(Beginner) Large metal ceiling optimization

Question

I'm pretty new to blender.

I am trying to render a large metal ceiling (over 120m long) (see image)

1. you would not see through it
2. you would not see the edge
3. as it is on the ceiling, the vertical faces would be quite dark

Directly modelling all of it seems like a sub-optimal way to do it.

What would you say is the best way to go about it ?

My first thought was to try and use bump/normal maps, but i'm not sure how to proceed.

Answer 1

Yes, it's calling "bake textures" in cycles. How do I bake a texture using Cycles bake

You may do repeating sample square texture, use it on square mesh and array it thru modifiers. If you use evee render - just make baking texture in cycles.