Want to learn to texture:)
polycounter lvl 10
Hey, I'm Hoi, and I like cookies:), This is my first post here, and I'm interested in learning to texture, so I was wondering, is there anything like a guide, which makes stuff easy for me? Anything that helps would be great, thanks alot!
e: I have a basic understanding of modeling, and a very basic one of texturing (I have ps3 and know the basics) and I understand how a model and texture work together.
e: I have a basic understanding of modeling, and a very basic one of texturing (I have ps3 and know the basics) and I understand how a model and texture work together.
Replies
The next kind of texture artists knows how to butcher photos and cover their tracks pretty well. Blending photos and hand painted details is a must at most studios in this industry. Again starting off with a firm foundation in digital painting helps quite a bit.
http://www.eatpoo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27
Great guide for artists just venturing into the world of digital painting.
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
The end all guide to painting or at least will be when its finished, very much valuable.
http://www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials
A wide range of tips, tricks and tutorials about painting.
http://www.twisted-strand.com/ut_tutorials/text_tut/index2.html
Hiding seams and tiling.
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=17688
Using 3D packages to make textures.
Lastly it really depends on what you want to texture, weapons & props (hard edged metal and plastics), characters (soft bodies and cloth) or environments (large sweeping organic surfaces)?
Bookmark!
You might misunderstand me becaus of my crappy english, I'm talking about texturing models, not concept art.
There are a lot of monkeys that can slap a photo on a box, but an actual artist can take that photo and apply it properly and have it blend into whatever environment.
The sketch book section of polycount is for all things related to art, 2D, 3D. It would be perfectly acceptable to start a sketchbook and post practice textures.
Ah, I understand, I thought you guys were talking about drawing.
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
Yeah it's about drawing and painting - but if you really want to understand how lights affects objects (aka 'texture') this is what you need to know. That does not mean that you have to paint a texture (be it an old school texture with painted-in-highlights or a nextgen set of textures reacting to dynamic lights) like an oil painting. But knowing why stuff looks like it does will give you a huge edge on the average texture 'overlay-er'.
Look at this for instance :
http://www.supalette.com/coppermine/albums/illustrations/bikergirl.jpg
This guy is a concept artist, and I don't think he ever painted a game model texture. However I am positive that if he ever has to, he will kick butt after a few days of getting used to the technical constraints. Look at the quality of contrast, the bouncing of lights aso. It's not a polished painting but it's all in there.
On a side note, such skill is really useful for certain art styles. WoW textures might look sometimes so-so applied to the uberlowres models that the game uses, but they raise them to their maximum. Some of the texture sheets look like paintings really. Aslo look at the next Prince of Persia game - oily textures everywhere.
Obviously there is some more technical things to know about normalmap+specular+diffuse kind of textuing (the look you find in most PS3 and 360 games - Gears of War, MGS4). You'll find all this info y following wip threads here on polycount. You can also download XNormal and look at the examples included. You'll understand why they look like they do in no time.
Good luck!
... on a side note : Gears and MGS4 are said to be the best looking games ever. The companies behind these games both have a great track record of past games with fantastic texture work painted in an oldschool style. No surprise here :P
I found the video tutorials at Massive Black to be very good and affordable.
http://dvd.massiveblack.com/
Honestly, though, I use a lot of photos, filters, etc, in my work, so only about half of it is painted.
You can definitely learn a lot before investing in a tablet.
Also just bite the bullet and get a wacom tablet, they are the only ones that work. Yes they seem expensive but they will save you a lot of time and are worth it.
Also about earlier comment that Vig replied for me. Painting and drawing stuff is very useful when it comes to texturing. Back a year ago I thought that I didn't need to know it. So I was very disappointed when I learned that there's no "make texture" filter in Photoshop or premade textures I can use for everything that no one else has. Or that I couldn't photograph everything and just slap it onto a model.
Quick little try. (the metal on the front and the wood is from the internet, and there is a little bug in the model on the lower side)