Author Topic: I Want to Texture Something.  (Read 6403 times)

JordieBo

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I Want to Texture Something.
« on: 2013-06-11 22:25:41 »
Hi, just having a look around and I'm struggling to find some untextured things.

See, I don't actually know how texturing works; at all, but I know Photoshop very well - and the summer's here... so I need something to do. I'd like to start with something a bit simple, like a weapon or something ideally.

Can anyone give me the heads up?
« Last Edit: 2013-06-11 22:28:03 by JordieBo »

Mayo Master

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #1 on: 2013-06-12 00:11:19 »
Well, I could model some stuff for you to have a go at texturing, if you like. Personally I'm far from being a texturing expert, but here is some "noob-level" information:
Texturing is about making how 3d object will interact with the light, and is strongly related to mapping. It's not only about giving a color to an object, but also about how you make the object reflect the light, transparency, etc. To texture an object, there are various methods about how you apply texture images to said object. The most accurate (and often the most tedious) is UV unwrapping, where the surface of the object is developed onto a plane ( this would be the UV unwrapping of a cube, for instance http://www.basic-mathematics.com/images/cube-template.gif). You can also have faster methods such as projections (for example, most maps of Earth are actually cylindrical projections of a sphere). Once you have your mapping method, you can effectively design a texture that will be applied to your object. As I said, it isn't just about colors (which we tend to mostly relate to the diffuse color), but how the object interacts with the light. Say you want to model a piece of rusted metal. Eventually, you're likely to have the best result once you define a/ metallic looking texture b/ rust looking texture c/ a map that will indicate what part of the object looks dull (the rust) and what part of the object looks shiny (metallic). You can even add subtlety in the map, which can give a whole range of dull/shininess (as opposed to a binary separation between the dull parts and the shiny parts). Also, normal mapping has an important role as it serves to model a surface irregularity.
Anyway, maybe you should read basic tutorials about the subject, though you may need some 3d modelling basics first.
That being said, if you don't want to delve into 3d modelling itself, we could still have a demand for straight and simple "flat" textures in order to model flat objects like posters, billboards, etc. In this case, you won't have to bother about mapping and the like, we'll just need an image and we could provide you the canvas. Let me see what scenes could benefit from this type of work and I'll get back to you.

LeonhartGR

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #2 on: 2013-06-12 00:34:09 »
Wow JordieBo! Cheers mate! Long time no see :D

JordieBo

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #3 on: 2013-06-12 21:19:04 »
Cheers for that Mayo! That all really helps, if you could model something that would be awesome, and if you could talk me through this whole UV mapping thing when it comes to it as well I'd really appreciate it.

I've been watching a few videos online, I think I understand (in theory) how UV unwrapping works, but I can't really find much information about how the texturing process works. I always assumed you would paint directly onto the UV  map but then I found this video where they paint directly onto the 3D Model via Photoshop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q925-bXIbTo

Is this how it usually works?

Wow JordieBo! Cheers mate! Long time no see :D

Haha, I know! I've been so busy recently but now I'm free!

Mayo Master

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #4 on: 2013-06-13 15:45:56 »
What you described is actually called "Texture painting", but it is actually seldom used for texturing. The big idea is rather as follows: Once you have done the UV unwrapping, you can export the UV (for the case of a cube, you would export a similar image to the one I've shown) as an image. Then you can open that UV in Photoshop, and use it as a canvas where you create whatever texture image you want, but you can see what surface correspond to each face of the 3d object. Once you're happy with an image you made with Photoshop, in the 3d software you can make a texture from the image you made, and it will be mapped to your object according to the UV projection.
However, you don't necessarily have to make an image that is bounded by the canvas of your UV. A quick way to texture is often about making a good unwrapping and use nice texture images (such as those from cgtextures.com), the mapping process will apply the image to the faces only where they're defined.
 

alloy

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #5 on: 2013-06-13 20:08:18 »
Lots of tutorials here.. http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials

Polycount is great resource for inspiring artists, frequented by a lot of industry veterans. You can learn a lot here..


JordieBo

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #6 on: 2013-06-14 18:33:33 »
Lots of tutorials here.. http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials

Polycount is great resource for inspiring artists, frequented by a lot of industry veterans. You can learn a lot here..

Thank you! Just took a really quick look at it and it look really useful.

In the mean-time, after ages trying to figure it out I finally managed to make my first texture! It's a creepy Electrode thing from Pokémon, not useful here but I gave it a go!



And the UV map:



No idea whether I did any of it right, but there you have it!

syntax error

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Re: I Want to Texture Something.
« Reply #7 on: 2013-06-14 21:31:38 »
Now you can texture the Grangalan family.