What are some good Texture Tutorials?

jddg5wa

I've spent a good chunk of time searching for specific 3D texturing tutorials with not much luck. If it exists I am looking for how to texture furniture fabric and such. What are some texture tutorials that you think are good?

Thank You!

Busterizer

There aren't much texturing tutorials in general, and many of them boil down to how to do stuff in Photoshop. Your best bet is to search for Photoshop tutorials to see how these kinds of textures are created and than apply the knowledge but on UV mapped models. There isn't much difference on how to do texturing once you know to do them on small scale.

jddg5wa

Are you talking of tutorials that focus on working with UV maps to make textures. I've never seen those either in my search but I could see that being just as useful.

Actually I have seen them but they are usually the most basic videos I have found on youtube.

ScudzAlmighty

http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials

Broadway

Edit: Got beat to the punch with the wiki link

chrisradsby

I think the biggest improvements in skill when it comes to texturing is not really workflow but understanding of the underlying technology. That understanding will allow you to utilize the texture maps to their max potential.

After that I'd focus on Art Direction and how you keep your textures within it. How to make your textures fulfill the goal of your current project.

Thirdly, workflow in Photoshop, Zbrush etc.

This said, for fabric and stuff it could be quite interesting to look more at using detail normal maps to get the nice close-up detail but also , to make convincing cloth you need some shader work as well in my opinion.

I'd say try things, do your studies. You can always try to texture cubes and just get the feel for the material you're trying to make. I'd also turn to books.

The Art of Uncharted 2 is really good to get an insight to some of the workflow of the NaughtyDog artists for Zbrushed stuff.

Equanim

The basics of furniture and fabric aren't all that different from any other model. Joe Harford's "Tracker Knife" series is the best I've seen. (No wood, but there is fabric.) He starts texturing around part 3 but the whole series is worth a look, even if you're advanced.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK0b2SUjhtU"]Tracker Knife Part 1: NextGen asset production series - YouTube[/ame]
Things to look out for are what kind of wood the furniture is made from and that the grain isn't all flowing in the same direction. For fabric, you really need to nail the folds, shading, and the way it shines.

I suggest photo-sourcing the actual wood grain and stitching for the fabric as they take a long time to paint by hand, and then building on top of them. (Watch the tutorial series.)

To build on what Chrisradsby suggested, one of the best things you can learn for texturing is shader creation. When you've made your maps, you might want to bring this into UDK and rebuild your material for it from scratch (using the maps you've created) and tweak things like contrast and saturation within UDK itself. It's tough at first, but when it clicks a whole lot of other things start making sense.

ExcessiveZero

You splash some colour on it, you do some edging you make the shit look good do a bit of overlay, may be multiply the green and do some other stuff out of the channels of your normal map from the high poly and boom you got yourself a texture.

I may be forgetting a few things but I blame the rum for that.

makinmagic3

Check out the 3D Motive Udemy https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=3dmotive.

Udemy has a fair few deals/ promotions on (% discounts).

jddg5wa

Thanks for all the suggestions! Think I could benefit from a basic cube texture study as suggested. May be sharing that in the future.

UDK is the unreal developement kit right? Meaning I should be working with assets in a game engine to make textures shine their best? Or is there a reason that UDK is specifically suggested?

Also, a bit off topic, would it be good then to render finished assets in a game engine for my portfolio? I ask because I usually create, texture, and render assets all within Blender.

Equanim

UDK is the unreal developement kit right? Meaning I should be working with assets in a game engine to make textures shine their best? Or is there a reason that UDK is specifically suggested?

Correct, it's also free.

I suggested UDK because, out of all the free engines, it has the most robust material editor without getting into code. When you start to understand it, you can create some interesting effects on the fly by inventing your own materials. What you learn in UDK will also carry over into other texturing workflows. I've had a blast teaching myself Substance Designer for example, and it's been so easy because I was already proficient with UDK's material editor. Maya uses a similar process as well. UDK also has plenty of documentation and YouTube tutorials, as well as an active forum on Polycount.

There IS a learning curve though, so don't be surprised if you find it very frustrating at first. Again, once it clicks, it's a really fantastic tool.

If you're making game art, it's always better to display it in a real time renderer for your portfolio. If you check the Polycount Recap, most 3D pieces are rendered in UDK, Marmoset (which isn't an actual game engine), or CryEngine.