Online classes for texturing
Hello guys. I’m new to this forum so hopefully I’m posting in the right section. I’m interested in finding dependable websites where I can advance my 3d design, specifically 3d texturing skills for clothing. I’ve been having a hard time finding anything on fabric texturing so I’m hoping you guys can help out. Thanks in advance.
Replies
It's like anything else I suppose. Look at what the thing is made of and how it is made. Find lots of reference, real life reference if possible. YOur standard PBR channels give you a guideline of what to look for. Base color, does it reflect or absorb light, does it reflect light like a metal or not, and so on. If that stuff makes your head spin check out the tutorials on marmoset -- they break it down with pictures and not-super-technical jargon which makes it easier to understand.
Beyond your typical PBR albedo/metallic/roughness, you may use some specialty maps like a fuzz map or displacement maps to capture microdetails like errant threads from spun wool or whatever. How far you go with that stuff depends on the type of asset you are making. Games, CG, hero asset or not, etc. If you are curious about the ways different fabrics are spun and sewn or weaved, google's got your back there.
If what you are unsure about is more fundamental, like you haven't seen some good ways to observe a material, break it apart into layers, any tutorial covering the texturing any type of material really is going to show different ways people are doing that. Most artist I have seen kind of do something pretty similar though. It all boils down to finding those essential properties (again, PBR gives you the checklist so you just got to fill in the blanks) and segregating them into layers you can tweak it until it looks right. So if this is the issue the tutorials don't need to be fabric based at all, though many character tutorials probably will show some texturing of clothing. The wiki on this site has plenty of links to tutorials.
I believe marmoset website has a chart somewhere in the tutorial section which shows the basic PBR guidelines for what to set your roughness at for different materials. Not sure if there is stuff like cotton or not, but definitely leather.
https://www.artstation.com/mrdavids