting your mesh, though this seems like it may not be the best option.
So what is the general rule of thumb when working with objects like this?