Low Poly Texturing

cdizzle

Hello, everyone. I've been lurking here for quite awhile now, and would first like to thank everyone for all the stuff I've learned by doing so. After checking out the low poly art thread in p&p, I decided to make a low poly model in order to practice my texturing skills. I've made a model and laid out what I think are some pretty decent UVs for it, but now that I am at the photoshop stage, I am kind of stuck. Here are my main concerns, if anyone would be so gracious as to answer my noobish questions:

First off, I wanted to make a 128x128 texture because my model is only about 500 polys. I've been using maya, so I created a PSD network in order to create my texture file with a uv snapshot. How do people actually paint on a canvas this small? People in the pimping and previews thread seem to have texture sheets with really crisp edges and what seem to be details that are smaller than a pixel. I can't seem to figure out how they're doing this on their 128x128 maps, let alone the 64x64 maps they use for accessories and such. I thought that maybe they were painting at a higher res and then resizing their image when they were done, but people like Ben Mathis - whose tutorials and posts here have taught me a bunch - seem to recommend painting at actual res. Also, when resizing artwork using the "Image size..." command in photoshop I always end up with something that doesn't look too hot compared to the original. Can someone help clear this up for me?

Another related issue I'm having is that when I output a uv snapshot from maya it is a bitmap image that gets pretty unusable when zoomed in. I know that for max there is a tool called PSD Path Unwrapper that seems pretty cool, but from another post here I learned that there isn't anything similar to this for maya. Someone here did post this link

http://www.jeffparrott.com/transfer/PsdPathExporterWin.mel

which is a mel script that their buddy wrote which seems to do something similar to the PSD Path Unwrapper tool, but right now I don't want to use a script that I don't understand. The only workaround to this that I've come up with so far is to output a uv snapshot from maya that is very large, control-click the snapshot layer to select the wireframe, convert that selection to a path, and then resize the image to my working res. This path gives a somewhat usable uv wireframe to work with, but it's definitely not perfect. Does anyone have any ideas as to what to do differently, or could anyone tell me what most people usually do?

I'm sorry for such a huge first post here, but I was really excited to start painting my texture and quite frustrated when I ran into these problems. I did my best to search for answers to these questions, and I apologize if they've been answered somewhere else. I want to thank everyone here again for the help I've received from lurking these forums, and thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out with these problems.

-cdizzle

Eric Chadwick

If you look at old-school tutorials, people didn't need fancy pathed uv guidelines. The goofy pixel lines are all going to be replaced anyhow. A straight UV snapshot is fine at that rez.
http://skindom.planetquake.gamespy.com/FEATURES/flesh/index.shtml

Also the best way to get sharpness at 128x is to paint true-size. Paint the way the pros do, start with larger brushes then work your way down to small tight brushes. In this case, 1x1 (use Pencil in Photoshop, not Brush since the latter has a softer edge).

Sage

Well if you don't have something to export to paths just make your paths on a higher res image and downsize. So out put at 1024 x 1024. and trace your uvs with the path tool, delete the original uv template, (pixel one) then resize.) Painting at 128 x 128 isn't bad. You need your uvs laid out properly though. For painting do what Eric said. Use the pencil tool and paint on separate layers What you want to do is establish lighting so the forms read, when you have that you paint smaller details, but make sure they don't look like noise on the model.

Try dur32 tutorial

http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=47488&highlight=ds+sage

cdizzle

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Eric, I understand that the snapshot isn't included in the final texture but if I use a straight uv snapshot at that res I end up having to paint on a canvas that takes up like a 2x2 inch square on my screen - something I'm definitely not used to when it comes to digital painting. I appreciate the tip on using the pencil tool, as I didn't realize the difference between it and the brush. Thanks.

Sage, I was afraid that my best option would be to trace with the pen tool. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. dur32's tutorial had a neat tip about mirroring the uvs without needing a central edge loop that I wouldn't have thought of, but didn't say much about painting. I should be alright, though, once I get everything set up. Like everything else, I'll just have to practice.

Thanks for your help. If anyone else has any tips that haven't been mentioned, I'm always willing to learn something new. Hopefully I can get this texture finished so I can post my model in pimping and previous and get some helpful crits.

-cdizzle

Sage

You can try the trace function in Illustrator or Inkscape to see if they generate some nice vectors quickly.

The other thing I do is use the alpha channel to generate a work path from my uvs and then resize to the correct size. Although it not as clean as doing it by hand but it's quick.

For painting you just have to do what Eric said.

Alex

Inksscape

http://www.inkscape.org/download/?lang=en

seforin

original link REALLY helped out with the new project im takling, thanks alot

As far as painting its like the links say, ref is key and really playing with gray values helps ALOT to really define a light source when painting.

cdizzle

Seforin, glad I could help someone. And on my first post, too!

Sage, thanks for the link. I'll have to check that out.

I'm still having a heck of a time painting at this res. Even the one pixel pencil makes a line about as thick as two eyebrows on my model's face. I'm not quite sure how people are doing this, but I'll stick with it. Thanks, again, guys.

cdizzle

Forgot to ask one thing. I know that with these low poly models you're supposed to make the shader 100% self-illuminated, and I thought that in maya the equivalent of this setting is the incandescence. However, when I put the shader for my model at full incandescence the model always renders as pure white. What am I doing wrong here? Thanks for the help.

Steve Schulze

The simplest way is just to turn the lighting off in Maya. In the viewport menu, select Lighting->Use No Lights. You can then screenshot your object when you need to present it.

Could you post a shot of your WIP. It'd make it easier to make suggestions

cdizzle

Jackablade, thanks for the info.

What is the easiest way to take a render of just the viewport in maya, without having to just screenshot the whole window? Thanks.