Maya to photoshop workflow question

sbiswas

Hi guys. I'm creating an environment in Maya. I'll create the high poly version and then the low poly version in Maya, then UV the low poly version. For baking the normal, ao etc. maps I'll use xnormal. After that I want to texture it in photoshop! I dont want to use any other texturing sotware so, I'm gonna stick to photoshop! The thing is I can't seem to understand how do I texture in photoshop to completion! I mean the workflow/process to it.

I'm creating the high poly version, then the low poly version, uv the low poly, all in maya; then baking the maps out in xnormal, but I can't seem to figure out how do I start out in photoshop. As I said earlier, I can't seem to understand the steps/workflow as how I'll start the texturing process in photoshop to completion!

This seems to be a strange question and I'm literally confused here! Any guide/help would be great!

EDIT: I've no problem creating maps like normal, AO etc. What I want is how to create the diffuse map in photoshop (I mean how do i start it). Well, after UVing the low poly version and after I bake out the normal map for the low poly version, I take it to photoshop. I've the UV of the low poly version in photoshop. The question is how do I paint in the diffuse map when I don't know the position of the surface details because the UV map does not contain the high details because its (the UVs) the low poly version. So, how do i do the diffuse map?

Brian "Panda" Choi

What maps do you want?

Eric Chadwick

Some of these should help.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/TexturingTutorials

sbiswas

@JadeEyePanda
@Eric Chadwick

I've no problem creating maps like normal, AO etc. What I want is how to create the diffuse map in photoshop (I mean how do i start it). Well, after UVing the low poly version and after I bake out the normal map for the low poly version, I take it to photoshop. I've the UV of the low poly version in photoshop. The question is how do I paint in the diffuse map when I don't know the position of the surface details because the UV map does not contain the high details because its (the UVs) the low poly version. So, how do i do the diffuse map?

Eric Chadwick

Have you tried those tutorials? They make it pretty clear what you need to do.

3D paint is a good way to identify areas on your model, and show where they are in your texture.

But another good way to do this is to assign solid colors to your highpoly, to stand in for different materials. Metal. paint, leather, skin, etc. This is often called a Material ID map, or a Color ID map. You can bake this from your highpoly to your lowpoly, as another map.
An example:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/nightshade-blockout

BagelHero

I layer my AO map over everthing temporarily if there's still important details missed with color ID, or sometimes my normal map instead of AO. I just flip it on when I need to find a detail, then paint a little under it, then flip it off again.

Heather.Hughes

I've found it useful to copy all the baked maps (minus normal most of the time) as new layers in the diffuse PSD. Turning them on temporarily (like BagelHero mentioned) helps in seeing where specific high poly details are without painting, saving the texture, applying the texture to the low poly, seeing if you painted in the right place, and repeating the process until it's correct.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Tuscon has a good method, to me. Assuming your AO has enough information, overlaying by setting the Layer Blend to Multiply works best. It's a tad annoying if you're miffed abot turning layers on and off, but it's not too terrible.

Have you UV'd out your model in a sensible way as well? Like a shirt has its own islands, it doesn't share space with pants or skin?