Noob steps after modeling

timetodoit

Hi there !! As you may already notice I've just started modeling, and this is one of my first attemps at a full model, I've based from a model that I saw at artstation.com and changed a few things...

So I've model it, sculpted some parts to add small details all in c4d... but now.. I'm confused what I'm supossed to be doing?

I could really use some help, I want to finish this with textures etc but don't know the next steps... i've heard baking, uv unwrap etc but how? where? ggrr hellppp

DireWolf

If you're not going for a low-poly game ready model, don't worry about baking. I think this is a better path too for starters.

Go for UV unwrap > material/texture > add some light and render.

timetodoit

ok for UV unwrap I'm going to do it in c4d, but material/texture I've heard a lot about substance painter, is this the correct "flow" ? then after substance go back to c4d for render right?

reckzilla

You don't have to use substance, there's photoshop texturing, and quixel as well. Basically next is just texture it some how then you can go into c4d for render but if you are aiming at game art then it's best to use UE4, Marmoset, Unity, or cryengine. Best of luck and so far so good.

Swaggernaut

Well, substance designer is an awesome tool for sure, but for starters I'd rather you just bake some maps such as your AO, Cavity, and/or any other maps you may need. Then you layer them out in photoshop and color it a bit on another layer. I can't really promise you the optimal way to layer them out; it's really best if you just experiment what maps and good in what places really. Good luck mate!

timetodoit

thank you for all the feedback!!

More questions I'm trying to unwrap this, so first stop.... should I connect everything and unwrap or should I unwrap everything piece by piece.. since they are separated? what's the process here?

reckzilla

Separate pieces is best. Keep the parts as they were made it'll make managing uvs easier and help avoid weird warping on textures

timetodoit

I'm getting crazy guys! So basicly I need to unwrap each little object individualy but I don't get it, I always see yhou guys showing just ONE big texture map.

As I understand you are saying make a map for that little bolt.. and a map for that tube and a map for... etc etc right?

Topperr

Unwrap each individual part then attach the objects together in your 3D package at least thats how I do it in 3DS. Then you can open your UV modifier and put all the separate pieces into one UV map. Not sure how to go about it in other software though sorry for my ineptitude

Flipflop_Ninjasaur

Basically you need to just UV every piece, and either combine them temporarily if you're aiming for them to be separate objects or just select them all (depending on package), open your UV editor, and lay them out in the 0 to 1 space so that there's no overlap. After that, you can separate the pieces back out if that's your goal. At the end of your chosen texturing workflow, you'll have one map with all your textures on it that you can apply to every piece of your model and it'll pull from it's respective space.

That is, unless you're using procedural tiling textures. If that's the case, then UV's can overlap as much as you want and you need to just import your models into your rendering package/engine of choice, apply your materials, then adjust UV's from there until it looks correct.. If a specific model piece has more than one material, then you need to make use of material ID's inside your 3D program.

As to your question of what program to texture with: In the end, it doesn't really matter as long as it looks good. Do some research, pick a program you feel comfortable with, and go for it.


Edit: I figure it may be easier to show you what I'm talking about with the one UV map. Here's the UV map for a character I did a while ago:



Now, most of these pieces on the UV map are separate models completely. The armor is separate from the skin, etc etc. But their UV's are all laid out as if they're on the same UV map (but they're really not) so they can pull from the same texture. I baked out each diffuse/norm/spec, etc and then stitched them together inside photoshop. For instance, I baked out the maps for the armor, then I cut them out of their bake and pasted them inside the main texture file (using the Paste in Place function in photoshop to keep them in the right spot). Now, when I take this into Marmoset or UE4, I can apply this texture to each separate piece of my model and it will pull from it's respective UV space on the texture map.

Dklang

Flipflop_Ninjasaur wrote: »

That is, unless you're using procedural tiling textures. If that's the case, then UV's can overlap as much as you want and you need to just import your models into your rendering package/engine of choice, apply your materials, then adjust UV's from there until it looks correct.. If a specific model piece has more than one material, then you need to make use of material ID's inside your 3D program.

i have a question about this, are material IDs enough, or does one need a color map?

Flipflop_Ninjasaur

Dklang wrote: »

i have a question about this, are material IDs enough, or does one need a color map?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by a color map.

Dklang

I meant color ID map, liek one here http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/nightshade-blockout

i dont know if unreal makes use of them.