Asset Creation: Maya Scenography UV Mapping - Creating Games with Unity and Maya - page 40

Step 3: Save as Checkerboard.psd in the sourceimages folder of the
project file.
Why?
The sourceimages folder is where Maya goes to look for textures when a
new material is created. There are lots of other seductively logical folders
(images, textures, etc.), but don't succumb. The only folder that matters
for saving textures within Maya is sourceimages.
Creating and Applying New Material
Step 4: Create and apply a new material on a column. Right-click and hold
on the column that we previously beveled. Choose Assign New Material.
In the Assign New Material window, click Lambert. This should open a new
lambert material in the Attributes Editor. If it does not, press Ctrl-A, and
the Attribute Editor will show the attributes of this new material.
Why?
Why a lambert? Lamberts are matte materials that Maya draws really quickly
and well. More importantly for us, when Unity initially brings in the Maya-
created objects, everything looks like a lambert. Any other attributes present
in other materials (specular in Phong, etc.) has to be redefined in Unity
anyway. So spending a lot of time tweaking settings in Maya is wasted since
it has to be redone. For this reason, lamberts are quick, easy, and predictable
ways to get textures applied and to see the general look of the scene.
Step 5: Name the material. Name the material. Name the material. Did I
mention to name the material? Name the material EntryWay_Column_Mat .
Why?
Beginning modelers or beginning game builders often skip effective
naming and pay the horrible price later. When moving assets between
applications (like from Maya to Unity), assets will be tied together
differently, and sometimes in the production process materials will
become disconnected from objects. If there are 100 materials named
lambertx, you will be immensely slowed in your work. Take just a little
time to name materials what they are, and you will save many hours
later. Especially if you ever hope to work with others as part of a team—
effective naming is critical to smooth work flows and keeping your job.
Step 6: Create a Render Node for the Color attribute. In the Attribute
Editor, at the far right of the Color channel is a little button that (ironically)
looks like a checkerboard. Click this to bring up the Create Render Node
window. Tell Maya to import a file to define the color attribute of the
material by clicking the File button.