[Algorithms] 1 texture/face -> 1 texture/object

[Ryan E. <ry...@in...>]

First a bit of background.  For my case an "object" is defined as a =
connected polygonal mesh with one base texture projected onto it using =
UVs.  These objects are scaled in geometric detail in real-time using =
progressive mesh techniques.  Currently I am also able to generate one =
lightmap per -face- on these objects.  This is less than desirable for a =
couple reasons.  If I scale the mesh I get holes where new seams don't =
meet up exactly in the mesh and the enormous amount of texture state =
changes kills performance.  Thus what I'm trying to accomplish is to =
generate 1 lightmap per object with it's own set of UVs from the face =
lightmaps for best visual quality and performance.

My current thinking is to use the XYZ values of each vertex/face and =
render/rasterize the lightmap for that face to a new, large texture and =
generate a new set of UVs for each vertex.  The question is how do I map =
XYZ -> UV in the most seamless, space efficient manner?  Seems like a =
nice linear algebra problem ;)

I'm sure this topic must have been covered before, so I'd be most =
appreciative for pointing me to any good resources.

Thanks in advance,
Ryan Earl