Handpainting Sword Questions

ralusek

Hey really sorry to even post this here. It's so far behind the texturing i see here, i was embarassed to even ask. This is my first try at anything outside of polypainting...and honestly this is my first UV map (aside from a head).

My question is, after barely starting...where should i start ? Does anyone have a phenomenal reference for handpainting textures? Great books or tutorials?

What I've done so far is an ambient occlusion bake (i know UV choice scattered shadow near hilt, that's fine). Then I overlayed a few metal textures, and started highlighting. It looks fucking terrible though, and I really need a better foundation before jumping into something like this.

What really would be great is some way to set materials/specular and bake THAT. Then all my highlights/shadows would totally be done for me, and i could just worry about detail and texture. Does anyone know of a good way to do this in Blender/3d coat?

I also have zbrush available, if i could potentially get a better bake from that?

Any examples of workflow for handpainting low polies would be awesome. Like I said, all I've been doing recently is modeling (so this whole texture deal is brand new to me).

ralusek

it's worth mentioning i ONLY started on the top section on the blade, and didn't even finish that. i hope you weren't thinking you'd waste your time helping me . i will put all advice to very good use, i just wanted to stop fiddling if i could find a better foundation

Slash

I'd work more on getting a solid understanding of the form, and paint that. Worry about texture overlays later. Are you painting the lighting info in the sword?

ralusek

what do you mean get an understanding of the form. that's what the model is for XD. i'm looking for a way to get the most lighting info baked into a diffuse as possible, so i can really do some minimal highlight tweaks and then just detail with the lighting as an overlay.

any handpainting techniques ontop of that would be great

turpedo

You shouldn't depend on a program to bake your lighting for you. Learning how to paint proper lighting and shadows into your textures will increase your skill greatly in painting your own textures.

That is just my take on it though.

divi

decide on a direction where the light is coming from and bake out a few different materials as a lighting map and see what you like best?

hand painting them would obviously be better!

ralusek

alright turpedo, i'm not saying i want to rely on a program as a crutch. i just wanted a fast way of getting the highlights and shadows. i have a fairly good sense of shading, and can probably get it working alright on texture.

but if hand painting is the right way to go, i really will do whatever to get it looking right. i'm downloading a bunch of tutorials right now, but still lookin for someone to point me in the right direction if they had something specific in mind.

Vailias

Baking basic lighting information is a fine technique used by many. If you feel it will help then do it.

Bobo used to have a texturing tutorial where he did just that.

Best suggestion would be to look up tutorials on how to paint metals, not swords in particular, then apply the knowledge here. You're off to an acceptable start, though I highly suggest ditching the green runes till you get the metal further along. the contrast in color and saturation pulls the eye, but also dominates and flattens the piece. Perhaps start with the runes inlaid or etched out of the blade, and if you REALLY think it needs it later, then make them glow again.

ralusek

alright, thanks man. yup the runes are long gone back here at home base . i literally was painting them on, and said "fuck this," uploaded the image for advice

and i will look at metal painting and try to find bobo's tutorial. thanks

praxedes

Luke Ahearn has published a couple of books on texturing- they mainly focus on props and environments but are full of good stuff. One is "3D Game Textures" and the other is 3D Game Environments" and both are from focal press. Gnomon also have a load of really good texturing tutorials, including a brand new hard surface one which is very good!

Hope that's helpful!

~P~

Slum

Vailias wrote: »

Bobo used to have a texturing tutorial where he did just that.

http://www.bobotheseal.com/tuts_vertex_bake01.htm

Rather than look for tutorials, read this: http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#materials (yeah, i know..dead horse)

And study the hell out of people like:
www.bobotheseal.com
www.benregimbal.com

and many others.

ralusek

praxedes, thanks much bud. buying now.

slum, these are awesome man. thank you very much. this is exactly the stuff i was looking for